GUIDANCE NEEDS AND PROBLEMS OF YOUNG PEOPLE

Chapter 28

GUIDANCE NEEDS AND PROBLEMS OF YOUNG PEOPLE

The Chapter at a Glance

Home-centered problems.

School-centered problems.

Community-centered problems.

An adequate guidance program.

          In order to succeed in administering guidance to young people one must know their life and the nature and extent of the problems for which they need guidance. The main problems which usually confront children during their everyday life can be classified into the following three categories:-- 

          (a) Home-centered problems,

          (b) School-centered problems, and

          (c) Community-centered problems.

Home-Centered Problems

          The various needs and problems of children which centre round their home life are as follows:—

(a)         Biological needs and related problems,

(b)         Psychological needs and related problems, and

(c)          Social needs and related problems.

Biological Needs and Problems

          At birth the human individual is absolutely helpless. In order to survive and grow up he needs continued protection and nourishment from his parents. As he grows older he needs to be guided regarding toilet routines, rest and sleep habits, food values, avoidance of physical dangers threatening life, etc.

          Adequate guidance regarding these biological needs and the various problems associated with them is indispensable for survival and healthy growth of a child. Negligence or inadequate guidance results in all kinds of complications and undesirable developments.

Psychological Needs and Problems

          On the psychological side, the child needs emotional warmth and security at home. A child who is denied affection at home and made to feel insecure by his parents due to any adverse factors in the home life has little chance to develop into a healthy and efficient adult.

           

          Parents also need to guide the child into developing certain desirable mental traits, e.g., cheerfulness, perseverance, etc. They should safeguard against the development of undesirable traits in him like temper tantrums, impassiveness etc. The aim should be to so guide the child as to enable him to develop into a mentally adjusted and healthy adult.

Social Needs and Problems

          Children also need guidance in the art of sociability. Human beings are gregarious by nature. But if the social instinct is denied proper guidance during childhood, it is liable to develop in undesirable directions, e.g., the formation of anti-social and delinquent groups or gangs, etc. Parents should, therefore, remain vigilant in ensuring that children develop the right attitudes towards other children and adults around them, during their playful activities and general social interconnections in and outside the home.

          Children who are deprived of proper early social guidance at home are liable to develop into unsocial and introverted personalities. They may even grow into being anti-social, delin­quent and criminal adults in later life.

Children need, stage by stage as they grow up to adulthood, elementary knowledge about opposite sex and appro­priate guidance in their healthy mutual relationship within the sacred bounds of Islam. Co-education in the schools and other education institutions, after their age of 10, is not at all a healthy practice. We must not be following the West blindly, it is now suffering tremendously and irretrievably due to a deliberate free mixing of opposite sexes at all levels.

School-Centered Problems

          On entering school, a child's expanded social and cultural horizons open up before him infinite opportunities of progress and development. But these developmental opportunities and possibilities can only be exploited to the full if the child gets adequate and continued guidance from his school teachers.

          The problems regarding which a child needs guidance at school are as follow:-

(a)         Academic problems.

(b)         Vocational problems.

(c)          Personal problems, and

(d)         Social problems

The Academic Problems

          A child can learn the three Rs without tears only if the teacher really knows the art of teaching young children. Efficiency in teaching methods necessitates a thorough knowledge of the psychology of child learning. Unless the teaching methods that a teacher employs in the class room are sound, pleasant and stimulating, the child will make little academic progress at the school.

          As he advances in age, child needs guidance is making the correct selection of the school subjects which are most suited to his natural aptitudes. While offering guidance, a teacher should also be mindful of the individual differences, abilities and handicaps of each one of the children. Uniformed treatment and guidance of every child irrespective of his individual personality is by no means a safe course to follow.

Vocational Problem

          Children’s vocational aptitudes need to be assessed as early as possible in their school career. Before the school leaving age the teacher must have given them an appropriate bias and sufficient training for a specific vocation which appeals to them most and for which they are most suited.

          An adequate vocational guidance at the school level can avert lot of misfits in professions which can be a source of great unhappiness to the individual in later life. Early vocational guidance thus prevents tremendous human and material loss to the nation.

Personal Problems

          The main personal problems of the school child pertain to his:--      

(a) Physical health, and

(b) Mental health.

