Wow! The opening case study to this chapter had me actually
getting angry that an individual would think that the role of a school
counselor was solely about getting them into college. Even more so, the case
study reminded me of the two, not just one, school counselors of my high school
who never left their own offices. The only communication I had with them was in
my senior year asking what I planned to do when I graduated. I basically said
that I've already applied and been accepted to college. With that one
statement, I was told "congratulations" and dismissed from their
office.
Although I can honestly say I had no
"Super-Counselor" throughout my education, I clearly remember my AP
Biology teacher being the best resource I had that truly reflected the role of
a school counselor. She truly understood the situations I was going through,
and gave me the best advice and counseling I received in my senior year of high
school.
The chapter mentioned how nonteachers must become educated
about the school environment and culture. This is definitely something I think
about quite frequently as I am in my second year of the grad program, and it is
on me to become familiar with the various schools in the area. Before starting
the program here at Millersville, I moved from Bethlehem, PA only three weeks
before I started classes. In summary, I dropped myself in an environment that I
had no knowledge of or about the school districts within the area.
The section on "Commitment to Diversity and Social
Justice," definitely held the most importance to me as I work to become a
school counselor. As the text gave examples of disenfranchised student, many of
the categories I could not help but realize, "Yes, I fall into this
categorization." It was definitely an experience to graduate from an
extremely rural school district where my sister and I were the only two
individuals that fell outside of the White, Anglo-American student body and attend
a college located in Philadelphia.
The last reflection moment presented in the chapter made me
realize that the school counselors I had throughout my primary and secondary
education were not qualified to be responsible for the title of school
counselor. For the most part, I never saw my school counselors interacting with
students, giving a presentation to a class, or even taking the time to observe
a classroom.
References
Dollarhide, C.T., & Saginak, K.A. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs (2nd Ed.). New York: Pearson, Inc. ISBN: 978-0-13-705199-1.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned how the opening description or rather misconception of school counseling made you angry. I think the point of it was to get us ready to hear these misconceptions more often than we'd ever hope to hear. This part of the chapter and your blog got me thinking back to our career development course and study of the individual...both classes we were asked about our impression of our school counselors in the past. I remember the majority of us either didn't know who our school counselors were or we knew who they were and barely spoke a sentence to them if that. It seems that for whatever reason and maybe it was because students like you or I were just outside the counselor's expected radar. I had issues but I didn't cause a whole lot of trouble...I just didn't show up to school. What I am saying is it's possible school counselors at the time were only allowd to focus on results and acheivement. It seems like according to the history laid out in chapter 1 that the 1980's through 2000 has been very much focused on scores instead of a more holistic focus. Anyway my point is, thank goodness we get to be a part of this new wave of counselors that know it's important to be seen and heard by all students and that everyone deserves to know about the services and resources available to them.