Should mentor programs consider race when connecting mentors with children?

No

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by David Guzman

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Mentor programs should not consider race when connecting mentors with
children because both mentors and children should learn to be
comfortable with people of other races and backgrounds.

Our society is gradually learning how not to stereotype people by
external characteristics. The social upheavals of the 1960s have
changed our society to the point that all races and most genders are
treated equally under the law. The next step in this progression is
for us as individuals to treat all people equally and appropriately.
If we are to succeed as a society, we must learn to get along with
people from different groups as well as we get along with our own.

Mentoring is a microcosm of this social change. If people were
allowed only to mentor only young people of their own race, it would
perpetrate the backward social conditions that we as a society have
been struggling to transcend.

The assumption is often made that mentoring is a one-way street; that
is, that the mentor only gives to the one being mentored and receives nothing in
return. This is simply not true - the mentoring relationship works
both ways, and the mentor benefits at least as much as the mentee. Any
teacher worth his or her salt will tell you that they learn at least
as much from their students as they teach them. Having been a
teacher, I know how true it is. I am grateful to my students for
having enabled me to better learn the material I was teaching.

What can mentors learn from young people of different genders, races,
nationalities or economic backgrounds? First of all, they can step into the
mentee's shoes and learn what it is like to be them. The chances are
that both mentor and mentee have been pre-selected on the basis of
ability, openness and willingness to learn, so that each will be open
to learning about the other. Understanding one person makes it easier
to understand others' values and approach to life.

Some of the benefits to the one being mentored are obvious: the
opportunity to associate with a successful person, the contacts that
become available, and the socialization into the the mentor's
behavioral world. But a less obvious benefit is the life lessons. If
the mentor comes from a different background than the one being
mentored, he or she can provide insight into the situations and
their responses to them that led to success. Both must learn to
understand the other's group social signals as well. This makes
both more sensitive and better able to communicate with each other, a
benefit that will extend to their social relationships with others.

I therefore believe that mentor programs not merely not consider
race or other external characteristics when connecting mentors with
children, they should respect the differences and match people of
different races and backgrounds.

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