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Values and counselling in different societies and cultures

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Summary

To summarize what is happening in counselling in our country: we are dealing more now than ever before with counselling in groups as well as with individuals; more counsellors are trying to understand the world of the student by discovering for themselves the world the student lives in; counsellors are attempting to help teachers in the classroom develop better human relations, and thereby the counsellor to become more a part of the total educational process; counsellors now realize that counselling done in the office is not adequate, that they must go where the students are.

Canada and Sweden are the two countries that seem most like us in these regards. In almost half of the countries the developments do not resemble those in the United States. I am not suggesting that theyshould resemble us. I am convinced that each society must develop counselling out of its own political, educational and social structures. I am convinced of the fact that what is good for me is not necessarily good for you; and in the various countries where I have worked I have reported on the counselling developments that have been found useful in the United States. I can tell you about them-I cannot tell you which of those will be useful to you. I report to you only whatis happening with us and not whatshould happen to either us or you.

This report makes clear that values change; the counselling pattern that develops to relate to these changes varies widely from country to country. Changes that appear to be similar to those in the United States are found in ten countries in the value area ofauthority, in nine countries in the value area ofsex attitudes and behaviors. Value changes in Sweden appear to be similar to changes in the United States in all seven areas that I have named. Australia follows with similarities in six areas, Canada and Yugoslavia in five areas each. Counselling similarities are found much less frequently.

Counselling begins in most countries with vocational guidance. For some, the next step is to include educational guidance, and for some countries the development of counselling has not gone beyond this stage. I believe that counselling should develop beyond the stage of educational and vocational guidance. There are other areas of human need that are just as important as the choice of an occupation. Particularly in schools and colleges, areas other than those of educational and vocational choice may be of vital importance to the student client. Some of these needs are suggested in the value areas included in this paper, others are discussed in my earlier mentioned book,The World of the Contemporary Counselor. As times change, needs change, needs that are different from those that can be met by an ‘ever so good’, but limited, vocational guidance system.

Let me conclude on a forward-looking note. My comments upon our slowness in accepting the reality of change and in acting upon it should not be considered as the reaction of the pessimist. Far from it! I am more confident than ever that mankind will ‘make it’ slowly, painfully, with many plateaus and even regressions, but moving steadily forward toward greater human dignity and justice. He has done so in the past by focusing upon the image of the future (see Polak). This is how man has always changed from chaos to organization, from brutality to islands of beauty and instances of great compassion, He has done this by stressing the future and having these images become his motivation for action.

Frequently mentioned as distinctive characteristics of humans as such are the opposing thumb and communicating in abstract language terms. Even more important to me are the following human characteristics (not all of them necessarily unique to the human animal):

  1. 1.

    Awareness of one's Self, which is often accompanied by respect for that Self.

  2. 2.

    The ability to relate to others for their benefit, not only for oneself

  3. 3.

    The ability to think in terms of the Future, not only the Past

  4. 4.

    Respect for achievement for its own sake. (‘Why climb the mountain? Because it is there.’)

I propose that the counsellor has as much responsibility for helping the client to identify and develop these basic human characteristics as he has responsibility for understanding educational curricula and occupational descriptions.

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References

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A condensed version of this paper was published inThe School Counselor, 24, 6–14, 1976.

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Wrenn, C.G. Values and counselling in different societies and cultures. Int J Adv Counselling 1, 45–62 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01804732

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01804732

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