Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on mentoring that works to help young people attain their own goal of post-secondary education and careers. Without goals to strive for, mentoring programs are support groups, helping people endure and cope, not overcome. Getting our children to graduate from high school is no longer enough in American education for the vast majority of families. Almost everyone will need some education or training beyond high school at some point in their career, and young people need to get in the habit of constantly improving their professional skills. Over the past decade, the goal of moving students through the K-12 system, graduating them with a diploma, and then expecting them to be able to find a job that provides for economic self-sufficiency, has dimmed.