Page 211 - DEDU502_GUIDANCE_AND_COUNSELING_ENGLISH

Unit 19: Organizing Counseling Services at School Level

There are various types of clubs and group activities; there is usually some form of student Notes
government; the school library and the school gymnasium provide new experiences. The student is
expected to take more responsibility both for his own activities and for some elements in the life of
the school.
Many of these same problems arise in the transition from the junior high school to the senior high
school. Where the entire six years of the secondary school are housed in one building and considered
as a six-year school, there is no problem of adjustment to a new building, but other more important
problems remain.

For example, a student may need help in deciding whether to leave school at the end of the
compulsory attendance age or to remain for graduation. In certain areas it is the custom of some
parents to transfer their children from a public to a private school for the last two years.
When this happens, there is need for some help in preparing the student for the changed life in the
private school, especially if it is a boarding school.

19.8.2 Decisions about Leaving School
Soon after starting secondary school some children will begin to reach the place where further
schooling of the kind available may not be desirable because each year brings them diminishing
returns. How long to remain in school becomes an important problem for these students.
Research indicates that the 40 per cent of our students who do not graduate from high school are at
a disadvantage for the rest of their lives, particularly with regard to employment. It is essential,
then, that every possibility of adapting the school programme to serve the individuals be explored
before the reluctant conclusion is reached that leaving school is the best available method of
“continuing education.”
19.8.3 Learning Problems
Although the learning problems encountered in the secondary school are not always new, many
now become of increasing importance. Reading difficulties; rate of reading and comprehension;
likes and dislikes of studies, teachers, and types of literature; differences in aptitude for different
school subjects—all are very important factors in the student’s adjustment to the secondary school.
A guidance programme will help diagnose the learning difficulty and plan steps to overcome it. The
student may need remedial reading, help in arithmetic, a different course of study, a change of
teachers, or perhaps prolonged counseling to overcome emotional barriers to learning.
19.8.4 Decisions about College

At graduation from the secondary school a decision must be made regarding enrolment in some
type of post-high school institution, such as business school, technical school, or college. Such a
complex and crucial decision should be made with adequate guidance from teachers and counselors.
At present it seems likely that, with the limited facilities of colleges and with the great increase in
the number applying for admission, the problem of being accepted for college work will be a very
serious one.
This means that the marks earned in the last two or three years of the secondary school and the
quality of work done there will be of extreme importance.
The unprecedented demand for trained men and women in science and mathematics for increased
educational facilities and scholarships place an added responsibility upon the schools for the guidance
of students who have the abilities to succeed in such specialized training and who have the desire
and the ambition to enter this specialization.
The choice of a college is one of the very important problems facing parents and high-school students,
and it merits far more consideration than is usually given to it. Colleges are not all alike in entrance
requirements, cost, atmosphere, or opportunities offered. Proximity to the home of the student is

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 205