Counselor's Advice: Follow or Not?
Decades before current times, any teacher could be informally designated “Guidance Counselor’ but in recent times, a Master’s degree in counseling is generally required to serve as a ‘School Counselor’.
Four of the career stories within this collection involve advice from a counselor who never earned a Master’s degree in school counseling. Each story demonstrates the potential for a counselor – or a well-intentioned but not professionally trained parent or friend – to provide ‘bad’ advice to a student. Real life examples from our storytellers: “You’re not college material” or “Don’t bother applying to colleges with rigorous admission standards” or “Your aptitude test best qualifies you to only work for low pay”).
Such ‘counseling’ is now less likely since a Master’s degree in counseling is now generally required within all school districts and post high school institutions.
Four career stories involve improper counselor’s advice provided between 1960 and 2000 (the main career category is listed first, then the story):
- ANIMAL CARE – VETERINARIAN – She was told by her college advisor: “You won’t be admitted to any veterinarian school.” Now as a long-time vet, she owns her vet practice which serves hundreds of four-legged patients and employs two dozen technicians and staff.
- MEDICINE – OBSTETRICS / GYNECOLOGY – As a high school student, he was told by his school counselor: “You won’t be admitted to any college so join the Navy and try to figure your life out from there.”
- REAL ESTATE – BROKER – She was told by her high school counselor: “You won’t be admitted to any highly selective university so aim lower.” But she was admitted to her first-choice school.
- TECHNOLOGY – SATELLITE IMAGING SYSTEMS – She was advised by her high school counselor to become a librarian, but she persevered to pursue a career which could utilize her interests in math and science.
All four stories demonstrate the potential reward to the student for envisioning their eventual career success by persisting toward their goal. (Cue the song from Abba’s “Momma Mia” – “I Have a Dream…… a fantasy, to help me through… reality………if you see the wonder of a fairy tale, you can seek the wonder, even if you fail……”)
Remember that an early failure or rejection in life doesn’t doom the pursuit of adult career satisfaction, once you find what you like to do and continuously study how to do it well. As an example, see the full story within LAW – TRIAL ATTORNEY – Three of his five college applications were rejected, including one he assumed was his ‘safety school’ – the state university with a high rate of accepting in-state students (apparently other than him!). After graduating from college and law school, he achieved many successful jury trial verdicts for his clients.
Fortunately for current students receiving advice from school counselors, there are now formal requirements to become certified / licensed as a School Counselor:
- Earn a Bachelor’s degree, usually with courses focusing on behavioral science, social science or education.
- Earn a Master’s degree in school counseling.
- Complete a graduate internship experience for certification / licensing requirements of the school district.
- Pass required examinations for certification / licensing.
- Continue your counseling education and stay up to date on counseling trends and changes.
A long-time school counselor (B.S. in secondary education, Master’s in post-secondary education, member of the American School Counselor’s Association (ASCA), youth recreation league coach and voted “Impact Teacher” multiple times by his school district’s senior class), notes that his initial goal for working with each student is to “Try to find out what they are interested in. From there, I will suggest courses and activities to promote their interests. After those experiences, the student will be better able to make career decisions by sticking with their first path or move on to something else.”
The American School Counselor’s Association has established professional standards which each of its school counselor members agrees to follow, including (briefly stated and minimally edited):
Mindsets – Every student:
- can learn,
- can succeed,
- should have the opportunity for a high-quality education,
- should graduate from high school prepared for postsecondary opportunities,
- should have access to an effective school counseling program involving collaboration among school counselors, students, families, teachers and administrators.
Behaviors – School counselors demonstrate high standards in the design, implementation and assessment of a school counseling program including applying legal and ethical principles of the profession and demonstrating leadership through the development and implementation of a school counseling program. School counselors provide appraisal and advisement in large and small groups plus classroom settings, including short-term counseling and referrals to appropriate school and community resources.
Planning and Assessment duties are important responsibilities for school counselors to identify gaps in achievement, attendance, discipline, opportunity and resources; also, to develop annual student outcome goals and to implement action plans aligned with annual student outcome goals and student data.
In addition to establishing performance standards for its members, ASCA has adopted ethical standards including treating all students with respect and dignity, ensuring a physically and emotionally safe environment for each student and maintaining confidentiality of student information, balanced with an understanding of rights and duties involving parents, law enforcement and healthcare providers.
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Editor’s note:
As with any career, there will be challenges with which school counselors must cope – some constant (e.g. school and taxpayer politics affecting caseloads and possibly the range of advice topics) and some short-term (e.g. unforeseeable adolescent behavior).
Of course, no education degree prevents a counselor – or parent or friend – from offering uninformed, premature advice without some appreciation of a student’s perceived strengths, abilities, and interests. Ultimately, the student – with understandable input from the student’s parent(s) (including information about the extent of family financial resources available) – should make final decisions utilizing all the advice received.
Fortunately for today’s students, the advice and wisdom offered by a school counselor is now likely to be significantly helpful due to modern school counselor education and professional standards.
