Date of Conferral

1972

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisor

Joseph Carol, Ed. D.

Abstract

This article, which appeared in the January '72 edition of The School Counselor, talks about what counselors have done, doing, and what the author, a school counselor, thinks they should be doing. He discusses some factors operating to narrow the counselor's role: the student stereotype of counselors as "schedule-changers," the administrative view of counseling as a clerical function, the "psychiatric myth" which casts any person in a helping profession in the role of dream analyst and explorer of the dark unconscious. The writer sees counseling as the major pupil personnel service available on the school campus. Counseling should be concerned with helping the student replace maladaptive behaviors with adaptive ones. He feels the action-counselor must base his/her approach on learning principles. The author explores behavior-modification as a counseling technique in relation to student socio-economic and cultural levels, its empirical relation to learning principles, and compatibility with the educational setting. The writer further details the responsibility of the administrator in facilitating counseling success.

"An Applied Systems Approach to Career Exploration" –

The author here describes in detail a systems approach to a traditional counseling service: that of providing career guidance and information to the high school student. The writer, a practicing counselor, outlines some of the "pre-system" problems which must be overcome in instituting any guidance system which has the aura of social technology. The career-exploration service is integrated into four phases of personal exploration undergone by the student with the aid of the counseling department. The writer outlines how the system helps the student in:

Phase 1: selection of a post-graduate goal.

Phase 2: self-evaluation.

Phase 3: study of career goal requirements.

Phase 4: the projected high school program.

The author discusses the benefits of the systems approach in terms of increased counselor effectiveness, possibly because of the altered counselor role; the involvement of the academic departments in the counseling function; and the possibility of providing more in-depth information to greater numbers of students. In addition, the writer's plan integrates the parent in the goal-setting and planning process. Many parents have felt isolated from the school environment in the post-Sputnik educational era. In the middle-sized suburban high school which serves as the case study, career planning is something the student, not the counselor, does.

"Counseling Where It's At"

The author-counselor underlines the necessity for a change in counselor "style"--both in personal presentation and availability. He then goes on to describe a variety of counseling programs whose keynote is authenticity. He describes the creation of "critical incidental” rap groups where real cops and real students are able to dialogue about student friction in the community; and members of the two generations can talk to one another across the "gap" with the aid of the counseling staff. The writer also describes a change in the structure of the counseling department's use of personnel. An intake process has been established which permits the counselee almost immediate contact with a counselor. This differential use of counselors is an attempt to meet each counselee's specific needs and expectancies of counseling by having an intake counselor screen the student's entering concern and then helping the counselee match his need with the appropriate counselor or intervention approach.

"Counselor Power"

In this article the writer details the establishment of a program using lay counselors--the high school students themselves--to provide information and referral services on campus. The writer describes the training given these students in detail and outlines some of the specific services, such as student-to-student help and information, the club can provide to the school and the community. In addition to some of the obvious benefits of such a service, the author also observes the "training-as- a-treatment mode" effect on members of the student club.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the writer, a counselor, sees authenticity, humanizing uses of social technology, and full use of the total school population in the counseling role as keynotes for the counseling profession in this decade.

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