Comments on: High School Counselors http://www.kartooner.com/archives/2004/09/19/high-school-counselors/ Thoughts and observations from a quirky cartoonist and designer. Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:29:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Cheryl http://www.kartooner.com/archives/2004/09/19/high-school-counselors/#comment-15958 Cheryl Fri, 08 Sep 2006 03:50:13 +0000 http://www.kartooner.com/archives/2004/09/19/high-school-counselors/#comment-15958 Too bad. So sad. Every social event I ever attended had someone who was eager to tell me their horror guidance counselor story, and since I was the only school counselor in the room, I got to take the hits. Get a grip! If you had counselors such as those you described, shame on them. But dammit, I never do that to a kid, nor do my caring and committed colleagues. Any smart counselor doesn't set limits, they offer possibilities. I know lots of counselors who do that every day. I've met bad teachers, truckers, salespeople, telemarketers. website authors, doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs and any other occupation you want to name. But which one of you will take a caseload of 500 students and try to make any impact for 40K a year? Lots of us do. Some of us fail. But most of us have great experiences taking special students to the next stop in their lives, whatever that is for that kid. Don't throw away the baby with the bathwater. Every hit sends more good people away from education and brings more weak replacements in. Too bad. So sad. Every social event I ever attended had someone who was eager to tell me their horror guidance counselor story, and since I was the only school counselor in the room, I got to take the hits. Get a grip! If you had counselors such as those you described, shame on them. But dammit, I never do that to a kid, nor do my caring and committed colleagues. Any smart counselor doesn’t set limits, they offer possibilities. I know lots of counselors who do that every day. I’ve met bad teachers, truckers, salespeople, telemarketers. website authors, doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs and any other occupation you want to name. But which one of you will take a caseload of 500 students and try to make any impact for 40K a year? Lots of us do. Some of us fail. But most of us have great experiences taking special students to the next stop in their lives, whatever that is for that kid. Don’t throw away the baby with the bathwater. Every hit sends more good people away from education and brings more weak replacements in.

]]> By: kartooner http://www.kartooner.com/archives/2004/09/19/high-school-counselors/#comment-948 kartooner Wed, 22 Sep 2004 13:20:41 +0000 http://www.kartooner.com/archives/2004/09/19/high-school-counselors/#comment-948 According to a co-worker in my office, his friend, a High School guidance counselor mentioned that degrading students is common. To which I replied, "Why is it important to degrade the student when you should be, as their counselor, guide and inspire them?". Their strategy is to wake you up to the perils and tribulations of reality, which to a certain degree I'm okay with. My counselor, however, saw it fit to remind me for the next several weeks which had its effect I suppose. According to a co-worker in my office, his friend, a High School guidance counselor mentioned that degrading students is common. To which I replied, “Why is it important to degrade the student when you should be, as their counselor, guide and inspire them?”.

Their strategy is to wake you up to the perils and tribulations of reality, which to a certain degree I’m okay with. My counselor, however, saw it fit to remind me for the next several weeks which had its effect I suppose.

]]> By: Jarek Piórkowski http://www.kartooner.com/archives/2004/09/19/high-school-counselors/#comment-946 Jarek Piórkowski Tue, 21 Sep 2004 22:31:02 +0000 http://www.kartooner.com/archives/2004/09/19/high-school-counselors/#comment-946 I have experiences exactly to the contrary. The guidance staff in my school (all 4 of them) are wonderful. And I didn't have to drop any Math courses either. But it's just me. I have experiences exactly to the contrary. The guidance staff in my school (all 4 of them) are wonderful. And I didn’t have to drop any Math courses either. But it’s just me.

]]> By: Mark Michon http://www.kartooner.com/archives/2004/09/19/high-school-counselors/#comment-943 Mark Michon Tue, 21 Sep 2004 00:36:35 +0000 http://www.kartooner.com/archives/2004/09/19/high-school-counselors/#comment-943 Oh the hours I could spend reminiscing of the lack of counseling actual done by school counselors. Those at my school decided to take the "No." approach. Which normally led to having to have a parent come in and complain. Rather foolish process when one is 18 and technically able to make any other decision related to the establishment. One day people will all realize that Algebra is not required if you do not plan to do something in a field with a massive backing in math. Sure, technically we use basic algebra for many little things, but there comes a point in every math class where it turns into random dribble they used to fill in pages in order to charge more for this has-been tree. The lovely education system here in Florida basically tosses repetitive nonsense at you until you learn it long enough to pass a test. A college degree does not do this(well, in most cases) and many majors unrelated to math/science/computers do not require anything above College Algebra, and occasionally Calc1. Best of wishes in your pursuit to prove someone wrong. I find this tends to be the best motivation, which is often sad because it leaves a gap for them to attempt to take a bit of glory away from you. P.S. I'll take to that daily sketching tip as well. I would love to switch to a Digital Media major from computer science(math...killing...me) but many of its intro classes are pencil/paper art based, which I am rather sub-par at. Oh the hours I could spend reminiscing of the lack of counseling actual done by school counselors. Those at my school decided to take the “No.” approach. Which normally led to having to have a parent come in and complain. Rather foolish process when one is 18 and technically able to make any other decision related to the establishment.

One day people will all realize that Algebra is not required if you do not plan to do something in a field with a massive backing in math. Sure, technically we use basic algebra for many little things, but there comes a point in every math class where it turns into random dribble they used to fill in pages in order to charge more for this has-been tree.

The lovely education system here in Florida basically tosses repetitive nonsense at you until you learn it long enough to pass a test. A college degree does not do this(well, in most cases) and many majors unrelated to math/science/computers do not require anything above College Algebra, and occasionally Calc1.

Best of wishes in your pursuit to prove someone wrong. I find this tends to be the best motivation, which is often sad because it leaves a gap for them to attempt to take a bit of glory away from you.

P.S. I’ll take to that daily sketching tip as well. I would love to switch to a Digital Media major from computer science(math…killing…me) but many of its intro classes are pencil/paper art based, which I am rather sub-par at.

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