I am not persuaded that age is the fundamental issue here. Age disparities can be valuable. Whitehead's much quoted rationale,
The justification for a university is that it preserves the connection between knowledge and the zest for life, by uniting the young and the old in the imaginative consideration of learning. makes my point. What is problematic about many mainframe shops is something quite different; it is a shared culture that is "insular, suspiciously unanimous, risk-averse, and mediocre". The competent old who have something to teach the young will enjoy working with---and, yes, learning from---them. There is indeed something very dreary about workplaces populated only by the middle-aged and the old, as there is about college campuses when the students are elsewhere. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
