MAPPING CHANGES IN THE SOCIAL LIVES OF CHILDREN: AN ANALYSIS OF ACTIVITIES AND BEST PRACTICE INITIATED THROUGH SCHOOL-BASED MENTORING IN PHILADELPHIA

Abstract

What kinds of changes do mentoring programs initiate for children and their schools? According to a study by Public/Private Ventures which specializes in social policy, just under half of mentoring programs are based at a particular site (Herrera, 1999). Schools are the most common site recognized. Schools purchase the mentoring program examined in the study to follow. Adults work with children primarily on academic activities and they are paid to do so. The school pays half of the cost of the NSCC (National School and Community Corp) program and federal funds provide the remaining support. Herrera (1999, p. 11) has argued the most direct benefit of school-based programs is the mentor's integration into the school environment and the role of advocate that the mentor can play. Advocacy has been recognized as the critical task performed by mentors. As advocate, mentors develop a relationship with a child, which advances youth development and deters youth detrimental behavior (Herrera, 1999). This singular relationship, the advocate mentor and child, is challenged by research that follows. The advocate mentor recognizes a socialization model used in studying children that assumes the mentor as the active role taker shaping the child as passive recipient of mentoring. This model relies on an adult perspective, assuming the child to be an empty vessel serving as clay to be shaped (Waksler, 1994). Waksler (1994) has criticized this model, arguing that children must be taken seriously as a topic of study – not as objects of socialization. The interpretive model of childhood development by contrast is more useful for examining the data gathered in the following study. Rather than focus on the advocate mentor in relationship with a child, the interpretive model recognizes the child as actor and highlights the range of peer relationships sponsored through mentoring activities. This collective view as contrasted with the singular relationship assumes a different perspective on childhood development.

Citation

Butler, S. (2005), "MAPPING CHANGES IN THE SOCIAL LIVES OF CHILDREN: AN ANALYSIS OF ACTIVITIES AND BEST PRACTICE INITIATED THROUGH SCHOOL-BASED MENTORING IN PHILADELPHIA", Bass, L. (Ed.) Sociological Studies of Children and Youth (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 213-229. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1537-4661(04)10011-1