The quality of life young people will experience when they grow old will be influenced by their decisions as young adults. Opportunities exist during intergenerational Elders as Resources projects for students to consider life choices that older persons made during young adulthood. By extension, teachers can encourage students to evaluate their own decisions related to diet, exercise, education and personal relationships which will affect them in later life. Experience working with older people . Students today live in a society with a much higher percentage of older adults and will interact with older adults more than any previous generation.
Intergenerational programs offer experience working and communicating with older people.
This experience and communication can be transferred to future family and work situations involving older adults. Transmission of knowledge and values . Older adults interacting in the classroom can help younger students with subjects they are studying and can use their unique backgrounds or expertise to encourage students to learn. For example, an older person might speak from experience about historical events and provide young students with aperspective not found in books. A composition assignment could be especially meaningful if based on the recorded life story of an older person.