The American School Counselor Association recently updated its anti-racist policies (see introduction below and full document here). It can be seen from the uncritical acceptance of concepts such as: white supremacy; privilege; equity; systemic racism etc. etc., (as well as supporting references to Kendi) that this policy is a Critical Social Justice document. Looking at the very detailed directions given here, it would seem that the bad faith project of changing the role of the therapist to a political activist (aka advocate) within the education system (first announced by ASCA in 2016) has now been fully operationalised (click the link above for the full read). Needless to say, it will be the vulnerable children and young people in need of real therapeutic services who will suffer.
Are we too late? IAPC needs to gain members to combat this with a global voice!
Bottom line:
“…To ensure that all students, and specifically students from racially diverse backgrounds, develop in healthy and successful ways”.
Do counselors not already do that for all students including those from racially diverse backgrounds? I see nothing wrong with the policy intent. It seems positive. But all oppression (and change) systemically occur from the top down, not individually from the bottom up. Unfortunately school counselors (and teachers and students and their parents ) are at the bottom in the hierarchy in state education systems. At the top are the social predators, because they are attracted to power and willing to use it unfairly. So the strategy of the new school counselor policy will be ineffective in combatting any systemic power imbalances such as racism.