Trials & Errors #71 - Elmers or Mentors? Optimize the Process

This is the forum discussion for issue 71, dealing with the relationship between two hams in the Elmer or Mentor process. No matter what you call them, these special people are essential to the Amateur Radio Services and deserve special recognition for their efforts. If you've got questions or comments, please post them here. Or, if you need mentoring on a topic, reach out and ask for it right here! 73, Dave W7DGJ

 

I quit Elmering, enough idiots already.

 

Hey Lex, I don't think your message jives with the tone that most Elmers (Mentors) and their fellow hams would appreciate. I'm a bit surprised, but hey everyone has their own beliefs. Just think what would happen if teachers said this about their kids and gave up teaching. Dave, W7DGJ

 

Dave,
Good point on the impression people have of retired peoples time.

I think it's important to define a Teacher and a Mentor.

I've always thought of a Teacher as someone who imparts knowledge in a formal way.
They really don't get too involved with their students activities outside of class.
A person teaching a HAM class for a Club would be a good example.

A Mentor however, is a much less formal arrangement and harder to define.
I think the classic definition is an older person taking a younger person ''under their wing"" and is usually initiated by the younger person looking to gain knowledge from the older person. But this isn't always the case as sometimes it's as simple as some peers getting together to explore an idea that one of them has more advanced knowledge of. It's informal and may be as simple as someone asking you to help them understand something.

If there was one key to a ""mentorship"" that I would stress, is that both parties need to be respectful of the other party, as if they were friends, not Teacher and Student. After all, you are asking someone to take their time to impart knowledge and experience for free. And if you are the one being asked to take that time, that you are able to be respectful, open minded, and able to give that time. If not, it's not going to be a positive experience for either party.

The mentors I've had in my life I consider Friends and we are on a first name basis.
The Teachers I've had in my life I consider Teachers and address by their Christian names.

Good point on information validity.
My test is that if it comes from a Forum, it is suspect and needs verification outside the Forum.
If it comes from someone who is actually a subject matter expert (however informal), I tend to accept that information as valid more often than not.

 

Thanks for the help, Ron, great post! Agree with you on both major points, Dave W7DGJ

 

My school experience:

Teacher -- Poorly imparted information without context on how / if it will be useful later in life. Most math teachers.

Mentor -- Useful skills you will remember and use for life. Mr Harris, our middle school geometry teacher, teaching us how to do stuff with just a ruler, compass and protractor.

As far as ham radio -- you have to adjust your teaching / mentoring to the student(s) -- mnemonics, funny stories / cartoons, practical demonstrations. One example would be all the safety crap, especially climbing telescoping towers. I summed up why not with one cartoon showing a crudely-drawn stick-man with his arm cut off, falling from a tower. The other cartoon was a guy getting lit up from raising a mast into the electric lines.

 

Thanks John. Great input . . . I hope you've seen the current column about the topic as well, Dave W7DGJ