Comprehensive guidance and counseling programs and the development of multicultural student-citizens

Professional School Counseling, Dec, 2002 by Christopher Sink

While many state and district CGCPs plainly assert or imply in their mission or purpose statements that one of their central outcomes is to facilitate the advancement of "good" or "productive" citizens (e.g., Coats, Ash, & Dorsey, 1998; Hatch, 2000), evidence indicates that citizenship education, like character formation, is a severely neglected developmental domain (MacDonald & Sink, 1999). As alluded to previously, a careful search of the education literature also revealed meager evidence that school counselors are formally assisting classroom teachers with citizenship development. Two recent dissertations attempted to incorporate some aspects of citizenship education into their school counseling-related studies with only mixed results (Cassell, 1995; Swen, 2000).

CGCPS AS AN EDUCATIONAL LINK TO MULTICULTURAL CITIZENSHIP DEVELOPMENT

The need for increased citizenship education in U.S. schools has received considerable attention over the past two decades. For instance, the Center for Civic Education (Calabasas, California; see Web site: http://www.civiced.org/) was established in 1981 with the expressed mission to promote citizenship education in the nation's K-12 schools. This organization helps educators cultivate enlightened, competent, and responsible citizens (Rosen, 2000). In an effort to do so, researchers/scholars associated with the Center produce and distribute citizenship education curricula and materials to school personnel.

Correspondingly, Robert Battistoni (1997), speaking in defense of citizenship education, challenged schools to graduate persons of character who are more responsive to the needs of the community, more able to contribute to society, and more civil in their expressed attitudes and behavior. These propositions resonate well with the earlier remarks made by Mustaine and LaFountain (1993) on the future of school counseling, where they argued for a more holistic view of the profession and education in general. Successful schools, in their perspective, should facilitate the competencies commensurate with productive student-citizens (e.g., good decision-making, conflict-resolution, and team-building skills).

The mission statements of many district- and state-level comprehensive programs also reflect this broader educative orientation. For instance, reiterating Washington State's CGCP mission statement, the overall aim of Highline School District's (1997) school counseling program is as follows:

   All students will receive educationally based comprehensive counseling and
   guidance support to realize their potential as responsible, productive, and
   healthy citizens contributing to a democratic society in a changing world
   [italics added]. (p. C-1)

A similar goal was presented in Utah's Comprehensive Guidance Program (1998) purpose statement:

   Provide in all districts and schools throughout Utah a comprehensive
   student services system, designed to offer comprehensive guidance,
   prevention, intervention, crisis and referral services for individual
   students, and families. Such services will assist students in becoming
   healthy, respectful and contributing citizens [italics added].