弱势群体：
1. With the ageing of society, we are now beginning to see a growing interest in further
abolishment of mandatory retirement. Do you think that mandatory retirement is obsolete or should be sustained?
[Sample]:
Mandatory retirement is a prominent issue raised by the continued expansion of the aged population. The notion that the older people should be forced out of employment because of age is set to become obsolete. However, the paradox is that a fixed retirement age is still being widely adopted by many employers as usual, either overtly or impliedly. My opinion is that the ways people look at older people as a section of the workforce should be subject to modification, in a world where the growth of the ageing population is a clear trend.
Due to improved diet, higher incomes and medical advances, people nowadays live longer. The ongoing increase in the life expectancy leads to the subsequent extension of working lives. It comes as on surprise that productivity and intellectual ability of workers would remain the same as they approach age 65 and in the years beyond. Meanwhile, older employees have a wealth of experience and specialized knowledge they have obtained throughout their decades-long working lives, despite their slightly reduced physical abilities. The age prejudice is therefore unjustified, causing businesses to lose a major source of expert personnel.
Another disadvantage of mandatory retirement is the difficulty in finding qualified
employees are unlikely to impede promoting young employees. Instead, they ensure the consistency of staff training of an organization. Many senior（年长的）employees are willing to stay on the junior jobs and earn less when they reach retirement age. Besides, their leadership is essential to the improvement of younger employees’ skills. With senior employees, a corporation guarantees the diversity of perspectives and minimizes the risk of relying on impetuous/impulsive decisions made by young, inexperienced employees.
Despite those justifications for longer working lives, working in later life might not be aligned with the interest of all older people. For blue-collar workers, their choice is very limited. They are either forced out because of ill health or tired of working days and nights. In many instances, despite being able to work, the majority of senior people prefer retirement, or at least working shorter hours. Income has failed to be an effective incentive, compared to being part of society and contributing to the society in later life. For this reason, retirement should be made a voluntary option to the senior.
Based on the above-mentioned arguments, one can conclude that the changing demographics have lent support to raising the age of retirement or just abolishing mandatory retirement. It is in line with the extended life expectancy and in employers’favour, although it is up to older people themselves in deciding whether to retire or not.。