Big Questions, Worthy Dreams: Mentoring Young Adults in Their Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Faith

by Sharon Daloz Parks

The "twenty-something" years of young adulthood are increasingly recognized as critical but puzzling. Building on the foundation she established in her classic work, The Critical Years, Sharon Parks urges thoughtful adults to assume responsibility for providing strategic mentorship during this important decade in life. She reveals also, however, the ways young adults are influenced not only by individual mentors but also by mentoring environments.

To read Young Adulthood in a Changing World, an excerpt from this book,click here.

Genres: Nonfiction, Leadership, Education, Faith

261 pages, Hardcover

First published October 5, 2000

Reviews

[Margie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A difficult book to judge. I'm not quite sure who her audience is. She seems to address those who work with young adults in all areas - college, the workplace, faith communities, and others. But the spiritual/faith language she uses is likely to be off-putting to many of those outside of faith communities. She defines faith in the context of young adult development as 'meaning-making,' which certainly broadens its applicability, but there's a strong spiritual slant.

She uses very academic language, and references many philosophers, theorists, and theologians. It's useful, when reading this book, to be familiar with at least Kant, Hegel, and Piaget. A sample paragraph: "This way of understanding our search for truth recomposes the relationship of the academy to issues of transcendent meaning. The reified boundary between empirical truth and questions of value, meaning, and faith that has characterized (if not tyrannized) the academy is, in principle, dismantled, and the whole of reality becomes the concern of the academy in its commitment to truth. It invites faculty and students to bring the competence of contemporary scholarship to the search for critically composed and worthy forms of faith within a relativized world."

The book is far less practical and more theoretical than something like "On Being a Mentor." I would recommend it to those whose focus is young adult development (campus ministers, those in leadership development positions), rather than those who might work with young people but whose focus is not particularly on their development.

[Graham Bates · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big Questions, Worthy Dreams is an important work that explains an important time in a person's life you might call new independence. It's the time after high school when a person is living away from their authority figures (either physically or symbolically) for the first time and have to make sense of the world. The book provides a scholarly look at this understudied phase of life and gives a helpful delineation of its aspects and hints to steer a person through it.

However, it's very hard to read. The conceptual chapters are very academic and dry and there are no summations to review what you have read. From the first page to the end Daloz Parks cultivates new ground. While this is a respectable practice it makes for a difficult time getting through it (hence my three and a half years from start to restart to finish).

Also, published in 2000 (when I turned 17), I felt it describes my generation then and not so much the life of my 19-year-old daughter.

It's a good read if you're interested in deeply researching the act of mentoring college-age young adults (whether in university or starting their careers) but otherwise look for more popular-level books for a more interesting read.

[Amber]

I am struggling through this book, even going so far as not picking up other books for a couple days, which is unheard of. DNF. This book was recommended by someone who works with adults/ youth in higher ed and I think that's probably the best audience for this book. It's a bit more advanced than I can take in.

[Anastasia C · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book had worthy dreams of being good but it was not. Very repetitive and i was so lost at some points i almost did not finish the book

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am of many minds concerning this book. It took me forever to get through it. Forever. There were portions I thought were dead on. Very much in line with what I experience in my work with college students. Then, there were portions that I felt just lost themselves in dense prose -- which was probably what made it such a slow go for me.

I love the title and the whole idea that it generates.

Toward the end, Parks suggests that the Big Questions and Worthy dreams one has in one's youth and young adulthood need to be revisited throughout one's life, and given the same respect and regard. I thought that was a fabulous way to conclude -- a good reminder, I think.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great book - for anyone wanting to make a difference in the lives of young people, even for hte young people themselves

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED it!!!

[Beverly Bushyhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tool!

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read for anyone looking for more insight into working with young adults!