Blog #2 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 had many points in it that I found to be interesting and thought provoking. As I was reading through the case study at the beginning about the student being bullied and the school not really backing up the school counselor it made me nervous about if that situation would happen to me. We are supposed to advocate for our students and it seems like that school counselor did everything and more that she was mandated to do and it is a shame that there was no support from the school. I hope that when I get a school counselor job, the school that I am placed in will back me up if I need it.

Dollarhide & Saginak (2012) say that, "it is easy to blame others. Parents and caregivers blame teachers, teachers blame parents and schools, schools blame the school board, the school board blames the community and parents, and everyone blames society, movies, music, and the media" (p. 20). I found this quote to be extremely true in that sometimes it seems in school systems that everybody always places the blame on other people and nobody is willing to step up and take the heat if something is not done right. As a substitute teacher I have the advantage of being in the school and seeing the inner workings of the schools but yet still being on the outside and in the community and a sister of a teacher in a school. I see and hear a lot of things about schools and how decisions are made and it really makes me question if the schools are effective and who is truly running the schools.

Dollarhide & Saginak (2012) also state that, "As professionals, school counselors must be able to maintain the belief that young people will rise to our high expectations" (p. 25). As soon as I read this in the chapter it really struck me because I believe it is so important to have high expectations for kids to work towards. It is exactly my philosophy in coaching as well. As a coach, I always set my expectations high for the girls because I know that they will rise to meet the challenges that I set for them. At the same time, I am always aware to not set these expectations too high because failure to reach these expectations could have a detrimental impact on a kid. It is important to know what is going to work for each individual student and be able to adjust our expectations accordingly.

Dollarhide, C.T., & Saginak, K.A. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs (2nd Ed.). New York: Pearson, Inc.