I totally agree with your comments and I think your idea is great. However, with the increasing number of new people every day on Steemit, I think it's hard for whales to follow each beginners...
For whales to remain whales, it is necessary that Steemit remains Steemit ... and for this we need to attract people to develop the network. I agree with you that beginners need whales to develop but the whales also need to encourage young users by up-voting their posts of quality to maintain Steemit attractive for new users.
And some whales like @fyrstikken give their chance to newbies by upvoting them posts. Thanks to him !
RE: SteemIt Whales Mentorship Program - Your Thoughts?