Blog 10

Blog 10

            I thought that some of Brown’s ideas of how to engage college students in their own career planning were a bit ambitious, to say the least. He begins the chapter by saying that the college demographic is much vaster than is usually stereotyped, including older (than 18-22) people who are going through career or life changes (Brown, 2012, pg. 294). Although he acknowledges this, in a later section, Brown proposes that college students work independently to explore their career options (even though the results of his control group-less study were not significant) in order to most effectively find their path (Brown, 2012, pg. 304). Theoretically, giving a client freedom to work on their own is a beneficial idea; it was even proposed in Gibson, Super, and Savickas’s frameworks. My problem lies in the practicality of the idea. No matter what age group the student, I feel that obstacles will get in the way of a student finding a true path on their own, whether it is the disinterest of an 18-year-old or the busy lifestyle of a single father who is going back to college in his 40’s. I’m not necessarily advocating for a career counselor handing over all the supplies for someone’s life choices, but I think it is important for a counselor to supply an outline for steps that a person in the midst of indecision (or even pre-decision) needs to take.

            Now that the criticism has been brought to light, I will highlight some positive things I found in this chapter. Clearly there are plenty of sections for guided activity; I just wanted to address the incongruent part. Always with the skepticism, this one. Anyway, I really liked how Brown identified the idea that although counselors may be dealing with the cohort of “college students,” this does not mean that all the students are at the same level: not just in age but in decision-level. Brown believes that it is crucial for students at the same level to be put in the same group (Brown, 2012, pg. 306-7) and I wholeheartedly agree. This is something that my group discussed when planning our workshop. It is not only important so that each group can discuss relevant issues to their current placement, but they can also feel a sense of comfort and camaraderie in their similar networks.

            This same idea is brought up when Brown talks about peer counseling (2012, pg. 308). Although he approaches the topic as if peer counseling is a last resort when a professional is not available, it seems to me that a knowledgeable student would be essential in the same idea of comfort that was addressed in my previous paragraph.

Brown, D. (2012). Career Information, career counseling, and career development (10^th           ed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc.