I wholeheartedly agree with being exposed to people of different age groups and backgrounds, as often and as early as possible. When I was in the 3rd grade, I

I wholeheartedly agree with being exposed to people of different age groups and backgrounds, as often and as early as possible. When I was in the 3rd grade, I got to join an experimental "multi-graded" program which had students from the 1st through 5th grades in a single classroom. It's not that uncommon really, just sadly uncommon in U.S. public schools at the time. Anyway, it gave the older kids an opportunity to take leadership roles in group projects, and it gave the younger kids the opportunity to quickly learn behavior and skills from the older kids. It was a great, successful program, by most metrics.