Life Course Reflection Essay

Using service-learning to gain knowledge about a topic is very rewarding. I have gained many personal skills just through service work. Even though I have volunteered many times, older people were an area that I was not familiar with. The only elderly people I was familiar with were my family members and friends. I have always been interested in learning about older people and I really enjoyed working with them and being around them but I never thought about actually taking a course on the study of older people. Before taking this course, I believed all of the stereotypes placed onto older people. This course has taught me that the stereotypes are not always true. I was also unaware of the gerontological theories and how they can really relate …show more content…
People are always changing and this is something that is very relevant to my life currently. The Life-Course Perspective gather that aging is definitely a life-long process. I have been volunteering for the Community Soup Kitchen for a long time and there is one elderly man that has been attending our lunches since I have been there. In these short four years, he has changed in many ways. This proves that people are still changing throughout their lives and that the Life-Course Perspective is still very relevant. The senior citizens at the luncheon were in different stages of their lives mentally. While I was going around and talking to them, I was able to gather that most of them are still changing, mentally and physically. This is something that fascinates me because while some people might be the same age, they are not at the same mental state. Issues in Aging talks about the theories and perspectives that scientists use to describe aging and getting older. Learning about these in chapter two were really interesting. Personally, the Life-Course Perspective is the only theory that really relates to the people I have come in contact with because it is something I relate to and the elderly people I talk to can relate to it as well. Aging is also different between races