Mentorship

“ We offer a membership in an Association that brings many advantages. There is a saying, “It is a good thing to be doing a good thing, and it is a good thing to know that you are.” We know that The Mentor is a good thing, and it is a good thing to be told so by so many. ”

“ Our wish is that each member of our Association shall say, on laying down a number of The Mentor, that he is richer in the knowledge that cultivates or in the information that is helpful, and that he has at all times been interested and entertained. ”

“ During National Mentoring Month, we recognize the dedicated individuals who volunteer their time to mentor young people, and we encourage more citizens to give back to their communities as mentors.
Mentors are friends, teachers, and role models. They open doors of opportunity, convey values, and help provide the stability and encouragement that young people need to succeed. By spending time with a child and showing compassion and guidance, a mentor can profoundly affect a young life. Research shows that adolescents who have an adult mentor are far less likely to engage in high-risk behaviors. ”

“ But ‘the fellows’ did me much good in the way of my education. I had a most excellent and worthy set of friends, especially in the last year of my college life. My associations with them drew me out of myself, and gave me, in the best meaning of the term, the sense and the impulse of good-fellowship. As bearing upon my preparation for my life’s work, this association did much to give me that common sense, and sympathy, and warm-heartedness, and love of{583} young men, and comprehension of their nature and their feelings, the value of which is so great to a college teacher. ”

“ No one has said how helpful The Mentor is to a missionary. First: to keep one from forgetting what has been seen and known; second, to make friends for one of the things one ought to know; third, for the sake of one’s children, who find a great education in the twice-a-month text and pictures.
Aside from the personal value to the missionary and his children, is the value to the foreign people with whom he associates. His home is a center, and many an ideal of a foreign home comes from his. Those of us that teach students, and children especially, are forming standards of taste. ”

“ With such endorsement of past accomplishment we look to the future with joyful confidence. The shortest, pithiest, and most expressive message that we have received came over the phone one morning not many days ago: "I like The Mentor because it is absolutely unique. The Mentor has a genius for making knowledge human." ”

“ A letter like that from every reader of The Mentor would mean an aggregate membership for The Mentor Association that would make it unique among the educational institutions of the world. There is a prospect that we hold fondly before us—that of every reader showing The Mentor to every friend that might be interested. ”

“ And then, when all of these friends have seen The Mentor, they will want the numbers from the beginning. We say they “will want” them, for that is what most of our subscribers demand. A teacher in Kansas writes, “The Mentor is a delight, and its value is beyond expression. ”

“ We ought also to demand the best of others so far as we may. But how far have we a right to hold them to the same standards as ourselves? We do not know the springs of action in their lives, “the moving why they do it.” Do not give your friends the uncomfortable feeling that you are continually disappointed in them. Good sense, sympathy, and tact are necessary if we would act the rôle of mentor to those about us. ”

“ I call upon the people of the United States to recognize the importance of mentoring, to look for opportunities to serve as mentors in their communities, and to celebrate this month with appropriate activities and programs. ”

“ Mentors are soldiers in the armies of compassion, sharing their time to help provide a supportive example for a young person. Mentors help children resist peer pressure, achieve results in school, stay off drugs, and make the right choices. Many people become mentors because of the impact of a mentor in their own lives, creating a chain of compassion over the course of generations. ”

“ Through countless acts of kindness, mentors across America are changing our Nation for the better. Every child deserves the opportunity to realize the promise of our country, and mentors show that a single soul can make a difference in a young person's life. ”

“ The first emotion which any student of the Booklets would have felt on seeing his mentor in the flesh—apart from that natural awe which falls upon us when we behold the great—would probably have been surprise at finding him so young. ”

“ I appreciate the contributions of all those who serve as mentors, and I encourage all Americans to get involved in mentoring programs. To learn about mentoring opportunities, citizens can visit the USA Freedom Corps website at volunteer.gov. By joining teachers, coaches, religious leaders, relatives, and other mentors, individuals can use their talents and experiences to enrich the lives of young people and demonstrate the compassionate spirit of America. ”

“ We know now to our own great satisfaction that it is not simply a picture-loving public that takes The Mentor. The serious interest in the subjects that we have published, the earnest desire to know what subjects would be forthcoming, the intelligent suggestions that we receive concerning various subjects that might be included in The Mentor plan—all these, and then the numerous evidences in our mail that The Mentor is bringing something new into the home life, convince us that when we shaped our plans on the broad lines of a comprehensive, popular education we builded well. ”

“ The beautiful numbers of the unique Mentor Library will never be out of date, as every issue of The Mentor is devoted to an important subject of enduring interest. The concise form in which scores of subjects are covered makes it of the greatest practical value to the business man, to the active woman who appreciates the importance of being well informed, and to children, who will find it of great direct value in their school work. ”

