Nathan Scarbrough
Reflection on Metacognition and Multicultural Competence
Article
This
article made an excellent point that I’m amazed I had not considered
before. Being that most of the theories
we have learned about thus-far in the course place some emphasis on the
importance of one’s interaction with their environment when making career
decisions, it makes me feel almost incompetent for not considering the effects
that culture has on career-related decisions before reading this article.
The dominant
theory discussed in this article (CACCM) is the only one that I have read to
this point that highlights the importance of one’s culture on their career
options and decisions. This article
reviews the main points of this model and suggests steps to improve upon
it. This article admits that there is
little research currently on the effect of culture on one’s career, however, it
certainly couldn’t hurt for the counselor to identify and explore the impact of
their client’s sociocultural, historical, and political factors associated with
their ethnicity. While previous theories
may have accounted for some of this information (ex. Gottfredson’s theory of
Circumscription and Compromise) it is not a specific part of any of them. That chance of a counselor picking up on
these factors is unfortunately slim.
It is
generally unknown how gender, race, sexual orientation, and all cultural
factors affect career-decisions, but one thing is universally agreed upon;
ethnic minorities have similar ambitions, but perceive fewer opportunities and
more barriers in terms of their desired career-paths. Many theories we have learned do a good job
at exploring the individual and his/her subjective experience. This article cautions against that, as
emphasis on the individual may lead the counselor to ignore macroenvironmental
factors which may ultimately affect their career-choices.
Another
critical point this article makes is that counselors must be mindful not just
of the culture of their client, but of their culture and how they perceive other
races. Counselors may unknowingly
stereotype and hold biases for or against other cultures. Not that anyone is accusing counselors of
being blatantly racist, but they may not see things entirely clearly. Allow me to make a simile here; it’s like how
most people from Philadelphia think that the Eagles are going to win the
super-bowl this year. Despite the clear
lack of talent (and morality) in many of the players, people who associate
themselves with that particular group seem to hold them in much higher esteem
than I think the evidence would support.
For this reason, counselors must have insight into themselves and their
thoughts associated with different cultures.
If counselors and their clients can think about their own thoughts
(metacognition), identify their strengths and areas of challenge, they will be
better able to implement effective goals and strategies for their clients. This article stresses the importance of
flexibility and critical thinking on the end of the counselor, and pleads for
more research to be done on this topic, so that this critical element of
career-decision making can be more fully explored and understood.
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