Rob Weir writes an interesting article in Inside Higher Ed today about the importance of mentors, and for the new college graduate, the importance of developing new mentoring relationships as they enter new situations.
Working in MentorNet has given me the opportunity to think back on my experience in college and realize I knew nothing about mentors at that time. I'm first generation college graduate, and my parents didn't know about college life, or much about what teaching, (my intended career) would be like. There were a few profs that I had that spent some extra time with me, but none that ever moved to what I'd consider a mentoring relationship.
I know that when I started teaching I didn't have a mentor, and the people that could have served as mentors weren't interested in helping me.
I'm glad to see a greater emphasis on mentoring now. I hope we can find ways to provide mentors to more students as they develop. It's another aspect of education (maybe informal education) that shouldn't be overlooked.
