I really liked the section that laid out goals and
objectives for each specific grade (Brown, 2012, pg. 266), but I am concerned
about who is going to help these students accomplish these goals. I suppose it
could work to have the teacher make these goals part of a class assignment
(i.e. “Go home and ask your mommy and daddy where they go everyday!”), but, in
a counseling class, I’m sure the goal would be for a school counselor to aid in
these areas. I recently went back to visit my elementary school and, when I
told my assistant principal that my career goals were to be an elementary
school counselor, she kind of sighed and told me that my elementary school was
the only one in the district that had its own counselor; all the other schools
had to share. This made me sad for many reasons: I felt sorry for the kids who
wouldn’t be able to form the same close relationships that my classmates and I
formed with our counselor, and I felt pessimistic about my job opportunities
when I do graduate. This is my basis for questioning how present a counselor
will be in order to help students achieve these goals relating to career
knowledge at every grade level.
I thought it was interesting in the “Planning and
Implementing Individual Student Planning” section where Brown pointed out which
demographics complete bachelor’s degrees more than others (2012, pg. 274). Finally,
women got praised for something! But this also made me wonder why, if men and
some ethnic minorities are a target group for finishing college degrees, why
aren’t they listed as “special needs?” (Yes, I’m still stuck on that). But all
resentment aside, I saw the importance of the chart on the subsequent page. It
reminds me of my childhood memory book where I would list my friends and
interests every year so I could see how I’ve grown and changed, but this one
seemed to have a direct purpose. For a student to document their changing (or
unchanging) interests will allow them to both feel in control of what their
future is as well as see how their interests and skills match up. This sense of
control is important for that age group because they are under a lot of stress
to decide their future, so hopefully laying out all of the facts will make them
feel better about making a decision. I think the role of the counselor here is
to help students who might be confused or down about themselves realize that
they do have strengths and interests.
Brown, D. (2012). Career information,
career counseling, and career development(10th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.
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