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Multiculturalism in Counseling Essay Example for Free
Multiculturalism in Counseling Essay ABSTRACT Stemming from the uprising in the 1960s, multiculturalism has presented serious challenges to the society, especially to the academic sector. Criticized by social groups, schools were inclined to adopt programs in recognition of the multicultural population, and later structured their systems to cater to the needs of the growing population. Today, multiculturalism has become an important consideration in designing school programs, facilities, and hiring policies. Particularly, school counseling was one area that went through a notable change. The introduction of this paper gives a brief historical background of multiculturalism in school counseling. It discusses how multiculturalism was incorporated into the school curriculum, and was adopted in school counseling. The main part of this paper discusses the competencies every school counselor must possess to address the needs of multicultural students. Anchoring on the three core competencies set by the AMCD, this paper presents ways on how one can be knowledgeable of clients’ worldviews in order to serve them best. In addition, it suggests other devices or strategies counselors may consider when dealing with multicultural students.            The conclusion of the paper summarizes the ideal characteristics of a counselor, and presents further considerations school administrators and counselors can make to ensure effective counseling strategies which adhere to the demands of multiculturalism. Introduction Multiculturalism as Rosado (1997) defines, is a system of values and behaviors which recognizes and respects the presence of all diverse groups in societyâ€â€their identities, values and socio-cultural differences. In addition, multiculturalism supports continued contribution of the culture in the society. Based on this definition, we can view multiculturalism as the harmonious coexistence of different cultures in the society. In the author’s view, culture is not limited to bases of origin. Culture may arise from similar beliefs, attitudes, or feelings of a certain group of people. Thus, it also encompasses those who have the same subcultures based on values, economic status, socio-political status, or gender. Particularly, those who have the same subculture based on gender include women, gays, lesbians and transgender individuals. In the same manner, people belonging to the same economic status or religion share a similar subculture that establishes their diversity from others. In this study, we refer to multicultural people as those who embody a different set of cultures and subcultures, other than the native culture or the majority. As such, we may define multiculturalism as an approach that recognizes diversity in culture among different ethnic, gender, economic, socio-political, and religious backgrounds. Multiculturalism has also become a prevalent topic in school counseling. It has prompted psychologists and educators around the world to review school practices that hamper culturally diverse students from performing well in school. Now that the growing population of multiculturally diverse students seems to be taking over the White population, the challenges that go with implementing multiculturalism in counseling would probably be more relevant in the next decades.                                                Multiculturalism in Counseling In the field of education, authors claim that multiculturalism rooted out from the social action of African Americans and other â€Å"people of color†back in the 1960s (Banks, Davidson Davidson, as cited in Gorski, 1999). The common feeling that schools had the most hostile and oppressive treatment of other cultures aroused them to protest and fight for reforms. In those days, African Americans and other cultures suffered from racism and discrimination from the White population who occupied professorship or management statuses. Colored people were treated as second class citizens, if not as outcasts. However, through the efforts of African American activists, schools were compelled to review their policies and hiring process in consideration of the non-Whites. In the 1970s, other groups such as the elderly, gays, lesbians, and people with disabilities also contested that institutions should pay equal respect to all peoples on matters of employment, educational opportunities, and work pay. Following this, a number of programs and policies emerged, including additional courses on prominent women or famous people of color. Despite this effort, social activists were not satisfied, for schools only celebrated women of greatness, and not women in general. For instance, James Banks (1981;1989), one of the pioneers of multicultural education argued that to adhere to the idea of â€Å"multicultural environment,†all aspects of the school had to be reviewed. According to him, policies, teacher’s attitude, assessment programs, and counseling should be transformed accordingly. This concept of multicultural education coincided with the idea of social equality among diverse cultures. By 1980s, following the path of Banks, K-12 teachers, namely, Carl Grant, Christine Sleeter, Geneva Gay, and Sonia Nieto exposed and criticized oppressive teaching approaches, standardized tests, classroom climate, and discriminatory hiring practices. Relevantly, this created in every academic professional the challenge to recognize diversity or as later coined, multiculturalism, and make it their mission to â€Å"manage†and â€Å"live diversity†(Rosado, 1997 ). Being