Age discrimination be made illegal in the workplace

Since I apparently didn’t make a case in my last segment I will attempt to make a case again. (I am fairly sure I did, but that’s ok. ) My Case, Again: Ok, let’s take a step back for a moment and look at your original post. “This argument states that age should indicate productivity and ability of an individual in a workplace. Opponent will try to prove me wrong by proving that older people are less productive thus age discrimination is reasonable. ” I do not have to prove that older people are less productive; I only have to prove that age does not indicate productivity of an individual in a workplace. And because work ethic is not something that is based on age AT ALL your case is flawed. Work ethic is instilled in you by your parents, teachers, co-workers and bosses. If any or all of these people are not hard workers or did not teach you proper work ethic then you will not work hard (Be productive). The problem you are having is that you think older people work much harder than younger people, which is NOT the case. I have been working for seven years now and I have seen so many cases where the opposite is actually true. There are other factors that play into work ethic as well. If you are a heroin addict your productivity will drop, if you are having problems at home your productivity will drop, if you are having health issues your productivity will drop, these cases all apply for younger people and older alike. I get the feeling you haven’t really worked much. .. Let’s play around with an example and see if you can grasp the concept a bit better. Worker-A is 22 years old and has a job as a security guard, work ethics were pounded into him at a very young age by his grandfather and mother, he was always told to work hard and do the best he can do in everything he does. Worker-B is 43 years old and has never really had a steady job, he has lived off his mother all his life and surfed most of the time. Also Worker-B habitually smokes marijuana. Worker-A and Worker-B are offered a GREAT job in Nevada and the pay is amazing, (doing what doesn’t really matter at this point) whom do you think is more likely to take the job and work hard at it (Be more productive)? Worker-B the middle aged man who’s never worked a day in his life and lives/loves to surf? (There are no beaches in Nevada) or Worker-A the younger worker who loves to work, do the best he can at a job, and wants to get a great job to impress his mother and grandfather? The answer is simple. Rebuttals: “"The reasoning behind this is simple, hire young workers whom you can train, who are already not set in their ways. ". This statement is the exact reasoning why older workers are the better choice as they are more productive. By hiring only younger applicants who as my opponent stated has "not set their way", the company is most likely to collapse as the younger workers are more likely to make critical mistakes. By hiring experienced older workers as well as younger workers, the older more experienced workers are less likely to make these critical mistakes, and more likely to take over and show the younger workers the correct way to perform the task at hand. ” WHAT? !? ! How did you take that section of my argument and twist it so backasswards? ! That is by NO means what I said or meant. The phrase “Not set in their ways” is meaning not hard-headed (As a lot of older people are) Younger people’s minds are more easily molded because they are “Not already set in their ways”. What if an older person has been working at a SPECIFIC job his WHOLE life… let’s say he works at a factory pressing car bumpers. Now, the old procedure was to press down the big button and then lift the bumper out and place it in the stack to be shipped to the car manufacturer. But the factory shuts down because they are going to renovate it and make it more up to date with industry standards. So he found a job and another metal pressing factory. He applies stating he has 20 years’ experience and is most definitely the best qualified for the job. However, THIS factory is up to date with the latest equipment and machines. This factory now is using computers instead of manual labor. His job is now outdated, but because of his many years of experience they still offer him the equivalent job which is now inputting the sizes and amount of bumpers to be pressed into the computer and letting the machine do the work. He accepts the job because, well, it can’t be that hard after all it’s the “Equivalent” job. His first day of work he shows up and someone explains to him how to do the job, but he has never used a computer before. His old job never required it, computers are foreign to him and he doesn’t understand them. Even though it is so simple he is unable to figure it out for a long time. But it was so simple? ! You or I could do that job easily because we now use computers daily. Once again, age is not an indicator of experience. He may have had 20 years’ experience, but any 21 year old (Lowest possible age you’re allowed to work in factories) could have taken that job and done it with MINIMAL training. This man however, because he had no training in computers and had never used one before, struggled and therefor reduced productivity. Also, in this case the older worker is more likely to make the critical mistakes and the younger worker is more likely to take over for him and fix the mistakes. Because he has never used a computer he may input 20000 instead of 200 for quantity or even 2 ½ instead of 212 inches for bumper length. These are all quite possible mistakes for someone whom has never used a computer before in his life. This of course is just an example; a long one at that. There are no sources for it because it didn’t really happen. But I’m sure our judges and, even you can see how it’s possible and the implications behind it. Age does not indicate productivity in the work place. That explanation turned out to be really long, I apologize for making that way but it was the only way I could get my point across I think. Your case is all speculation you can in no way prove that an older worker is more experienced in any field that is not directly related with age. “In stating this, my opponent has forfeited the round to me as he is basically saying that if a person is fit for the job, then the person should be giving an equal chance to acquire the job position/ job promotion. Age discrimination states that if an applicant/ worker is over the age of 50, then he/she is old and should not be giving an equal chance for a job/ promotion. ” You misquoted me again, however yes that is what I said. He SHOULD be given “equal opportunity” that in no way is me forfeiting and it in no way hurts my case because that is not the norm. There are always abnormal cases of people excelling at something that other people like them do not… there are some VERY fit older people who could probably outrun me. But they are not the norm, their age is not a deciding factor in them getting hired at a physical job. Once again I have to give an example, (Short one this time) if you owned a bike messenger business. Would your application have age on it for any other reason than to make sure that person is legally allowed to work in the state? No… when someone applied you would see them and see that they are fit and able to perform the duties for the job. If some big buff older guy came in I would GLADLY hire him because he is going to make a great bike messenger. On his application it states he rides ten miles every day. So of course age discrimination is not always the best because there are RARE cases. However, that does not mean it should be made illegal. That’s like making Twinkie’s illegal because someone choked on one. I think my point has been made, character limitations restricts me from going any further. Thank you.