As we celebrate National School Counseling Week, I’ve been thinking more and more about the changes in education since I started teaching more than 40 years ago, and more specifically, about the changes in school counseling during the past two decades. The mission of school counseling has always been to help students improve academic achievement, career readiness and social/emotional learning, but the way we accomplish that mission shifts periodically.
Although school counselors help students prepare for successful careers, we may need to rethink what that means, exactly. It’s estimated that 50 percent of current occupations will not exist in 10 years, and 50 percent of jobs that will exist then don't exist now. In such a changing environment, it’s a challenge to help students be prepared to succeed in the workplace. However, perhaps we can meet that challenge not by helping them develop skills for jobs that may or may not exist in a few years, but to develop the underlying abilities necessary for all occupations, current and future.
When Thomas Jefferson first envisioned a public education system, his goal was not to train students for promising careers, but to educate them to be better citizens. In the 21st century, that means helping students become functioning, productive members of society. It starts with a belief in themselves and confidence in their ability to succeed. It relies on their understanding of the importance of lifelong learning and development of learning strategies such as critical thinking, self-motivation and goal-setting. We need to practice responsibility, self-management and self-discipline. And of course, the cornerstone of good citizenship is the ability not only to co-exist with others but to demonstrate true empathy, ethical decision-making and social responsibility. Those are the qualities of good citizens that Jefferson envisioned.
Frederick Douglass once said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” We echo that statement in our belief that the primary goal of school counselors is not to build better workers but to help build better humans. That is the purpose of school counseling. That should be the purpose of education. And that’s what we celebrate this week.
Happy National School Counseling Week.
Kwok-Sze Wong, Ed.D.
ASCA Executive Director
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