In your school is there guidance that counts?

For many years, guidance was the domain of a school psychologist or counselor. It consisted mainly in arranging programs, or attending to college applications, or administering tests and in giving advice if a pupil's grades went down.

Fortunately now the concept of guidance is expanding. We are realizing that guidance in a school must go much further. What guidance actually adds up to is emotional education. As such it cannot be done by just one person. It must be included in the classroom, as we have described, and in many additional ways.

The school psychologist can act as a coordinator and as a resource person. His job should not be restricted to lifeless matters. Because it has to do with the core of life itself for these teen-agers, it must also spread to the lives of those who deal with them. It must spread to include teachers and parents. In short, if it is to count: GUIDANCE SHOULD TAKE CHILDREN, PARENTS AND TEACHERS INTO ACCOUNT.

One of the problems of the school psychologist is to see that a youngster gets one teacher like Mr. Graham or Mrs. Collins or Miss Gibbs. A teacher who serves his group as counselor as well as teacher.

In this way, a teacher like Mr. Graham can stand as a school parent to a boy like Jaime. Since Mr. Graham had classes with Jaime all through the grades at this school, Jaime could deepen his contacts with him. He didn't have to uproot confidence before it had time to become firmly embedded. His trust could grow in a way that would have been practically impossible if Jaime had needed to change his group counselor from one semester to the next.

Moreover, it was only in Mr. Graham's room that intimate talk went on with Jaime and his particular group. Other teachers had their particular counseling groups.

Had Jaime failed to get along comfortably with Mr. Graham, his group counselor might have been changed.

From time to time the psychologist discussed Jaime's difficulties with Mr. Graham. At times he called conferences with all Jaime's teachers in order to work out the best possible opportunities for Jaime in the school. He also talked with Mr. Graham about seeing Jaime's parents and working with them.

Obviously not all teachers are able to include emotional education in their work with children. Teachers are people. They too have been brought up to be afraid of feelings--of their own in particular. And far too frequently, basic attention to children's emotions has been left out of their teacher training.

This points to another need which you will want to consider: In their professional training all teachers need experiences which will help them learn about children's feelings, children's fantasies, children's real and imagined reactions to their families. They also need experiences that will help them understand more about themselves and their own feelings.

In their professional training all teachers should have chances to work with young children in nursery schools. For many adolescent problems hark back to the nursery years. In their professional training, teachers should learn from child therapists how children's imaginations function, and how natural and universal to childhood are many seemingly bizarre and strange feelings and thoughts.

As for themselves and their own feelings, as they work with children under sensitively attuned guidance, teachers should be helped to let the impact of observing how these children feel relate to their own feelings, both present and past. They should have chances to think and talk about themselves and how they felt in their own adolescence and earlier. They can do this both individually and in small, intimate groups, just as the youngsters did in their groups with Mr. Graham. Such experiences should be part of the teachers' regular professional training so that the understanding and acceptance of their own feelings enables them to become more acceptant and understanding of the adolescent's. But, as we have said, this sort of thing has seldom happened in the days when these, our teachers, were originally trained! Again, however, it isn't too late! Given the wish, the will and the flexibility on their part, and the right sort of teacher of teachers to guide them, they still can learn.

So, once more, here is something of the utmost importance in your schools:

What about your teachers' education for educating? Has it included emotional education? If not, how can you see that at least some of your teachers have such educational opportunities provided them now?

If the school psychologist has had the proper training himself, he can make himself available to individual teachers who may explore with him what they need in terms of their own emotional education. He can tell them where they can get it. He can also, if he himself has had the proper preparation, help them to deepen their understandings by the discussions he has with them singly and in groups. (If the school psychologist lacks this training, outside resources can be called in.)

There can be groups also with parents. Groups to think more deeply on the needs of adolescence. To think more squarely about how parents feel as parents and as people. Groups to give parents as well as children the emotional support and increasing awareness which parents, in these days of crisis, seek and need.