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View of Counselling for Social Change

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156

CANADIAN COUNSELLOR, VOL. 6, No.3, JUNE, 1972

DONNA M. BLUM,"

Ottawa, Ontario.

COUNSELLING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

Words that purport to be a Chinese proverb state that "To prophesy is extremely difficult - especially with respect to the future." What­ ever the future holds for Canadian counselling it is increasingly evident that traditional counselling is not the solution. More and better counsellors? More and better counselling techniques? NO! This would be a continuation of the present, problem-oriented approach, perpetuating the symptom and avoiding, or ignoring, the cause.

The foreseeable future of counselling lies in "activism," peaceful rather than militant but, nevertheless, an overt striving for social change. Institutional power structures must be challenged. Instead of assuming that the individual must be "counselled" to "fit in," it is time that we as counsellors not only question the need for change in the established order but also take direct action. The time is

now,

whether it be in the educational system, correctional services, hos­ pitals, business world, or any other area where the individual as a human being is subordinate to the system. Man must direct change rather than be controlled by it. As Toffler (1970) puts it, " ... unless man quickly learns to control the rate of change in his personal affairs as well as in society at large, we are doomed to a massive adaptational breakdown (p. 2)."

More and more our psychological problems reflect the economic opportunity structure of the environment. The traditional work ethic accepted for so long by so many has already been outdated by our industrialized society and will progressively become even more dated. Routine muscular and mental work, both being unable to compete economically with machines, have been devalued. Increasingly men are employed where machines are not economical. Yet the routine and boredom of unstimulating jobs is still viewed by many as better than no job at all. It is becoming increasingly evident that boredom is "the illness of the age."

Unfortunately, leisure time has become as boring as the work for which it was once meant to be a reward. Our compulsive accumula­ tion of personal possessions, progressive resort to travel, sex, liquor, and drugs as a form of escape from boredom, has lost its appeal for those who can afford it and is viewed as out of reach by the poor who cannot. It is increasingly important to diminish boredom in both work and leisure, but this requires social, economic, and moral changes with which our present system is not yet prepared to deal.

Today the mass media repeatedly tell us of the seriousness of unemployment, poverty, and many other social ills. References to aggression and violence as an outlet for boredom are increasing daily. Tomorrow it may well be that these same media will be speaking

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CONSElllER CANADIEN, VOL. 6, No.3, JUIN, 1972

157

in terms of the need to utilize leisure time: how to be useful and self-fulfilled though unemployed as the term is currently used, how to feel equally self-fulfilled through leisure time, avocational activities, or the more traditional means of employment.

The values on which our contemporary liberal society is based manifest dubious concern for the needs and rights of the individual. Their human content is open to question. Our current western social system restricts man's potential as a species and depreciates the value of the individual. In addition, today's culture does not provide youth with plausible precepts for living. To change our system we must transform individual attitudes towards both oneself and one's

environment. ­

A counsellor should be, after all, a social scientist. He should spend more time looking at people in real situations. But, above all, he should be an instrument for changing the environment to produce a system which will allow for the full unfolding of man's being, that is, "self-actualization." When he is able to do this the term counsellor, as it is generally meant today, will no longer be relevant. Social change is a life's work. Its aim is not so much to resolve problems as to restructure the total world in which man lives.

For the counsellor to be a part of this social revolution requires personal rather than professional commitment, social rather than individual consciousness. Their allegiance should be to mankind rather than to a narrow predetermined setting within the established social system. This is what counsellors should be doing, the manner in which they should become involved.

REFERENCE

Toffler, A. Futm'e shock. Toronto: Bantam, 1970,

G. M, GAZDA, Faculty of Education, Unive1'sity of Georgia.

COUNSELING AND COUNSELOR EDUCATION­

A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE

I am uncomfortable in the role of a crystal ball gazer, but I welcome the opportunity to predict and/or recommend the role(s) for coun­ selors and counselor educators in the next five years and beyond. Two documents, in particular, portend the future for counselors and coun­ selor educators. The first was the "EPDA Pupil Personnel Services Program Design" (September, 1970) developed by the U.S. Office of Education, Division of College Programs, Teacher Development Branch. This document served as a harbinger of the second document, the "Report of the National Conference of Pupil Personnel Services," which was

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