Older people must be given more chances to learn if they are to contribute to society rather than be a financial burden, according to a new study on population published recently.
The current approach which (1) ________ on younger people and on skills for employment not (2) ________ to meet the challenges of demographic change, it says. Only 1% of the education budget is (3) ________ spent on the oldest third of the population.
The (4) ________ include the fact that most people can expect to spend a third of their lives in (5) ________, that there are now more people over 59 than under 16 and that 11.3 million people are (6) ________ state pension age.
“(7) ________ needs to continue throughout life. Our historic concentration of policy attention and resources (8) ________young people cannot meet the new (9) ________ ,” says the report’s author, Professor Stephen McNair.
The major (10) ________ of our education budget is spent on people below the age of 25. (11) ________ people are changing their jobs, (12) ________, partners and lifestyles more often than (13) ________, they need opportunities to learn at every age. (14) ________ some people are starting new careers in their 50s and later.
People need opportunities to make a “midlife review” to (15) ________ to the later stages of employed life, and to plan for the transition (16) ________ retirement which may now happen (17) ________ at any point from 50 to over 90, says McNair.
And there should be more money (18) ________ to support people in establishing a (19) ________ of identity and finding constructive (20) ________ for the “third age”, the 20 or more years they will spend in healthy retired life.
A．ranks
B．ideals
C．assets
D．roles
