In the article several examples of public discourses were analysed. Discourses on lifelong learning and later life learning included elements of ageism. Positive principles of lifelong learning were compared with the available observations concerning the role of the elderly people in the family and social life in Poland that usually come down to – awaited by larger family – working and material support. Another dimension represented public discourse on longer period of professional activity, learning for longer life with no reference to self-realization, personal development of the elderly or their talents and new skills discovered while taking active part in the learning processes in later life.