Guest Post by: Neil Satterfield, Ed.D.

Education is going through an unprecedented period of challenge: changing family constellations, economic shifts, galloping technology, two parent families where both have to work, single parent families in growing numbers, and quality child care which is scarce and often unaffordable.

These changes often result in new problems for children and the teachers who serve them. Marion, my wife, and I have seen growing numbers of "at-risk" children in the elementary levels.

Without intervention, growing rates of dropouts are inevitable, as is juvenile delinquency, drug dependency, crime rates, unemployment, and many other indices of social well-being for our whole society.

Unfortunately, as books such as Jonathan Kozol's newest bestseller, The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America, point out, the prevailing solution -- relegate kids from low socioeconomic backgrounds into schools run more like military camps than places of learning -- is a grand failure.

As Miles Corwin's wonderful book, And Still We Rise: The trials and Triumphs of Twelve Gifted Inner-City Students, makes clear, there are so many wonderfully gifted and talented children in our nation's poorest schools. However, these children are often all but neglected.

One solution to supporting such children is the one-on-one relationship and support offered by adult mentors. A serious commitment by adults to building strong mentoring relationships with students can have powerful effects on kids. Dynamic groups such as Big Brothers Big Sisters have made major efforts in this regard. Such programs ought to be applauded, but more is needed in some of our poorest schools.

A few years back, Dr. E. Paul Torrance and I began looking at strategies for building effective mentoring programs for ethnically diverse, economically disadvantaged youth. The result was our book, Multi-Cultural Mentoring of the Gifted and Talented. This book deals with some fundamental issues and needs involved with mentoring disadvantaged youth who need "one on one" intervention for a significant time period to make a lasting difference. It provides a basic guideline as to what mentoring is and can be.

Should your school or organization have a serious interest in starting and effective mentoring program, you are welcome to contact me for guidance or support. I can be reached by email at nebosa@comcast.net.

About this Blog Entry's Guest Author
Neil Satterfield, Ed.D, brings a multi-faceted base of experience to education that includes: An Ed.D. in Educational Psychology; 20 years as a professor of Sociology; An MSSW in Social Work; and 28 years practice in child welfare, juvenile corrections, and clinical social work in private practice. He was founder and department head of a bachelor 's level social work program. Dr. Satterfield served on the Savannah-Chatham County (Georgia) board of education.