          The school child needs guidance regarding his physical health and development. This need must be met by providing adequate medical health services at the school campus.

          For his mental health the child needs security and emotional nourishment in school. He must feel at home in the class­room. The school authorities must take all appropriate measures to see that every child feels at ease during the course of all the school activities. Should a child experience some emotional perplexity, the teacher should endeavor to understand it from the child's point of view. By providing him with sympathetic guidance, he should enable the child to face and solve his prob­lems as amicably as possible.

Social Problems

          The social problems of the school child are manifold. A child needs adequate social guidance in order to make satisfying adjustments with his class-mates, teachers and everyone he comes in contact with during his stay at the school. Providing appropriate guidance to children to enable them to meet their social problems effectively is as fundamental a duty of the school teacher as imparting academic instruction.

Community-Centered Problems

          Besides the problems which revolve the home and the school, children have certain problems which spring from the community. In   order   to   meet    those   problems   effectively, children need guidance both at home and at school.

          Some of the main problems falling under this group are as follows:—

          (a) Problems of occupational adjustment,

          (b) Problems of material adjustment, and

          (c) Problems of general attitudes and social behavior.

Problems of Occupational Adjustment

          The health of a community is largely dependent upon voca­tionally capable, efficient, and adjusted individuals.   If children ** are given adequate vocational guidance and training by teachers and parents, they have abundant chances of choosing for themselves the right occupations. Developing professional health and efficiency and adjusting to their colleagues in the profession are the main spheres in which guidance is needed during adoles­cence and towards later life. Such a task can be better per­formed by specialized vocational guidance agencies.

          It is hardly necessary to re-emphasize that adequate voca­tional guidance averts a great deal of professional inefficiency, misplacement and maladjustment. Occupational maladjustment is a serious mental and economic drain on the resources of a nation.

Problems of Marital Adjustment

          In order grow up to be successful husbands and wives; children need preliminary orientation and training for marital adjustment at home and school. Parental education and guidance would save many a child from becoming unsuccessful in married life and thus having his entire life ruined by marital maladjustments and failures.

          Maritally maladjusted parents are a serious social liability not only to their children but to the entire community.

Problems of General Attitudes and Social Behavior

          A child must be trained to live and let others live peacefully, cheerfully and creatively.    For this he needs suitable guidance for the development of desirable attitudes and outlooks on life in general. Early guidance in a healthy and graceful social behavior saves the child, his parents, his future family and the whole of the community from innumerable unpleasant developments.

An Adequate Guidance Program

          An adequate guidance program, whether at home or at school or at a specialized guidance agency, is comprehensive and balanced in outlook. It endeavors to understand all the manifold needs and problems of children. It makes a resolute attempt to meet them adequately and scientifically by offering most appropriate, and balanced guidance programs to children, parents, teachers and community workers.

KINDS OF GUIDANCE

 

Chapter 27

KINDS OF GUIDANCE

The Chapter at a Glance

Educational guidance.

Vocational guidance.

Social guidance.

A comprehensive guidance program.

            Guidance is such a comprehensive concept that it covers practically the whole range of one's life. Perhaps there is no aspect of life in which adequate guidance may not be of in­valuable assistance to the individual.

            The main spheres, however, regarding which guidance is mostly needed by the growing child are the following:—

            (1) Educational,

            (2) Vocational, and

            (3) Social.

            It may be noted that elaborate research and specialized field work have been and are being conducted in all the three above-mentioned kinds of guidance all over the world.

Educational Guidance

            Educational guidance offers all possible kinds of help that a child may need regarding his academic problems. It enables him to understand his abilities and limitations and plan his education accordingly.

            An adequate program of educational guidance provides the guidee with immensely useful assistance in the field of subject selection, and in the methods of improving achievement in various subjects of study, avoiding scholastic failure and frus­tration and deriving maximum possible benefit out of the diversified academic and non-academic activities of the school.

Vocational Guidance

            Successful vocational guidance is dependent upon know­ledge of the following factors:

 (a)   Job Analysis, or an analytical knowledge of the various vocations and their              

        requirements.

(b)   Aptitude Analysis, or an accurate knowledge of the suitability of the guidee for a particular

        vocation.

            Guidance based on the above-mentioned information has every chance to be crowned with success. A considerable amount of misfits, vocational misplacement and consequent unhappiness and frustration in a number of professions can be avoided by guiding the right man to the right job. An adequate vocational guidance at school level is the right and the timely step in this direction.

Social Guidance

            Social guidance refers to the scientific process of character education and personality development. Such guidance aims at inculcating into children by various methods socially desirable habits, traits and attitudes.

            The procedures employed for administering social guidance to children are: group discussions, organized socio-cultural activities, group-games, group therapy, etc. Children's social organizations, e.g., Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, can also be utilized for imparting social education and guidance. Even occasional oral advice and precepts may be used in social guidance. Practical and concrete training, however, is far more effective and valuable in this direction than mere verbal exhortation.

A Comprehensive Guidance Program

            A comprehensive guidance program includes all the three kinds of guidance mentioned above. It utilizes all available sources and techniques for this purpose.

Guidance of the Whole Child

            Such a guidance program provides adequate stimuli for better educational achievement. It aims at increasing the guidee's vocational efficiency and adjustment. And it also looks after his social health and well-being. In short, an adequate guidance program caters for the guidance of the whole child by surveying and meeting the whole range of his needs and problems.

Chapter XXVIII

GUIDANCE NEEDS AND PROBLEMS OF YOUNG PEOPLE

            In order to succeed in administering guidance to young people one must know their life and the nature and extent of 1 problem" ^r/ir which they need guidance. The  main problems which usually confront children during their everyday life can be classified into the following three categories:-- 

            (a) Biological needs and related problems,

            (b) Psychological needs and related problems, and

            (c) Social needs and related problems.

Home Centred Problems

            The various needs and problems of children which centre round their home life are as follows:—

(a)             Biological needs and related problems

(b)            Psychological needs and related problems, and

(c)             Social needs and related problems.

Biological Needs and Problems:

            At birth the human individual is absolutely helpless. In order to survive and grow up he needs continued protection and nourishment from his parents. As he grows older he needs to be guided regarding toilet routines, rest and sleep habits, food values, avoidance of physical dangers threatening life, etc.

            Adequate guidance regarding these biological needs and the various problems associated with them is indispensable for survival and healthy growth of a child. Negligence, or inadequate guidance results in all kinds of complications and undesirable developments.

Psychological Needs and Problems:

            On the psychological side, the child needs emotional warmth and security at home. A child who is denied affection at home and made to feel insecure by his parents due to any adverse factors in the home life has little chance to develop into a healthy and efficient adult.

            Children need elementary knowledge about sex and appro­priate guidance in their sexual problems.

            Parents also need to guide the child into developing certain desirable mental traits, e.g., cheerfulness, perseverance, etc. They should safeguard against the development of undesirable traits in him like temper tantrums, impassiveness etc. the aim should be to so guide the child as to enable him to develop into a mentally adjusted and healthy adult.

Social Needs and Problems:

            Children also need guidance in the art of sociability. Human beings ate gregarious by nature. But if the social instinct is denied proper guidance during childhood, it is liable to develop in undesirable directions, e.g., the formation of anti-social and delinquent groups or gangs, etc. Parents should, therefore, remain vigilant in ensuring that children develop the right attitudes towards other children and adults around them, during their playful activities and general social intercourse in and outside the home.

            Children who are deprived of proper early social guidance at home are liable to develop into unsocial and introverted personalities. They may even grow into being anti-social, delin­quent and criminal adults in later life.

School-Centred Problems

            On entering school, a child's expanded social and cultural horizons open up before him infinite opportunities of progress and development. But these developmental opportunities and possibilities can only be exploited to the full if the child gets adequate and continued guidance from his school teachers.

            The problems regarding which a child needs guidance at school are as follow:-

(a)             Academic problems.

(b)            Vocational problems.

(c)             Personal problems, and

(d)            Social problems

The Academic Problems:

            A child can learn the three Rs without tears only if the teacher really knows the art of teaching young children. Efficiency in teaching methods necessitates a thorough knowledge of the psychology of child learning. Unless the teaching methods that a teacher employs in the class room are sound, pleasant the school.

