Customer Reviews

Stand by Me: The Risks and Rewards of Mentoring Today's Youth (Family and Public Policy)

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As someone who has worked in the field of youth mentoring for over 30 years, this is a book I've been waiting for. Ms. Rhodes combines research with readability, validating what a lot of us already know about the power of mentoring. Equally important are her concerns as mentoring programs expand into new venues and plan on significant growth. Her research reminds us of the challenges and care that must be taken to build sustainable, long term relationships.

Having read the original Public Private Ventures research on Big Brother Big Sister, I found her deeper analysis of their data and findings an excellent addition to the original findings of the study.

The chapters on why some relationships work and others fail,is insightful and should be read by any adult involved in a mentoring relationship or considering the possibility. Again,
her ability to translate her research into practical how to advice, and explain why it works is extraordinary.

For program planners, her step-by-step advice on how to develop an effective mentoring program is invaluable and research based. Her emphasis on training and the infrastructure of support needed for mentors to be successful, is an important reminder as mentoring goes "to scale".

There is a wealth of information in this easily readable book and I highly recommend it to anyone who cares about effective, quality mentoring for today's youth.

As someone who was searching for a book on mentoring young students this book helps put things into perspective. Ms. Rhodes explains the benefits of the youth needing to be helped and those who help them. Rhodes examines the psychological process behind mentoring. She expands upon the bonds that develops between mentors and youth, what they bring to the process and what they get out of it, and the important role adults who are not their parents can play in the development of children. A lot of us know that mentoring is important but she brings the facts to life. She explains the need to take great care when deciding to be a mentor or not, infact she says do not become a mentor if your heart is not completely into it.

She uses many different thoriest to prove her points and help you better understand why young people need to be mentored, reguradless of their backgrounds. I thought that I knew a lot about the benefits of mentoring the young, but she clarifies why the young need the mentoring and why there is a stronger need for mentors these days. She explains that there are more single parent or duel working parents and therefore there is less adult child relationships within the family. She tells us of the importance of mentors to help the young become better people by basing their decisions on good role models and not just their friends.

Jean Rhodes, professor of psychology at UMass-Boston and former faculty member at Harvard and UChicago, has written the most thorough book to date about the mentoring process. Employing superb research skills and accessible language for both a professional and lay audience, she captures some of the essential components of mentoring that we as a society need to discuss from both a public policy perspective and a psychological care approach. Her analysis and discussion of ten years of empirical research help support her arguement with essential data that adds to the growing body of knowledge on mentoring. This is a book for community activists, religious leaders, social scientists and concerned citizens.
PM Camic, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Education, Columbia College Chicago

Dr. Rhodes knows her stuff, and beyond her interest in facts, figures and statistics you get the feeling she actually cares about youth in a one to one way, not just in hundreds of thousands. When she says that there are two million teens involved in some sort of mentoring program, it makes you feel sad about the millions more who need such a program and yet don't have the means or incentive to discover it for themselves. For, as her research shows, such programs are often of great benefit to the youths, who would grow up with twisted morality or stunted social values without mentoring.

And yet there is a dark side to this happy story, for all too often (says Dr. Rhodes) there may be a boy or girl whose psyche is not helped at all by tutoring (or mentoring) and who may be poorly matched with someone who really owly cares for them to the extent that they can feel good about themselves and tell their friends around the water cooler, "Oh, I helped my Little Brother this weekend," when really all he did was perhaps drive him to an arcade and give him a ten dollar bill telling the boy to enjoy himself. Such mentoring does not help--and even worse, this may hurt the kids. For young people are not cogs in a mechanical wheel, and they do not have interchangeable parts. In this way adolescence has bypassed modernism, and it is time the sociologists realized it.

Dr. Rhodes follows correct protocols, and yet she still believes in the sanctity of the individual personality--you might even say, the "soul" of the at-risk teen.

As a teacher and volunteer mentor, I really enjoyed this book. It was written very clearly and I found Jean E. Rhodes' reflections on mentoring to be right on target. She warns us about the possible pitfalls of mentoring , but provides a well-argued path toward creating better relationships. This book has a heart and soul, and I highly recommend it.

Very well written. Based on what appears to be a pretty thorough review of the available literature, but written in a manner that is digestable for a wide variety of audiences. Covers most major topics, from match to closure. Discusses variable associated with effective programs and matches.

This is a timely, in-depth book that really gives folks a perspective of the joys and challenges of mentoring. Superb resource and important data for all to see! I highly recommend this book for anyone who understands or wishes to understand the relevance of youth mentoring.