multicultural does not only mean having a student population composed of various cultures, though this is often the contention of many schools. Rosado points out that for a school to claim they are multicultural, they must at least adhere to four standards. These include reflecting heterogeneity, demonstrating sensitivity, realigning the school’s mission, and creating an ambiance that empowers all groups in the school. With clear and careful intention, Rosado argues that schools should adopt change geared towards multiculturalism on individual as well as institutional levels. On the one hand, by saying individual level, we mean that schools should aim at urging administration, teachers and students to transcend beyond their own racial, gender, cultural and socio-political identity to recognize other identities. On the other hand, as Rosado contends, institutional level means focusing on empowering diversity. This goes beyond merely admitting people of color, but also taking into consideration in the school’s mission, vision, values, and structure how it can empower each individual. Although motivated by good intention, empowering people of diversity, as pointed out by Rosado may sometimes lead to a utilitarian view of giving a person his needs in exchange of what he can offer his society. We say that this is very utilitarian in that it sees the individual as a utility, more than an entity with values, attitudes, and affection. In contrast, we should be inclined to think that it is the school’s responsibility to provide the different needs of individuals in recognition of their diversity and nothing else. No conditions should apply as to whether the society can profit from his acts or not. Relevantly, whether the person is worthy of rewards of multiculturalism should not be an issue. Four intentions have motivated the adoption of multiculturalism in education. These include the â€Å"need to remedy ethnocentrism, rebuild understanding and appreciation of different cultures, defuse tension and conflicts among ethnic groups, and make the school curricula relevant to experiences and traditions†(Webb, 1990). In the next part, we will discuss how well these motivations relate to school counseling.            Many research works confirm the positive effects of multicultural education on students. For example, Hale (1986) shows that children in a preschool program achieved higher cognitive levels upon integrating African American culture in the curriculum.            In the same way, Zaslavsky (1988) demonstrates how elements of other cultures can help in teaching complex math concepts to students of an inner-city school. Fulton-Scott (1983) confirms benefits of integrating multicultural education in elementary programs for Hispanic students. The study reveals that students’ scores in Math, Reading, and Language were significantly superior over those of students enrolled in programs without multicultural integration.            Benefits of multiculturalism are likewise recognized in the field of Psychology, particularly in school counseling. However, research in this area has focused more on counselors’ multicultural competence rather than on the effect of counseling founded on multiculturalism.            In 1991, the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD) identified the need and rationale for multicultural counseling. This led to the approval of 31 multicultural counseling competencies as proposed by Sue et al. (1992) in 1991. Following this, in 2002, the APA Council of Representatives approved the Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice and Organization Change, which was, in fact, based on the work of Sue et al.            The need to adopt multiculturalism in counseling, especially in schools, is truly urgent and necessary for ethical reasons. In relation to this, AMCD identifies three characteristics counselors must possess. First is counselor awareness of own assumptions, values, and biases. Second is understanding the worldview of the culturally different client; and third, developing appropriate intervention strategies and techniques            Primarily, culturally skilled counselors can be identified as those who have awareness of other people’s culture other than their own. They are aware of how their cultural background, experience, attitude, biases, and values influence the counseling process of a client. Moreover, these counselors recognize their limits when it comes to tolerating other values, behaviors, or norms. To add, culturally skilled counselors are also comfortable with differences between them and the clients in terms of race, gender identity, ethnicity, culture, and beliefs. To illustrate, the first measure of competency requires a counselor to mirror whether his own values and beliefs would personally or professionally affect the process of counseling. For example, a Christian counselor may have biases towards a Muslim student, for they have truly different belief systems. In this situation, if the counselor has no knowledge of ethical limitations, he might insist that his beliefs are better or are morally upright, and those of the student’s are the opposite. However, such case may be prevented if the counselor is fully aware of conflicting values he has with the student. In our own view, a school counselor should be open to all values of every student. This is different from the counselor in the private sector. In school counseling, the counselor who cannot accept views of some students is not fit for school counseling. A school counselor should have readiness to counsel every student, and there should be no instance when he would not accept a student for counseling.            