A study examined mentoring in the educational context. The study was based on a qualitative approach that involved open-ended interviews, reports and transcripts of discussions from 9 mentoring workshops, and responses and comments from more than 300 questionnaires. Examined in the study were the role of mentors in society; the motivation for mentoring; the characteristics of mentors and mentorees; mentoring in learning situations (students as mentors; teachers as mentors to teachers; symbiosis in mentoring; and patterns in mentoring gifted, nontraditional, college, and university students); women as mentors to women in careers; and patterns of mentoring in close interpersonal relationships. As far as the arguments against mentoring are concerned, it appeared that careful preparation could keep mentor programs from failing and that encouraging self-confidence and independence among mentorees could alleviate the dangers of mentorees becoming clones of or overly dependent on their mentors. Because of the tendency for interpersonal relationships to weaken in times of rapid social change, the need for mentoring has become particularly evident with the advent of the information age. Mentoring can provide students with a sense of security by helping them develop flexibility, awareness of and identification with the whole institution, and pride in the individuals associated with the institution and their talents. (A 13-page bibliography on mentors and mentoring is included.) (MN)