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Guidance and Counseling

Notes often a controlling factor. Some students do need a continuance of home-influence, but others need
to get away from home and learn to be independent. Some need a small college; others, a large one.
Two of the most frequent reasons for the choice of a college are that the father or the mother
graduated from that particular college or that some friend, possibly the teacher or the counselor,
did. These reasons are emphasized by the propaganda organised by nearly every college and
broadcast by the alumni.
Alumni are very likely to want to send the best candidates to their own university, saying, “Let the
others go to Podunk College.” Colleges and universities do differ in spirit, offerings, and suitability
for certain types of young men and women.
No choice of a college should be made without a very careful study of the institution and of the
student to determine the suitability of one for the other.
The decision should be made on the basis of the needs of the student and the degree to which the
institution meets these needs. When two institutions are equally suitable and equally good, other
reasons may then properly enter into the decision.
The Question is altogether too vital, and means too much in the life of the young man or woman, to
be decided upon any other basis than the needs of the individual.
Information about college entrance requirements should be known by students and parents long
enough in advance of graduation from high school so that subjects necessary for entrance may be
taken.
At present the unprecedented demand for college education and the limited facilities throughout
the country have changed the question for many from “What college shall I choose” to “What
college will take me ?” This condition has made it necessary to begin making plans several years in
advance and to make application to several colleges instead of to only one. The competition after a
student enters college is also so great that much emphasis is placed on meeting the scholastic demands
of the college and on adjustment to college life.
This situation places an added responsibility on the secondary school for considering more carefully
the type of college which is best suited to a student’s ability and needs and for preparing him to
adjust himself to the scholastic and social life of the college. The difficulty, importance, and complexity
of decisions about college argue strongly for the need for guidance services in secondary schools.

19.8.5 Emotional Development and Guidance
Emotional disturbances may occur in any stage of a person’s development and in any part of the
school system. Some have their origin or at least become more pressing in the secondary school.
Physiological development, bringing with it increased size and strength, sex impulses, responsibilities
resulting from approaching maturity—all are very important causes of emotional changes and
emotional instability.
Such emotional conditions are often the causes of much maladjustment and unhappiness. The student
needs help in his growth toward “emotional maturity,” that is, in the ability to direct his strong
basic emotions into channels that lead to the attainment of ends that are socially desirable and
individually satisfying.

19.8.6 Physical Development and Guidance
The physical needs peculiar to secondary-school pupils center around the period of rapid growth
and physiological maturation. Along with these changes we frequently find lowered vitality, fatigue,
lethargy (often mistaken for laziness), impaired coordination and awkwardness due to unequal
growth of different parts of the body, and physiological changes caused by maturing of the sex
organs.
Serious maladjustments often result from these conditions. Students undergoing such development
need information, understanding, and guidance to help them adjust to their changing bodies.

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