            As he advances in age, a child needs guidance is making the correct selection of the school subject which are most suited to his natural aptitudes. While offering guidance, a teacher should also be mindful of the individual differences, abilities and handicaps of each irrespective of his individual personality is by means a safe course to follow.

Vocational Problem:

            Children’s vocational aptitudes need to be assed as early as possible in their school career. Before the school leaving age the teacher must have given them an appropriate bias and sufficient training  for a specific vocation  which appeals to them most and for which they are most suited.

            An adequate vocational guidance at the school level can avert a lot of misfitism in professions which can be a source of great unhappiness to the individual in later life. Early vocational guidance thus prevents tremendous human and material loss to the nation.

Personal problem:

            The main personal problems of the school child pertain to his:--      

(i)               Physical health and

(ii)            Mental health

            The school child needs guidance regarding his physical health and development. This need must be met by providing adequate medical health services at the school campus.

            For his mental health the child needs security and emotional nourishment in school. He must feel at home in the class­room. The school authorities must take all appropriate measures to see that every child feels at ease during the course of all the school activities. Should a child experience some emotional perplexity, the teacher should endeavour to understand it from the child's point of view. By providing him with sympathetic guidance, he should enable the child to face and solve his prob­lems as amicably as possible.

Social Problems:

            The social problems of the school child are manifold. A child needs adequate social guidance in order to make satisfying adjustments with his class-mates, teachers and everyone he comes in contact with during his stay at the school. Providing appropriate guidance to children to enable them to meet their social problems effectively is as fundamental a duty of the school teacher as imparting academic instruction.

Community-Centred Problems

            Besides the problems which revolve the home and the school children have certain school children, have certain problems which spring from the community.     In   order   to   meet    those   problems   effectively  children need guidance both at home and at school.

            Some of the main problems falling under this group are as follows:—

            (a) Problems of occupational adjustment,

            (b) Problems of material adjustment, and

            (c) Problems of general attitudes and social behaviour.

Problems of Occupational Adjustment:

            The health of a community is largely dependent upon voca­tionally capable, efficient, and adjusted individuals.   If children ** are given adequate vocational guidance and training by teachers and parents, they have abundant chances of choosing for them selves the right occupations. Developing professional health and efficiency and adjusting to their colleagues in the profession are the main spheres in which guidance is needed during adoles­cence and towards later life. Such a task can be better per­formed by specialized vocational guidance agencies.

            It is hardly necessary to re-emphasize that adequate voca­tional guidance averts a great deal of professional inefficiency, misplacement and maladjustment. Occupational maladjustment. is a serious mental and economic drain on the resources of a nation.

Problems of Martial Adjustment:

            In order grow up to be successful husbands and wives, children need preliminary orientation and training for marital adjustment at home and school. Parental education and guidance would save many a child from becoming unsuccessful in married life and thus having his entire life ruined by marital maladjustments and failures.

            Martially maladjusted parents are a serious social liability not only to their children but to the entire community.

Problems of General Attitudes and Social Behaviour:

            A child must be trained to live and let others live peacefully cheerfully and creatively.    For this he needs suitable guidance’s the development of desirable attitudes and outlooks on life in general. Early guidance in  a healthy and graceful  social behaviour  saves the  child, his parent his future family and the whole of the community from innumerable unpleasant developments.

An Adequate Guidance Programme

            An adequate guidance programme whether at home or at school or at a specialized guidance agency is comprehensive and balanced in outlook. It endeavors to understand all the manifold needs and problems of children. It makes a resolute attempt to meet them adequately and scientifically by offering most appropriate, and balanced guidance programmes to children,

HISTORY OF THE GUIDANCE MOVEMENT

Chapter 26

HISTORY OF THE GUIDANCE MOVEMENT

The Chapter at a Glance

Pre-modern guidance techniques.

Beginning of modern scientific guidance.

Historical developments in various countries.

          Guidance appears to be as old as the human race itself. The concept of guidance is deep-seated in the minds of mankind. The guidance programs of the ancient Greeks and Romans, apprenticeship in the middle ages, discipleship among the ancient Muslims and Hindus all suggest that guidance is not at all recent in origin.

          Since the days of Adam (AHS) and Hawa, mankind has been keenly alive to the necessity for helping and guiding one another. The need to guide children has been very acutely felt during all stages of human history. In the contemporary age such a realization has probably reached its apex.

Pre-Modern Guidance Techniques

          Scientific or psychological guidance, however, is of very recent origin. In older to understand this fact let us take a cursory glance at the history of developments in field of guidance.

Crude and Unscientific Guidance

          The history of guidance reveals that the pre-modern guid­ance procedures were mostly crude and unscientific. Such early guidance practices did not make any systematic and methodical attempt to base the manner of offering suggestions or the very content of those suggestions on an analysis of facts and figures.

          Pre-modern guidance techniques, for instance, made no attempt at understanding the capabilities and potentialities of the individuals who sought help. Guidance was mostly based on superstition, customs, traditions, conventions, mores, etc. In most, homes, schools and professions it depended on the absolute will of autocratic parents, authoritative teachers, and powerful masters.

Pseudo-Scientific Techniques

           In pre-scientific days, a number of unscientific and pseudo-scientific practices and procedures had gained currency in the field of guidance.  Some of these pseudo-scientific guidance techniques are: Astrology, Numerology, Palmistry, Graphology, Phrenology and Physiognomy. Instead of basing their suggestions and advices on a knowledge of the actual assets and liabilities of the guides, pre-modern guide relied on the stars, mathematical numbers the palm of the hand, handwriting, the shape of skull, the contours of the face, etc.

Beginnings of Modern Scientific Guidance

          The foundations of a scientific system of guidance were laid only in recent years. The contemporary century saw enligh­tening developments in the field of Experimental Psychology. To meet the growing requirement for measurement techniques in various sciences, elaborate statistical procedures were evolved. These developments served as bases for the evolution of a scientific system of guidance.

Role of Modern Psychology and Statistics

          Modern Psychology and Statistics have made it possible to formulate certain precise rules for judging, predicting and guiding human behavior. Developments in the field of aptitude analysis and testing have brought precision into the procedures for advising and selecting the right men for the right jobs.

          These and other contemporary developments have been largely responsible for the introduction of methodical and sys­tematic work in the field of guidance. Guidance is now ack­nowledged as a fairly reliable and extremely useful science.

Historical Developments in Various Countries

          The historical development of guidance in its various aspects that took place during the twentieth century in different parts of the globe offers an interesting field of study.

Developments in the U.S.A

          The unique distinction of taking the lead in the field of scientific guidance goes to the U.S.A. Pioneer work in various fields of guidance started much earlier in some American states than comparable work in the rest of the world.

          Pioneer American Psychological Clinics: The American work started with the inauguration in 1909 of a clinic in Chicago by William Healey. It was called the Chicago Juvenile Psycho­pathic Clinic. As the name implies it provided guidance and treatment exclusively to psychopathic children. This was the first psychological clinic of its kind in the whole of the world.

          Six years later in 1915 Professor Frank Parsons established another clinic at Boston. This was the first clinic in the history of guidance which provided guidance to all types of children and covered a wide range of problems. It also made special ar­rangements for the vocational guidance of children and young people.

          An Educational, Social and Cultural Movement: Soon after the establishment of these two pioneer clinics, a number of guidance clinics and centers rapidly came into being in various parts of the U. S. A. Improved guidance practices and tech­niques started gaining popularity among the American public. The fast spreading of a huge network of guidance clinics of different types and innumerable centers for the training of guidance personnel, an elaborate development of and refinement in guidance techniques and procedures and the quickly multiply­ing production of books, journals and periodicals on the subject are clear indications of the increasing popularity of guidance work in America.

          In fact, in America, guidance has by now assumed the shape of an educational, social and cultural movement. Modern American parents, teachers and members of the general public are now definitely guidance-minded.

Guidance Developments in Britain

          The first steps in this direction in Britain were taken about a decade later than the pioneer work was done in America.

          Pioneer British Guidance Clinics: In Britain, the history of guidance work starts with the establishment in 1920 of the renowned Tavistock Clinic in London. Crichton-Miller played the leading role in getting this clinics going.

          This was followed by the East London Child Guidance Clinic which came into being in 1927. Dr. Emmanuel Miller was the first director of this clinic. In 1928 the London Child Guidance Clinic went into operation. Dr. William Moodie, who directed this famous clinic, was a very capable psychologist. He had received his training and practical experience in guid­ance works in American guidance clinics and training centers.

          Training of Guidance Workers: The London Child Guidance Clinic also arranged for practical training in guidance work. Most of the British guidance workers who are engaged at the moment in practical work in various institutions, clinics and centers owe their training and experience to this historic clinic.

          Clinic for Delinquent Children: A few years ago a psychological clinic specializing in the understanding, guidance and treatment of delinquent children was started in London. This clinic is one of the most famous institutions of its kind of the world. It is run by the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Delinquency (I. S. T. D.). Besides offering practical guidance and treatment to maladjusted and delinquent children, the clinic offers opportunities for expert training for specialized guidance and reclamation work with delinquents. The clinic also issues a journal of its own known as the British Journal of Delinquency.

          Popularity of Guidance Work in Britain: Guidance-mindedness now dominates British schools and homes. In Britain today, several counseling centers, guidance clinics and bureaus have been established which are doing extremely useful work in various fields of guidance. In order to meet the ever-growing and diversified guidance needs of British children, guidance services and provisions are undergoing a rapid process of im­provement, refinement and expansion.

Developments in Other Western Countries

          A cursory glance at the developments in other Western countries like France, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, etc., reveals that the people in those parts of the world are rapidly becoming guidance-minded. In most of these countries adequate guidance services for the schools and for the general population are available in nearly every major town.

          It would be no exaggeration to say that the remarkable progress made during the present century by people in the West in the fields of education, sciences, arts and industry are to a great extent due to their proper organization and utilization of guidance services. These services in those countries are organ­ized on a democratic basis so that they are available to every individual irrespective of his caste or creed or socio-economic status.

Review of Developments in the East

          Contemporary Eastern people have been comparatively slow on the whole in evolving and applying scientific techniques and procedures of guidance.

          Under the patronage of UNESCO, an International Institute of Child Study has been established in Thailand at Bangkok. This institute is doing useful research and practical work in guidance and other allied fields.

          Other countries like Egypt, India, Pakistan and Ceylon have recently made some pioneer moves in the field of guidance. The guidance and the inspiration of various international agencies, especially UNESCO and W.H.O. and visiting guidance experts from foreign countries have proved immensely helpful in this direction.

          In Pakistan, for instance, a number of guidance clinics and centers have lately been established in various university towns, e.g., Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Dacca.

          Guidance Services in Lahore: Regular guidance services are now available in Lahore, for example, at the following guid­ance organizations:

(1)     The Child Guidance Clinic, Central Training College, Lahore.

(2)     The Child Guidance Centre, Lady Maclagan Training College for Women, Lahore.

(3)     The Psychological Government College, Lahore.

          All these guidance establishments enjoy the patronage of the West Pakistan Education Department (this book was published in 1962). They are staffed by young, enthusiastic, highly qualified and trained personnel, and are engaged in useful work, mostly of a pioneer nature in Pakistan in various fields of guidance.  

          First Training Course in Guidance: Recently the University of the Punjab introduced an optional paper on Guidance for B. Ed. Students.  It is hoped that such a step will become instrumental in stimulating the interest of prospective teachers and parents in the theory and practice of guidance.

          Education Commission's Emphasis on Guidance: More recently the Commission on National Education has highlighted the necessity of providing adequate guidance and counseling services to students at various stages of their development. In 1960 the Government appointed a committee of expert guidance workers under the chairmanship of the author in order to sug­gest suitable measures to implement the recommendations of the Education Commission in the field of guidance. Accordingly, an elaborate plan for the introduction of guidance services in all educational institutions has been prepared and is under con­sideration of the Government.

Magnitude of the Guidance Needs

          The foregoing historical review reveals that though some of the Eastern countries have, no doubt, made beginnings in the field of organizing guidance services for their younger genera­tion, at the moment, however, these services are mostly inade­quate from a technical point of view.

          Moreover, the magnitude of the guidance needs and the extent of the services actually available in most Eastern coun­tries are still utterly disproportionate. The situation demands immediate and continued attention of the experts. The guid­ance workers in the East, therefore, have a gigantic task ahead of them.