Over the years I have had the privilege of knowing many school counselors. They are kind people who choose to help the hurting and broken and lost. Many start as teachers (since that is a requirement in most states) and put in their classroom hours so that they can live out their dreams of helping kids. That worked well twenty-five years ago, but now they find themselves as test coordinators and monitors more than anything else. This saddens me greatly.
When this happens, it leaves a huge void in the schools. There was a time when a child in need could get a pass from the teacher and head to the office to visit with the counselor. Now, they show up at the office, are asked to sign up for an appointment, and are sent back to class without any help (though immediate help may be what they need). Counselors can't be blamed for this. It is one of the many side effects of standardized testing. I can still see the face of one of the best school counselors I ever knew when she said, "Gosh, I just wish they would let me see kids when kids need to see me! I did not get into this to give a standardized test!"
When we remove these very valuable folks from their "natural habitat," we lose all the way around. Teachers do not always have the time or the expertise to handle the kinds of emotional issues that arise in the all-American kid, and administrators have a more authoritarian relationship with the kids on a campus. As a result, our kids are left to their own devices and often fall into lifestyles that are not always good for them, and they drag their friends in behind them while the school counselor watches sadly from behind a pile of test booklets. Surely there is a better way to test our children without leaving them to seek help from those who are not experts in the field.
I retired after 30 years as a counselor for this very reason. For the last three years I spent most of my time on paper work and helped no one.
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