By Judy Jones
In the editorial by Paul E. Barton in the Feb. 4th edition of the Tampa Bay Times he wrote,
“Guidance counselors … play an important – even critical – role in the success of students during their school years, and after. Often, however, counselors can’t fulfill this role because…the ones available are over-burdened with administrative assignments that divert them from their professional responsibilities.”
Recently retired, I served 30 years as an educator in Pinellas County, the last 15 as a school counselor. I have personally experienced the trend of Guidance counselors being given more and more administrative duties, taking them away from their roles in character development and helping students cope with today’s challenging social environment. Counselors are trained to identify and help children at risk . Intervention in a troubled student’s life at an early age can help prevent violence in our schools particularly in this age of Columbine, Sandy Hook and Virginia Tech.
Counselors play a critical role in teaching drug and violence prevention, anti-bullying, conflict-resolution, peer mediation and core character values. They also provide interventions with students experiencing a crises such as dealing with anger, divorce, death in the family, homelessness or even those contemplating suicide. With the number of American families in crises today, the Guidance counselor is often the last chance for a child to receive the benefit of interacting with a nurturing adult.
An excellent academic curriculum does not have to be at the expense of Character development. In schools across the country, where exemplary character initiatives have the support of their entire staffs, statistics have shown that attendance and academic scores increase. This is true even in the most challenged inner-city schools. Further, students are more invested in their school while violence, bullying, and disciplinary problems decrease.
By giving EQUAL focus to character development as well as academic success, students are given the skills they need to stay in the classroom and the trend toward violence will be greatly reduced.
