The Effect of Mentors’ Guidance on Their Mentees

978 Words2 Pages

You will interact with numerous people during your lifetime; however, only important and significant people will make influences in your life. In the movie Something the Lord Made directed by Joseph Sargent, Vivien Thomas, an African-American carpenter who dreams of going to college and becoming a doctor, is forced to work as a lab assistant under the instructions and guidance of an arrogant and eccentric cardiologist, Dr. Alfred Blalock. Despite having no college degree, Vivien Thomas is able to learn medical and surgical skills through the guidance of Dr. Blalock, and their cooperation ultimately leads to the discovery of a cure for blue baby syndrome. Similar to Dr. Blalock’s tutelage, I have learned to love biology under the teaching and mentoring of my biology teacher, Dr. Cron. Even though both Dr. Cron and Dr. Blalock are excellent instructors, they are extremely and uniquely different in their mentoring styles. Differences in mentoring styles can have huge influences and impacts on the mentees’ development of skills, and personalities.
How the mentors guide their mentees is crucial and essential to the development of the mentees’ skills. In the movie Something the Lord Made, as an ambitious and arrogant cardiologist, Dr. Blalock told other doctors that he “sees opportunities” whenever they “see risks” (Sargent, 2004). From this quote, it can be concluded that Dr. Blalock is exceptionally skillful and has high confidence in himself. Additionally, this shows that Vivien Thomas will be able to learn a great deal of skills since he is mentored by a competent doctor. Moreover in the movie, while trying to find a cure for blue baby syndrome, Dr. Blalock told Vivien Thomas that he should not “waste anymore time on theoretical c...

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... As demonstrated by the example of Dr. Cron, the personalities of the mentees can be greatly influenced by the mentoring styles.
Differences in mentoring and guiding styles of the mentors can have a considerable influence and impact on the mentee’s development of the skills and personalities. Through the arrogant and ambitious yet skillful guidance of Dr. Blalock, Vivien Thomas is able to learn how to rightfully challenge conventional theories in order to develop revolutionary changes in science. Additionally, Thomas also gains more confidence in himself and has the courage to stand up against discrimination. On the other hand, I have also learned how to be diligent and passionate about what I do as a consequence of Dr. Cron’s caring and dedicated mentoring styles. In the end, the tutelage and guidance of the mentors can have lasting effects on their mentees’ lives.

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