Abstract
The age range of students in any given class in a master's program in gerontology often spans 30, 40, and even 50 years. Using a questionnaire students were asked about their perceptions of the age diversity in their classes and what if anything they think age‐diverse classes contributed to their education. They were also asked if age should be used as a criterion for acceptance into the program and for scholarship aid. Findings revealed that students of all ages were positive about age diversity and believed it enhanced their learning experience in and out of the classroom. However, a significant minority of the students would use age to discriminate against older people receiving financial aid. Responses suggest that instructors can use their age‐diverse graduate classes as laboratories that afford students important opportunities to explore and modify as desirable their personal attitudes towards age, the aging process, the aged, and ageism; that research is needed to assess changes in graduate gerontology students’ attitudes toward classmates and others of diverse ages; and that faculty should pay more attention in class to identifying ageism in their graduate students, help them become aware of their prejudicial assumptions about older and younger persons, and work to ensure they graduate gerontologists free of age bias.
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