October 30, 2001

3:03 PM

Ever wanted to be an online mentor? Have you ever had an online mentor? So many are so terribly worried about so many things right now. What are we doing? Have you had a mentor on MeFi that showed you the way? The time to learn is now (methinks).
posted by Wulfgar! (9 comments total)

Claims of ignorance and shallow thought abound right now. What are any us doing to correct that, either off or on this list. I'm tutoring philosophy students, and hopefully expanding what they know from the "has been" to the "want to be". And I'm learning from those here on this list. I'm just wondering what the rest of you are doing to guide and educate the persons around you.
posted by Wulfgar! at 3:09 PM on October 30, 2001

This is too weird Wulf....I am sure it is not what you had in mind...but about 10 minutes ago, before I logged on Mefi I was thinking about the fact that (I am in my Junior yr trying to obtain my BS in Info Tech., at an online college that I just transferred into,)...I am starting to meet classmates online and was just thinking that maybe I will meet someone who will become an online mentor for me..Seemed strange when I looked up and saw this post.
posted by carolinagrl at 3:15 PM on October 30, 2001

I had a real live mentor once. He died a few years ago :( I considered him my best friend, and I think one of the most important qualities was that he was incredibly brilliant- it seemed he could patiently advise me on just about anything. There are lots of qualities you should look for BEFORE trying to establish such a relationship- here's a good start.
posted by Counselco at 4:10 PM on October 30, 2001

mentors are for the weak.
posted by clavdivs at 5:41 AM on October 31, 2001

Don't know much about online mentoring, but there are plenty of offline opportunities still available. Check it out, it can be a very rewarding experience.
posted by groundhog at 5:58 AM on October 31, 2001

The site you linked isn't about mentoring, it's about cheap pseudo-courses for "business professionals." Granted, they're only $8 - $20 each, but what do those courses have to do with mentorship?

Not to be bitchy, but what does this sentence mean: "I'm tutoring philosophy students, and hopefully expanding what they know from the "has been" to the "want to be"'?
Though I am a former (reformed?) philosopher, I don't have a clue what you mean by that.
posted by yesster at 6:54 AM on October 31, 2001

Tutoring philosphy students is more than just a little weird, and its changed pretty dramatically this year. When I've done it before, the emphasis has been on what whomever in history had said, and how to regurgitate it on a test. This year, all my students want to apply what they're learning to their lives (specifically "current events"). It was a freshman ethics student of mine that called the application of learning what "has been" a process of changing what and who he wants to be. He's also the one who consistently uses the term "mentor", because of the fact that this is facilitating a change in his life. That's kinda what got me thinking about this in the first place.
As to your critique of the second link, I share it. But the idea of having an online mentor still seems nebulous to me, and I hoping that others would clarify how that could or couldn't work. After all, it isn't my link, I just posted it ;-).
posted by Wulfgar! at 8:11 AM on October 31, 2001

Congrats on having some real students, who see philosophy as something other than "dead white guys writing about stuff that doesn't affect me." And I commend you for your work.
posted by yesster at 10:06 AM on October 31, 2001

This project was interesting once, but sadly neglected...
posted by mook at 10:14 AM on October 31, 2001