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Youth Mentoring
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Add to FavoritesThere are several different types of mentoring. In one example, a college student's special qualities or abilities may attract the interest of someone teaching or counseling in the college. The mentor may see that in spite of great potential, the student is too inexperienced in the college system to know how best to maximize that potential. In such a case, the mentor can help lead the student through the maze of choosing courses, maneuvering amongst the factions of institutional politics, and introduce him or her to others in the faculty or the community whose interest will be of benefit during school and beyond.
In most quality institutions of higher education, the ethnic background of mentor and student probably will be of little importance to either of them. This often holds true, also, in business settings (where diversity often is a part of the mission statement): A person new to a company will be grateful for the guidance of a more experienced employee (or member of management) who is willing to help her avoid pitfalls that are peculiar to that company (or industry) and also give her tips about what sort of efforts on her part are likely to result in furthering her progress within the company. A good mentor is a good mentor, and that's what counts.
Then there is the kind of mentoring in which an adult commits to spending time with a child or teenager each week, such as the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. The program supervisors will do their very best, in this kind of situation, to make a match that will provide the youngster with the mentor who is most likely to have a positive influence on the child's life. Here, ethnicity will be taken into consideration but the goal will not be, automatically, to have every child matched up with a mentor of the same ethnic background.
Some situations will, indeed, call for someone of the same racial or cultural origin. For instance, a child whose life experience has shown her only the worst of her ethnic group, may be matched up with a mentor who is of the same ethnicity but who has had a more positive experience and can help the child see that many people of her culture are successful, proud of their heritage, and respected both within and outside of their community. Thus, the child may develop a much better attitude about her own potential for a happy and productive life.
Another child may have grown up distrusting people who are not of his background. Matching him with someone of a different racial or cultural background, but who shares interests with the child such as sports, music, or career goals, may help break down the psychological barriers that his initial distrust had created.
Another consideration is the opinion of the child's parent(s). It may take some persuasion to get them to see the potential benefits in a match-up with the mentor who the program directors believe can broaden the child's horizons and develop his potential. It has been my observation, however, that most parents whose children qualify for the program, are just glad to be getting some help with keeping their child on a positive path and helping her to develop positive goals.
Perhaps more important than matters of ethnicity is the match-up as regards energy levels, ability to express enthusiasm (or lack thereof), zest for life, or perhaps a more laid-back personality, an enjoyment of things like sitting on a beach and watching the sun go down without even speaking. Some "Bigs" and "Littles" are so much on the same wave length that they can share experiences with very little verbal communication.
Mentor s of children make an honorable and valuable contribution to society. They also have a big responsibility to respect the child's personal space and his beliefs, steer strictly clear of any questionable demonstrations of physical affection or in any way making the child uncomfortable. In matters of ethnic questions, the mentor should be careful to respect the child's origins and NEVER make value comparisons between their two differing backgrounds.
The right mentor for each child is one who accepts the child just as she is, even while choosing activities that can show her more opportunities than she had ever realized were available to her. A mentor who sees a child only as a project, a blank slate on which the mentor can write his or her own personality, will only diminish the child in her own estimation, and do more harm than good. The one who sees her as an interesting person in her own right, and wants to help her be THAT PERSON at her best, will have less stress, a lot of fun and greater overall success.
Learn more about this author, Angelica Weathersby.
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Yes
Should minority mentees be matched only with same minority mentors?
In today's society those in the public eye are coming from more diverse backgrounds than ever before. Many can site people like Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Deepak Chopra, and Arnold Schwazenager as those who inspire them in their daily lives. With this phenomenon being ever so common, it begs the question of whether minority mentees be matched only with the same minority mentors?
Strolling down the corridors of my local university and alma matter, the faces of professors, faculty, and students often represent those who are predominantly anglo, and predominately male. Those students who shared the same ethnic pool on campus as myself took up less than 1% of the student body's population. This racial distribution did not disturb me much as I was accustomed to being the true minority throughout my upbringing in the Southwest. My main intent was to earn by diploma and to take some knowledge along with it
Nonetheless, on campus it was not uncommon for me to come across professors who truly believed a minority student's presence on campus was owed to a system of affirmative action, which was a notion often fraught with the stigma of inferiority in intellect, motivation, and talent. On the other side of the coin, I would often come across an equal number of Anglo male professors who did believe in whatever talent I had, and any of their students possessed. Though the number of negative professors were equal to that of the positive mentors, such negative experiences can impact the minority student in a way that is vastly different than those who are non-minorities.
Now find yourself strolling down the corridors of this nation's great institutions of government or even prominent public businesses. Notice the faces and one will see notice a dominant and recurring trend. This trend may be overlooked upon first glance but becomes clearly obvious that those who compose of these institutions are often powerful, knowledgeable, and highly esteemed Anglo-Saxon males. These individuals in high places achieved such positions through hard work, determination, experience, a thorough education, but most importantly were escorted on their road to success by mentors who were most likely of similar background and race. For a minority, strolling along the same corridor of such institutions reminds them of how absent their presence is in global scheme of things. Not having a relatable mentor who resembles them, often suggests a grim notion that success is not within reach.
It was not till my later years of college that I found a mentor who looked like me and someone I could intuitively relate to. She was a no-nonsense African-American female who worked at one of the nation's top research university as a faculty professor within the school of medicine. Not only was she a professor but she also did cancer research. As an undergrad I have worked in research before and enjoyed it, but never was I more excited to be able to work with any one specific individual than I was with her. Through her I learned what was necessary as a minority to earn respect in the field. I also learned of the setbacks as being a researcher and also being a minority researcher such as lack of funding especially on research focused on minority health issues.
I am certain I would not have gained such insight and guidance under the wing of a mentor doing cancer research who happened to be non-minority. I say this not because I could not have learned the technical ins and outs of cancer research from any non-minority. However, many non-minority PhD's or MD's would have ever considered such issues as what this bright, capable, minority female mentor was confronted with on her path to success.
A stronger example of the positives of having a minority mentor for a minority mentee of the same ethnicity would be of my own family. My father was raised in the South where he was exposed to education at an earlier age due to his relatives being faculty at a predominant black institution of higher learning. He learned by example from other black intellectuals that he too can attain greatness as he and his other family members have matriculated and attained professional positions of law and politics, just to mention a few. Without my father and mother's leanings and emphasis on education, most likely I would end up like many of my high-school classmates who did not go to college or a university despite being from a predominately white neighborhood.
I would never discredit the joy and support provided of my mentors who did not share my ethnic background because their knowledge and influence have opened up many of doors and avenues for me and have created the person I am today. In addition, if someone is ambitious and dedicated enough, they can be successful despite the color of their mentor. However, to edify that it is possible for one's ambitions to be painted into reality it is important to have mentors who resemble you and your goals to complete the full picture of who you are in that scene called reality.
Learn more about this author, Danielle Corbett.
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