Diversity is one of those value-oriented buzzwords' that are very
             popular for individuals from a variety of disciplines to talk about.
             However, few really reflect upon the full implications of diversity in a
             group environment. Even within the relatively narrow confines of a
             homogeneous study group, diversity can have a significant impact upon the
             relationships of the group's membership, the group's general atmosphere and
             the group's social dynamics.
             For instance, to consider one element's impact, the element of a
             diverse range of agesâ€"quite often age can result in a negative leadership
             dynamic within the group. Older individuals may feel, as a result of their
             greater life and school experience, that they have earned the right of
             seniority, or dominance, over the direction of the group's discourse.
             Older individuals may resent younger members of the group whom have a
             formal or even informal leadership role.
             Conversely, younger members of the group may have a lack of life
             experience by which to judge older individual's different styles of speech
             and manners, or different priorities than their own. They may indeed be
             more idealistic or less practical than older members of the group, for
             better or for worse, not having had to test their values and priorities
             against the daily grind of lived existence for as long as their elders.
             This idealism, though, can result in greater flexibility and creativity in
             generating solutions. Or perhaps the younger members of a particular group
             have had a great deal of life experience, and feel frustrated that, despite
             their youth, despite the fact they the younger members have lived a great
             deal and experienced much compared to older members of the group, this is
             not acknowledged by the elder members.
             Age diversity can have an extremely positive impact as well upon
             group dynamics, however, for some of the same reasons it can produce gr...