Geriatric High

This was an idea I had to both combat school violence and the quality of life of the elderly in our nursing homes. Observation tells me that kids are behaviorally different when there are elderly around; even the irresponsible ones straighten up to some extent. Pathos is a powerful emotion that I feel we use to the advantage of school safety and peace, and I also believe that part of the problem is the institutionalized generational gap that we've created in our systems.
Consider how you react when your grandparents showed up. Not 5 minutes earlier, you were driving your parents bonkers, but when granny shows up to the door, the situation completely changes. I'm thinking visitation during storytime for the young kids and some kind of mentoring program for the older kids.
The elderly would benefit from the energy of our kids, as well the motivational factor of having something to do, since they don't get enough visitors anyway. And the kids would benefit as well by seeing a new perspective on the fragility of life and a new respect for seniors, once they got to know them. A similar program could work for the generally handicapped. Frequent exposure would be key, as a one-time school-wide speech would probably not be that effective.
Granted, there would be necessary limitations; those too frail to deal with runny noses and noisy kids would be excluded from the program. Logistically it would be difficult, but I don't think it's impossible. What say you?