Exercise traced back prejudices towards older generations to childhoods spent watching Cruella de Vil and the ‘Old Hag’ from Snow White
New York has begun rolling out anti-ageism lessons in high schools in which students are being encouraged not to refer to older people as “cute” or “elderly”.
Lorraine Cortes-Vázquez, the city’s commissioner for ageing, said she has introduced lessons on the “insidious” prejudices against the older generation to the school curriculum to fight the epidemic early on.
“America is so youth-oriented, or never-growing-old-oriented,” she added.
Ms Cortes-Vázquez hopes teaching teenagers about the real-world consequences of ageism will influence how they treat their colleagues when they enter the world of employment.