Blog 13

            I am not going to lie about my feeling on the opening vignette. When I first read it my immediate thoughts were along the lines of wondering what the hell had I just read. However, after I read the accompanying questions for the vignette things became a little clearer and I admittedly was offended. Was the text insinuating that I was supposed to assume that the yelling mother was a minority? That she was impoverished? That she possessed some sort of mental health issue? Because those aspects never crossed my mind. My immediate thoughts were that this was a middle class European-American mother that was of fine mental health but she had a strong disdain for the school feeling that it did not offer the best opportunity for her son. Only afterwards did those thoughts cross my mind. That is not to say that I don’t acknowledge the existence of factors such as cultural ways of communication (high versus low context) or socioeconomic status that could have come into play. However, I also feel as if those factors only should come into play when there is a clear and positive assurance that these factors may be coming into play. However, the vignette did an excellent job setting up the ever-changing dynamics and constructs we, as counselors, have to worry about, that I don’t feel other educational professionals are even aware of or take concern of.

            One thing I think that the chapter and article did exceptionally well was to highlight and frame the need for counselors to best address the needs of students. Moreover, addressing the needs of the student’s family and/or community and not just the needs of the student. I think that is best highlighted in that quote from the article: “[The school’s principal] believed that the counselors often had a "bigger picture of the needs of the school than other staff members." I think this is always true. While our future coworkers are educated in pedagogical techniques (Teachers) or motivating other faculty members to produce best results (Principals) we’re taught to look beyond the numbers. Sure, there are some teachers that attempt to do this but they find themselves hamstringed by local, state, and national policies often times. However, we’re taught to almost instantaneously look beyond what is deemed best for the school and focus solely on the students’. Our accountability/success is directly tied into that whereas teachers can be excellent teachers but if they get a kinesthetic learner but have to teach traditionally, it’ll reflect badly on their measure of accountability; standardized testing. The same basic principal falls on the principal and accountability as well. I think that this is why these emerging facets are thrust upon counselors first because they deal with what we’re inherently supposed to address in the first place. That is also why I think it’s our job to educate our eventual coworkers on these matters. That was even highlighted in the article where “another principal noted that as a result of her counselor's influence and leadership, she and her staff had changed how they thought about students' academic problems and the role students could have in assessing their own performance.” I’d wager that constructs such as poverty, multicultural factors, and the like immediately came into mind for other faculty but certainly did for the counselor(s).

            All in all I think this chapter and article reinforced just how important the need for counselors is. We’re not just helping one student at a time through individual counseling sessions. Rather we’re systemic change agents because we’re ethically trained to be by understanding various dynamics, that aren’t so easily discernable, that come into play and effect children. And as the chapter made evident, there are new concerns always on the horizon and who will be the first individuals taking the brunt of education on these concerns? Counselors. Hell, I think that Mrs. Ostrowski, Mr. Sharpe, and Mr. Milton hammered these points home in the conversation tonight.

Dollarhide, C.T., & Saginak, K.A. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs (2nd

           

Ed.). New York:   Pearson, Inc.

Amatea, E. & Clark, M. (2005). Changing schools, changing counselors: A qualitative study

            of school administrators' conceptions of the school counselor role. Professional School

Counseling 9(1), 16.