This blog was written by Richard Wong, executive director of ASCA, and posted on the ASCA SCENE, but I thought it would be great to share with the OSCA Network.
Another TV season, another questionable portrayal of school counselors. The darling of the new season seems to be "Glee," a dramedy about a former glee club member who returns to his old high school as a Spanish teacher and tries to resuscitate the glee club to its former glory. The show is fast-paced and cleverly written, although like most shows set in public schools, the producers don't let facts get in the way of a good story.
During the past few years,
we've worked with TV shows such as "Kyle XY," "MisGuided" and, yes,
"Glee." We've provided materials for their sets, which they requested,
and information about school counseling in the 21st century, which they
didn't request. We've tried to make them aware of the current role of
school counselors and programs based on the ASCA National Model to help ensure a positive portrayal.
I
often hear from school counselors who don't like how they're depicted
by the media. In "Glee," the school counselor shows signs of OCD (she
polishes each grape individually before eating it), calls herself the
"guidance" counselor and flirts with the idea of having an affair with
the Spanish teacher, who's married. Not exactly the positive image we'd
like to project.
Rather than decry the perpetuation of a
negative stereotype, we should celebrate that a school counselor is one
of the main characters. She does exhibit some admirable qualities. She
clearly cares about her students; she teaches an SAT prep class at
night, and she was the one to stop the flirtation before it turned into
an affair. Now, I'm not proposing we make lemons into lemonade but
neither should we make salmon into salmonella. In the past, school
counselors were ignored, or they were the basketball or track coaches
who arrived on Monday morning to discover they were the new guidance
counselor and were seldom seen again. Writers and producers are
recognizing that school counselors are integral enough in schools that
they should be regular characters in their shows.
I'm not
saying we should be grateful just to be included. I'm saying we should
follow the lead of principals, teachers and others who are often
parodied but have enough self-confidence as a profession that they
don't get all pinched up whenever they're not painted as saints. After
all, every character in "Glee" is a caricature, even the students, and
none is without blemish. The Spanish teacher is hen-pecked by his wife
and out of touch with his students. The principal is a pushover who
closes his eyes and goes to his happy place while students unexpectedly
simulate sex during a musical number. The cheerleading coach comes
across as a combination of Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun but without
the warmth. I don't think principals, teachers and cheerleading coaches
are up in arms. And school counselors shouldn't be either. We're not
just on TV, we're on the hottest show of the year. How cool is that?
I'm interested to read your comments, so if you haven't seen the show, watch it next Wednesday, and tell me what you think.
In the meantime, life's a journey. And now, it's on prime time.
Comments
Betsy says:
Good Point. What do you think about all the pamphlets that are in her office? I thought that was pretty funny too. She does appear to struggle to fit in with other staff at times, and as I am a lone-counselor at my school as well, sometimes it is hard to fit in with the teachers versus administration. I don't feel offended by the portrayal at all.
October 29, 2009 at 2:38 PM | Permalink