“ It must inevitably be dispiriting to some, for it emphasises the shortness of our course, enacts the rôle of mentor, and seems to hint, “Why toil and moil and live laborious days, and why in that toiling stoop to petty meannesses, when at last—and at no distant date—you too must lie with the many racing celebrities of a bygone day, as forgotten as they?” ”

“ All you can offer me is patronage, advice, direction from people whom I don’t know and who don’t know me. The one thing that I want, which is fellowship, I have not got. You have taught me to depend on others. ”

“ Fortunate is he who has lived with a few books. In a world of volumes swollen to intolerable dimensions there are still but a few real books. They are those we make our own; that shape the mind, store the memory, are the foundation and discipline of our intellectual life.
The purpose of The Mentor is to give the gist of knowledge to be found in the world’s best books, and to give that knowledge in a form that is easy to retain. ”

“ To many, knowledge means toilsome and tedious study. If The Mentor has succeeded in making the halls and chambers in the Temple of Knowledge bright, sunny, and attractive; if it has made the pathways in the fields of research alluring and easy to pursue—in brief, if, as our reader says, it has "made knowledge human,"—we shall feel that we have accomplished something well worth while.
From far out in Montana a doctor writes to us: "I was glad to get your letter today as a reminder. I have missed The Mentor since my membership ran out. ”

“ We stated that The Mentor gives the facts that people ought to know and want to know about a subject, and we pointed out that a reader of The Mentor would find himself in a position to talk intelligently about many subjects that he had not understood before. Most people like to talk about things that they have come to know. ”

“ I propose a $450-million initiative to bring mentors to more than a million disadvantaged junior high students and children of prisoners. Government will support the training and recruiting of mentors; yet it is the men and women of America who will fill the need. One mentor, one person can change a life forever. ”

“ Our theory is, that the fundamental motive of the managing partner is PHILANTHROPY.
In order to understand this, we must remember that she is original and unique only in the length to which she carries a common principle in human nature. Society is full of advisers on a small scale. If you ask your way to such a place in the street, the Mentor you invoke is instantaneously seized with a strong desire to befriend you. He calls after you a supplement to his directions; and if you chance to turn your head, you will observe him watching to see whether you do take the right hand. ”

“ In patient and hopeful sympathy, in friendship that is personal and not professional, knowing that the door of the heart is opened only from within, the true minister, like his Master, waits. He knows, too, that a few words suffice in the great decisions of life, and that the handclasp of manly love speaks volumes. The prime qualification is a friendship that invites and respects confidence and a life that is above criticism. ”

“ During these extraordinary times, we are experiencing a growing culture of service, citizenship, and compassion in our country, with millions of Americans sacrificing for causes greater than self. Dedicated individuals are getting involved in mentoring through faith- based and community organizations, corporate initiatives, school-based programs, and many other outlets for kindness. By dedicating their time and their talents to offer a child a quality relationship with a caring adult, mentors strengthen our families and our communities and reflect the true spirit of America. ”

“ With the thought of that business man and others like him, we are aiming for something larger and more beneficial than a fixed set of reading courses. We have planned to give in The Mentor the broad, liberal knowledge that comes not from a strict course of study closely adhered to, but from contact with writers of authority in varied fields. The readers of The Mentor get the rich benefits afforded by many minds, and the year's reading is wide in its reach and well balanced. ”

“ Come in to give, to work, to be enrolled amongst the servants of humanity who are working for the dawn of the day of a nobler knowledge, for the coming of the recognition of a spiritual brotherhood amongst men. Come in if you have the spirit of the pioneer within you, the spirit of the volunteer; if to you it is a delight to cut the way through the jungle that others may follow, to tread the path with bruised feet in order that others may have a smooth road to lead them to the heights of knowledge. ”

“ When he becomes a companion, the change is remarkable and exhilarating. He drops glorious thoughts as richly as in his pages, while humble and gentle feelings shine out, and eclipse the idea of teaching and preaching. The ear listens for his steps and his voice, and the eye watches for the appearance of more of his writings, not as for a sermon or a lesson, but as a new hint of the direction which that intellect and those affections are taking which are primarily employed in watching over the rights and tendencies, and ameliorating the experience of those who occupy his daily regards. ”

“ Here then the relation is one of fellowship, but a fellowship where the younger is largely dependent on the older for an understanding of what he should be. By example, friendship, and personal influence a teacher is certain to affect for good or ill every member of his school. ”

“ There is an experimental fellowship, or partnership, with the Father and with his Son, which consists in this: that all which we possess in God, as being the partners or fellows of God, is brought down into our daily life, is enjoyed, experienced, and used. ”