The Buddy-Buddy System

Daniela Elliott
Blog #5, pages 126-180
Rigorous Researcher

A term that came up towards the end of the reading under the “Role of the Mentor” section was the educational strategy of vertical or intergenerational mentoring.  The book speaks about a private school in Texas in which vertical mentoring is mandatory.  What interested me most about this strategy is how useful and successfully it can be for both parties involved.  It’s possible, to underestimate the effect of two students working together and in their own way helping one another.  It’s a powerful tool and can be overlooked in public school systems.

Whether it’s a young, maturing adult working with an older community citizen or pairing up a young elementary student with an older elementary student; any pairing of young and old can have a great result. As Education.com posted, mentoring is “a relationship between a more experienced person and a younger person which involves mutual caring, commitment and trust.”

Some of the student benefits listed on the website include: 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 27% less likely to begin using alcohol, 53% less likely to skip school, 37% less likely to skip a class, less likely to hit someone, more confident of their performance in schoolwork and demonstrating improved relations with families.  These benefits were noted after an 18-month study of a Big Brother Big Sister; although ages and ethnicity of participants were not noted in the article, it was stated that the effects of the program were even greater among minority students who had not already begun using illegal drugs or alcohol.

Intergenerational mentoring can provide for extra attention for those who need it, offering the help of an older student/adult to help give perspective of life or simply an ear to talk to.  In relation to the book, offering such services to students, young and old, who are still trying growing up and mature at different times than other students could possibly enjoy speaking to someone neutral.