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Youth Mentoring
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Add to FavoritesMentoring is a process of demonstrating skills, citizenship and responsibility in a particular environment. In the business world it is the experienced positive role model that mentors the junior executives. So, with this as a model we must look at teens and decide if they are positive role models with the skills and citizenship to pass on to the younger children.
After many years of working with teens as a teacher and a community service advisor I don't believe they should be mentors. Yes, there are many things they can do and many teens are good upstanding young adults. However, they still have to learn how to overcome peer pressure. They are young themselves and love the attention of the younger children and want to be the "popular" guide or counselor or whatever their role is supposed to be.
Therefore, they often make poor choices. These choices sometimes put the younger child in harm's way. It sometimes teaches its okay to cheat if you don't get caught. On occasion it can even lead to teasing others, making fun of another group, or alienating someone within their own group.
Teens attention span is another issue. Many times they are in la la land thinking of the opposite sex, who's on the phone, where the party will be on the weekend. They don't stay focused on the task at hand.
High school students are themselves still children testing the waters. They show off to get attention or show how brave they are. They skirt around the rules, ignore schedules and time limits. This makes for a poor role model for the younger children who look up to them.
The younger children want to be praised by these teen idols. They will go along with anything that teen suggests if it means they will get more attention or a reward of some kind. We should not use mentoring of children as a way to allow teens to see if they're ready. We need to know that whomever has the responsibility is capable of being responsible and well grounded.
Teens make good assistants, group leaders for supervised activities and even cabin monitors as long as they are also being monitored. They are not ready to be in charge of our younger children without close supervision. There are rare exceptions but if you are truly honest with yourself you will realize that all teens test their limits and when they are in charge they can stretch them too far.
Let's not rush our children into adulthood. They need to be allowed to be children for a bit longer. Lessons of peer pressure, following expectations, and being true to themselves without worrying about what others think is enough to learn. Demonstrating responsibility at all times is the final step before they are ready to take charge of others.
Learn more about this author, Elizabeth Gilbert.
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Yes
Using high school students as mentors for grade school students is not only a good idea, but one that has been used with success in various areas of the country. In the Kansas City, MO area the mentoring program is one of the areas high school students in the A+ program can volunteer. The A+ program requires high school students to maintain a C average or better, miss no more than a specified number of school days per year, and not have any disciplinary problems. By meeting these standards, the high school student earns 2 years, tuition free, at one of the area junior colleges. So there are benefits in the program for both the high school students and the grade school students involved.
Once the high school student applies and is accepted to the A+ program and volunteers to be a mentor, he is given some basic training and then assigned to an area Elementary School. The student then shows up at that particular school one or two days a week and is placed with a small group of grade schoolers. These are the children that the mentor will be working with each week. By pairing the mentor with the same group of students, a bond is allowed to form which helps the younger children with there work. The student mentors are monitored by qualified teachers to insure that the appropriate material is being covered and that appropriate behavior is being observed. The teacher is required to report to the High School periodically on the mentor's conduct and attendance.
Many communities and schools now place a premium on getting high school students to perform a specified number of hours volunteering for various after school community projects. The mentoring program gives students who might be interested in pursuing a teaching certificate the opportunity to work with younger children. While the program does not mirror an actual school day, it does give the teen a chance to interact with younger children for one or two hours a week, or more. This does give the high school student an opportunity to see if they would be good working with grade schoolers. It also gives the elementary student the opportunity to form a relationship with a teen. Something that might not be possible in their own family. It also introduces them to the idea that helping someone younger than themselves is a good thing to do. And it may even give the younger child an older role model who could have a possible influence on their life.
Besides giving the high school student an opportunity for 2 years of college, it shows them that they are a valuable asset to their community. Because many of the high school students received the assistance of a mentor when they were in grade school, they know the value of the student volunteers. And many of these students have looked forward to participating in the program for years. Which is just one indication that the program works. And there are others. Some of the elementary schools are now using sixth graders as a big buddy for first grade students, helping first graders get use to the new school and spending an hour each week helping the first grader with reading. These type of programs help give the older student a sense of ownership and of individual worth. Something that every student needs to help their sense of self-esteem.
Any type of program which gets teens involved constructively in their community has benefit, both to the student and to the community at large. Mentoring programs not only are of benefit to the students involved, but to the teachers as well. Teachers are given assistance in helping their students overcome difficulties reading but in other subjects as well. Working closely with the teachers to whom they are assigned, the teen is given an opportunity to shine in a subject at which they excel. And the community as a whole reaps the benefits.
Learn more about this author, Arthur Gibson.
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Difference of opinion? Debate now.
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