Teaching a class vs. mentoring a student

College Confidential Community
1

<p>Would you prefer to do either (a) or (b)?
Original question: Would you admire the person who did (a) more or the person who did (b) more?</p>

<p>(a) devote much his/her spare time to teaching students on a particular classroom? (in a program like Teach for America?)
(b) devote much his/her spare time to mentoring an individual student?
(c) highly context-dependent?</p>

<p>Certainly, this forces us to examine our value systems and what we admire in others. The person who does (a) will probably appear more selfless than the person who does (b). The person who does (b) may also be seen as one in a position of brainwashing the individual student (although in reality, the person who does (b) isn’t much different from a parent in that respect, although he/she may be more qualified than the parent in mentoring the individual student). The person who does (b) is also especially likely to forge a close relationship or even a loyal minion. :stuck_out_tongue: (this depends on what he mentors the person on, and whether such mentoring extends to social-emotional issues in addition to academic ones).</p>

<p>(b) is of considerable risk of course (what if the person fails to meet expectations? Or rebels?) (a) can have low returns too. but (b) can be extremely rewarding in some cases, as can (a).</p>

<p>==
personally i’m favorable to (b) - this is mostly a function of the distrust of educational institutions that I’ve developed over the last few years</p>

<p>Of course, (a) can actually be quantified in some ways that are used in future resumes, whereas (b) frequently cannot be quantified (until it comes to the point of students a professor advised - which really only applies for professors).</p>

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<p>You have to define “mentor” better.</p>

3

<p>Me and two friends are currently teaching a fifth grade class through a program at school and it is more fun than I expected. The only problem is how we are expected to teach the kids verbatim to the instruction manual. That means we have to do all the pointless activities that just fill up time -_=</p>

4

<p>“mentor” can be used as a verb. By “mentor” I mean spent a large amount of time helping an individual student out. (although it could come in a variety of ways). namely, helping a student learn over an extended period of time (which can come in a variety of ways). (one could help the student learn a particular subject, or one could help the student develop as a human being). which makes it account for a wide variety of behavior (that varies more than teaching a class). but the point is still there (and the time investment can be very significant)</p>