The Importance of Mentoring our Youth

 


The term " At risk " is a cliche that is thrown around loosely when describing certain demographic of youth.  I found an article written about mentoring at risk youth that I felt is a great read.


Here is an excerpt from the article, " Mentoring At Risk Students"



Mentoring caught the  public's  attention  in  the late 1970s
when the Harvard Business Review  published two articles
on mentoring in the business setting. The first (published in
1978) was titled "Everyone Who Makes It Has a Mentor."'
In  it  three foodchain executives  were interviewed about
their careers (the generalization implied by the title was left
unsubstantiated).  The second2 presented data collected  on
successful executives  and  found  that  two-thirds reported
having  had  a mentor.  On average, those in the study who
had mentors were likely to earn more at a younger age, be
better educated, and be more satisfied with their jobs and
careers. After  these  articles, subsequent writings focused
mainly  on  the importance  of  mentors in teaching career
skills (like networking) to young  professionals or in fur-
nishing certain keys to "success."
In the  1980s the mentoring focus shifted to an educational
setting.  The I  Have  a Dream  (IHAD)  program began  in
1981 when multimillionaire  Eugene Lang spoke before an
East Harlem (New York City) sixth-grade class and offered
the students college  tuition  guarantees if  they  completed
high school.  (IHAD includes  a  mentoring component  in
addition to the tuition g~arantee.)~  The event set off  a new
wave of mentoring programs in public high and junior high
schools, mainly  to combat high dropout rates and  encour-
age  postsecondary  school matriculation. Mentoring pro-
grams  are  also found  at the  college  or  university level,
where  they  exist  chiefly  to  encourage students to stay in
school or to direct students toward  certain career options.
Mentors for both secondary school youth and college stu-
dents  are usually  seen  as serving  as role models  and  are
implicitly charged  with  helping students navigate the
school or university system.



For the full article please click on the link below


www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc132d.pdf