THE ROLE OF JUNIOR COLLEGE COUNSELORS by

The role of counseling is especially important injunior colleges, with their wide range of courses and diverse student population. It must be determined whether or not junior college counselors should Practice "psychotherapy " and to what extent they should be academic advisors. The first aim of counseling is to help students to make decisions; the personal adjustment of the student must he considered when resolving vocational problems. Since manyjunior college students need psychotherapeutic help, colleges may wish to have one or more psychologists on their counseling staffs. The inadequacy of most faculty academic advisement programs has been demonstrated; it is suggested that the counselor can get to know the student better if he also acts as academic advisor. However, there is no data proving that the counselor provides the student with more accurate academic information than the faculty advisor. It is also doubtful that the counselor has time to perform both duties well. At Meramec Community College, St. Louis, an academic advisement program prepares personnel with intensive in-service training. They then act as academic advisors, with close supervision by the counselors. An alternative, using programmed materials, allows students to prepare their own programs. The author feels that professional counselors should spend most of their time helping students with developmental problems. (MS