AGE DISCRIMINATION ACTIVITY # 1

SOCIOLOGY
MR. SCHEEL

Too Old for a Passport?

The Department of Homeland Security is learning what parents already know: There is truth
in the old adage that if you give an inch, someone will want a mile.

Last week the department said it would propose to exempt U.S. and Canadian children from
the plan to require passports for all land and sea border crossings. Under current plans, by
next year everyone will need a passport for any land or sea border crossing, just as they now
need one for any border crossings by air. Under the modified plan, which still needs to go
through a vetting process that includes a public comment period, U.S. and Canadian kids
ages 15 and under could cross U.S. and Canadian borders with just a birth certificate and
parental permission, as would older kids if they were part of a group.

Now, the National Tour Association has decided the more lenient rule should also apply to
seniors. Turns out the Student & Youth Travel Association was instrumental in nudging DHS
towards being more lenient toward students, and the NTA reminded regulators that they had
joined the SYTA in original appeals. Seniors on fixed budgets, they argue, need the break.

Maybe they could just use their AARP cards in place of a passport.

Anyone want to bet on when the ACLU will decide to sue DHS for age discriminiation?

Why would they not need a passport?

What is the discrimination and inequality here?

Write a persuasive editorial that takes either the side of older citizens needing
passports or the Department of Homeland Secuirty.