Education as a necessary factor for the activation of senior citizens in the aging Europe. Polish exemplifications.

In the aging Europe, the reflection on the place of the elderly within society has become one of contemporary challenges. Old age is a natural stage of development and yet little attention has been paid to it in terms of education so far. The Universities of the Third Age did appear in the 1970s; however, only the paradigm of lifelong learning can give the activation of the elderly due importance. 

In contemporary gerontology the education of the elderly is treated as the process of emancipation, allowing senior citizens to gain greater control over their lives (D. Battersby, 1985, p. 76). Education has become a prerequisite for ensuring independence and quality of old age. According to Timmermann (1985, p.29), independence can be gained through various types of education: education in terms of economy, related to new ways of making money; education in terms of practical skills which are needed in life, including preventive healthcare, lifestyle and adapting to changes; education in terms of pro-community activities and education as an autotelic value that gives your life meaning. Bogdan Suchodolski, a Polish philosopher and educator, emphasised the key role of education in all aspects of life years ago: “Alongside the traditional formula proclaiming that you should learn so that you can live a better life, there appears a new formula proclaiming that life is worth living because you can learn. It is a new dimension of humanity that is worthy of particular attention” (1976, p.177)

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