If you’re wondering what school guidance counselors do, know that they have to juggle a lot of tasks. They support children’s mental health by providing counseling and helping with bullying, self-esteem issues, and navigating tough home lives. They also guide students through their academic life, helping them make the right choices for their future careers. In other words, the job involves a lot of compassion, empathy, and responsibility.
When they do their job right, school counselors can have an incredibly positive impact on students’ lives. They can help them mediate conflicts, get into college, and secure financial scholarships. However, not all the students have such good experiences. In fact, some believe that their school counselors are useless.
One of such people is a Reddit user that goes by the name Pineapple8900. They recently shared their story of unexpectedly running into their former guidance counselor in a subreddit dedicated to petty revenge. Read how it all went down below.
School guidance counselors are there to uplift students and help find their way to greatness
Image credits: Taylor Flowe (not the actual photo)
However, some guidance counselors can be so dismissive, they do the exact opposite
Image credits: Ali Jouyandeh (not the actual photo)
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Scott Graham (not the actual photo)
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
The person further explained the situation in the edits
Image credits: Pineapple8900
This story is the perfect example of how negative, offhand comments can really lodge into someone’s brain. What for the counselor seemed to be a matter-of-fact statement, was a very hurtful remark to the Original Poster (OP). It hurt their self-esteem and put doubts in their mind about what they are capable of when they were in a very vulnerable place.
Getting ignored by a guidance counselor is not an uncommon experience, too. TikTok is filled with teens and adults sharing their experiences about guidance counselors that failed them in the past. Some of them talk about their unsympathetic behavior in the time of crisis, others reflect on the times they were failed by their counselors’ career advice.
Of course, not all school counselors are ignorant. Many help the children to get through tough times and grief. Many also change the lives of pupils they work with by setting them on a path to a career they are passionate about. So, putting them all into one basket and labeling them as “useless” or “bad” is not productive, either.
Being a school guidance counselor is a demanding position
Image credits: JESHOOTS.COM (not the actual photo)
It’s important to understand why some school counselors can be so dismissive about a student’s prospects. One reason could be that a lot of them are often overworked.
The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends that the school counselor to student ratio to be a maximum of 1:250. However, the national average in 2021–2022 was 408-to-1. This means that more often than not, school counselors don’t have enough time to pay attention to every student that they have to help.
They are also often very stressed, according to a study that analyzed the pressures of being a school counselor. “Job stress is associated with external demands from administrators, teachers, parents, and students, who all think their needs are most important,” it said.
Participants of the study also pointed out that their degree programs also fail to teach them the skills necessary in their day-to-day work. Instead, the programs include a lot of teaching and counseling theory. Back in 2010, out of 466 graduate programs, only 42 offered a course in college counseling. This suggests that some counselors might not even have training in handling college admissions, even though they are supposed to be professionals that help others.
All in all, it’s safe to say a counselor’s job is very demanding. You always have to be present and kind and consider the needs of many involved in the education system. However, that doesn’t excuse the negative attitude that some people experience, including the OP. It’s great that they were able to overcome the discouragement, but there are many who don’t.
The person also divulged more details in the comments
The story garnered a lot of attention and many commentators contributed their opinion to the conversation
People also shared similar stories in the comments
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