School Counseling

History

The forerunner of modern school counseling was vocational guidance, a preventive educational approach that taught students how to deal with life events. In 1908, Frank Parsons, known as the “Father of Guidance,” founded Boston's Vocational Bureau, where he helped young people with career decisions. Concurrently, in 1907, Jesse B. Davis implemented weekly vocational and moral guidance lessons during English classes in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which led to a systematized guidance program in the public schools. The school guidance movement strengthened as Harvard University began education courses for counselors in 1911; the National Vocational Guidance Association was established in 1913; and the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 funded vocational education in public schools.

Over the 100-year history of school counseling, program focus and duties evolved in response to changing trends and needs. In the early 1900s, school counselors focused on scheduling student courses that would lead to careers needed in the Industrial Revolution. In the 1910s, psychometrics became another focus when guidance workers used the military's Army Alpha and Army Beta intelligence tests to identify highly capable students. In the 1920s, secondary school guidance personnel were trained similar to college personnel because of limited training programs and thus acquired some administrative and disciplinary duties, similar to college deans of students. In the 1930s, school guidance personnel followed E. G. Williamson's approach of enhancing normal adjustment by helping individuals to set goals and teaching them needed skills. In the 1940s, Carl Rogers's nondirective emphasis of listening and accepting clients without judgment resulted in school [Page 867]counselors providing client-centered counseling to students, rather than just guidance.

In the 1950s, after the Soviet Union launched its first space satellite, Sputnik I, the United States funded the National Defense Education Act (NDEA). As a result, school counselors focused on student career testing to channel students with high math and science abilities into college. In addition, NDEA funded elementary school counseling so that talented elementary students could be identified. The 1960s group encounter movement influenced school counselors to offer small group counseling. Concurrently, C. Gilbert Wrenn advocated that school counselors expand their focus to the developmental needs of all students rather than just the top or bottom percentage. Hence, the focus shifted to the developmental guidance approach of promoting positive individual growth and preventing problems.

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