The Texas Standard, Volume 23, Number 4, September-October 1949 Page: 4
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TEXAS STANDARD
S*ec*cti*a (Zccidattce "Pioyiewt In
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During the past several years our
colleges have offered courses in guid-
ance both on the graduate and the under-
graduate level. Workshops and institutes
have made teachers and administrators
aware of the possibilities of the guidance
program. But without a full-time counsel-
lor on the faculty, most schools have
found it difficult to execute a guidance
program.
Unfortunately in many of our schools,
counselling and disciplining are thought
of a synonymous terms, and in others
it is thought that guidance applies only
to vocations.
At Wheatley High School, Houston,
Texas, Dr. John E. Codwell, Principal,
a practical program using part-time
counsellors has been in operation some
eight years or more with improvements
being made from time to time.
At the top of the program stand the
principal, the vice-principal, and the dean
of girls. Then there are chairmen on each
grade level, a man and a woman for
boys and girls respectively for the 12th,
11th, 10th, 9th, 8th and 7th grades. These
counsellors have from one to two hours
each day which each dovotes to guidance
duties.
During the past year, two rooms were
fitted out for their use. This itself was
a feat because Wheatley is so crowded
that almost a third of its more than
ninety teachers float from room to room
during the day. But two small rooms,
formerly used as store-rooms were con-
verted into home-like living rooms and
made to create an atmosphere of com-
fort and confidence. During each hour of
the day, a part-time counsellor is on
duty to give attention to such problems
as may arise. The classroom teacher, at
the base of this program, is the most im-
portant factor in it.
Behavior problems do not comprise the
bulk of these counsellors' work. Guidance
in course selections, employment prob-
lems, personality adjustments, irregular
and unpunctual attendance come in for
a large share of attention.
Because records are of inestimable
value in the guidance program, Wheatley
is building up a system of records. A
questionnaire covering personal age-
grade data and giving insight into socio-
economic home conditions is on file for
Ellie A. Walls, President
each pupil registex-ed in the school. This
questionnaire is placed in a Manilla fold-
er in which accrues the record of the
pupil from the time he enters the school
until he graduates or withdraws.
Let us take a case to illustrate. A
neighbor telephones a teacher and reports
a fight in which two Wheatley girls
were engaged on the way home from
school. The teacher transmits the report
to the dean of girls. The dean fills out
in duplicate a report form and sends a
copy to the homeroom teacher and a
copy to the counsellor on the grade level
of one or both of the girls involved.
The counsellor asks the homeroom
teacher to have the girl come to the
counselling room at a certain hour.
Meanwhile the counsellor endeavors to
get to the room long enough ahead of
the girl to consult her folder before she
arrives. Upon arrival of the girl, in a
friendly, tackful manner, the counsellor
gets basic information about the partici-
pants, witnesses, time and place. She then
proceeds with interviewing and such
other techniques as may be at hand.
Such a case may take several hours or
several days. It may necessitate calling
into conference the parents of the two
girls. If the counsellor can effect a
suitable adjustment, she does so, stipu-
lating certain follow-up activities for the
girls. If a solution is not as simple as
that, then the dean of girls and the
principal are consulted on the matter.
Another and frequent type of case is
that which involves employment. A boy
comes in and throws his books down on
the teachers desk and bravely announces
that he has quit school to help support
his mother and younger sisters and
brothers. He thinks he is skillfully hid-
ing his true feeling in the matter, but
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The counsellor in student guidance for girls at Phillis Wheatley High School are seated left
to right: Mrs. C. S. Milligan. Mrs. E. A. Walls, and Mrs. M. V. White. Standing left to right:
Mrs. E. F. McGruder. Mrs. M. M. Benton. Mrs. Cunningham, dean of girls, and Miss Eunice
Lumpkin
FOUR
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Peace, Hazel Harvey. The Texas Standard, Volume 23, Number 4, September-October 1949, periodical, September 1949; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth193756/m1/4/?rotate=270: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Prairie View A&M University.