What part does the "Guidance Department" play in a child's education?

The President of the University of Washington stated recently that our high schools were "preparing most students for car wash attendant positions."

As a confirmation of this we have learned that Washington state is 50th in the nation in college completion rates.

Evidently "Guidance" isn't working that well.

In discussions with some of the highest levels of education in this state I have gotten agreement that Guidance just isn't as effective as it needs to be.

There are several reasons for this.

First and foremost has to be that there doesn't seem to be a clear understanding of the objectives that Guidance is to achieve.

If we had an agreement on this I think that we would find that we don't have near enough counselors to achieve these objectives.

Since we haven't got an agreement on what is the objective, it is pretty clear that we don't have counselors that are qualified for the job, whatever it might be.

In a recent edition of "Education Week," there was a survey of the time spent by guidance counselors in public and private schools.

This shows very clearly the dichotomy of purpose.

In public schools counselors spend 23 percent of their time on college admissions.

In private schools this number is 61 percent!

In public schools counselors spend 25 percent of their time on scheduling, for private schools this number is 11 percent.

Discussing "personal matters" of students takes up 23 percent of a public school counselor's time and 11 percent in a private school.

Given that the ratio of guidance counselors to students is well over 1 to 500, and there are less than 1,000 hours of school each year we are looking at "very little" guidance for most students!

Since guidance counselors in public schools are spending nearly 50 percent of their time on scheduling and personal matters, one has to ask what effect this has upon the quality of education.

According to some recent surveys students, and their parents, rank "satisfaction" as the top priority for children.

As such I don't think that many of the conversations that these guidance counselors are having are requests by students to take more rigorous courses, so that they might be better prepared for "after high school."

In fact I have faced some interesting situations in guidance offices.

One student came in demanding a schedule change as the teacher "annoyed" him. Another mother complained to me about the fact that the WASL made school "no fun." So much for education beyond "car wash attendant" levels for these kids.

If half of the guidance counselor's time is devoted to making kids, and parents, "comfortably numb" car washing may be a self-fulfilling prophesy.

If the guidance office is the "feel good" sanctuary of the school, it is merely a postponement of some pretty dire outcomes.

I suspect that in places where academic achievement is paramount, such as Singapore, they may not even have such positions. Here, I fear, compassion has overtaken education.

Private schools' guidance counselors spend 61 percent of their time working on college admissions for their students.

In general, I have found that they are much more knowledgeable about what kinds of schools might be appropriate for students.

They have visited many campuses, know many of the admissions officials, and understand the admission processes of individual colleges and universities. This contrasts with a counselor here who thought that Columbia was located in either Washington or Oregon!

With little knowledge of those colleges that excel in undergraduate education they, in many cases, cannot make many positive suggestions for where students should be looking.

In fact most of the counselors would be at a loss to recommend specific colleges for specific majors.

This, I believe, is one of the reasons for the very high drop-out rates that we see in the first two years of college for students in this state.

Couple this with parents, and students, who have told me that they are planning on going to college to "play" some sport, or want to go to a "warm climate" and you have a receipt for disappointment.

Leaving for college, probably one that you haven't visited a classroom in, with such a vague plan doesn't work for many.

Because we aren't serious about secondary schooling, and look at this as a place to obtain academic skills that "prepare" one for higher education, the results that we see are not unreasonable.

As long as high schools are "juvenile social halls" with guidance departments to make students, and parents, "comfortably numb" our tax dollars, and our children, are being wasted.

Real guidance, perhaps "tough love" is sadly missing for most students. Parents beware!

Next time, "Co-curricular activities"!

Charlie Hoff is a former member of the Board of Education for Federal Way Public Schools. His weekly column will appear in upcoming issues of the Federal Way News and online at www.federalwaynews.net.