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‘Counselors not seen as part of the school system’
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Posted on Feb 15 2005
Sadly, people don’t seem to see counselors as an integral part of the school system.
The Center for Learning Connections program director Cal Crow admitted this during the NMI Occupational Information Coordinating Committee O’Net Training Workshop for CNMI Counselors held Saturday at the Pacific Islands Club.
“They don’t see their [counselors’] importance,” she told participants of the workshop, which was held to celebrate Counselors Week, Feb. 7-11.
Crow said that when students are sent to a guidance counselor, it implies that the counselors are at a separate section of the school. He said that people view school as an institution with classrooms, textbooks, tests, and teachers, with guidance counselors as a separate ancillary service.
Crow said the dilemma is not only confined in the CNMI but is also evident in the U.S. mainland.
It is not only the students who think that way, but also a majority of school systems. In some cases, when schools have budget problems, the first thing to go are the guidance counselors.
“If there’s funding problem, the counselors are the first people to be let go because counselors are viewed as non-critical and non-crucial part of the schools in all states,” he said. “It’s difficult to let people know what they [counselors] really do, so they are viewed as extra in many cases. An administrator would say, ‘I can get along without a counselor but I can’t get along without a Math teacher.’”
Crow said Saturday’s workshop hopes to change that impression and help schools better understand that guidance counselors also have an impact on learning.
He said the workshop tried to look at the different roles counselors play in improving learning and how they help students identify their strengths and talents.
Guidance counselors from schools on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota attended the workshop as well as counselors from the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, who said the seminar would help them guide students in their program.
The workshop was held in collaboration with the Public School System vocational education program. (Marconi Calindas)