To ensure that the counselor meets the first requirement mentioned above, he should reflect on his values and find out if he has beliefs against any culture, including students with different gender identities, cultural or religious practices, and other moral practices that their culture has taught them. For instance, taking into consideration the case of students with gender identity problem, the counselor must be careful not to insist that the student sticks to his biological gender. Rather, he should exercise care in handling this case. After all, the whole life of the student may depend on the decision he makes at the time of counseling. Culturally skilled counselors possess knowledge and understanding about how gender stereotyping affects them personally and professionally. Considering the sensitivity of the issue of gender identity disorder, the school counselor must be careful not to affect the decision and values of the individual, for he is going to suffer later on should he take the wrong decision.            Moreover, as Sue et al. contend, culturally skilled counselors possess knowledge about their social impact on others. These include one’s awareness of own communication style, and how this style may hinder or facilitate the counseling process. Recognizing limits of their competencies, school counselors may confer with their colleagues how to overcome these weaknesses. Aside from this, they should seek further training or education on other cultures as a way to do away with biases. The process of balancing one’s view of other cultures may take a lifetime as new concepts may arise everyday. For example, the term transgender individuality appeared only in our modern times, but the concept of transforming from one gender to another has been known as early as the time of Sophocles or even earlier. In this regard, counselors should not grow tired of finding ways for self-actualization. Also, on the second characteristic, it is the responsibility of the culturally skilled counselor to gather resources to learn about the identity of other cultures. In the case of homosexuality among students, the counselor should know the different sides of the coin in being a homosexual. In particular, counselors who deal with this issue should have a good understanding of the process of being a homosexual (Adams, Boatwright, Gilbert, Forrest Ketzenberger, Cass, Chung Katayama, Croghan, Driscoll, Kelley Fassinger, Dunkle, and Pope, as cited in Sanabria, 2004). With this knowledge, he must let the student decide on his own whether to retain his gender identity or move to the phase of ‘coming out†. Coming out or in other words, admitting to the society that one belongs to a specific gender type is in itself a dilemma among teenagers with identity confusion. The specific role of the counselor in this situation is to help the youth consider advantages and disadvantages of coming out (Adams, Belz, Brown, Croteau Hedstrom, Elliott, Hetherington, Morgan Brown, Morrow, Pope, Rodriguez Chang, Pope Schecter, Savin-Williams, as cited in Sanabria, 2004). Additionally, the counselor should guide the student in the stage of coming-out by training him/her how to deal with people’s inquiry about his identity. For example, the counselor could give real-life scenarios, and ask the student to react on them in order to ensure that he would be prepared for particular instances when he would experience doubt. If the counselor feels affirmative or senses tolerance toward gays and lesbians but lacks the knowledge to handle cases of these individuals, he could improve his familiarity with them through a lot of ways. One source of invaluable information is reading literatures regarding gay/lesbian culture. At present, explorations on gender-specific cases are improving in terms of number and depth. These readings can guide a counselor to discover gay/lesbian cultural identity. Likewise, attending conferences or symposia, gathering insights from past clients and friends who belong to the same gender type will also contribute a lot (Sanabria, 2004). Also, as Sanabria expresses, if the counselor feels that he is not qualified to handle the case, it is only ethical to refer the student to someone who could offer him the right counseling. Furthermore, counselors who cannot be affirmative of gay and lesbian culture are probably misinformed and should look into themselves again if they are fit for being a school counselor. The issue regarding sexual minorities is only one of the issues a school counselor must be able to handle. If the counselor cannot help sexual minorities, he should reconsider if he should continue practicing in the academic setting. Suffice to mention, the National Career Development Association, American Counseling Association, and American Psychological Association have well-defined ethical codes that offer guidance for individuals who work with sexual orientation issues. Included in these ethical codes is the knowledge about students’ behavioral identity. Importantly, culturally skilled counselors should be aware of life experiences, cultural heritage, and historical background of their multicultural students. For instance, an Asian American student has different historical and cultural background from a Latino counterpart, or an African American. When counseling an Asian American, for example, a Chinese girl who cannot relate well with her classmates, a counselor must be informed of the conservative values Chinese families have. Actually, the attitude of keeping one’s silence may be in conformity with Confucian values. In this regard, the counselor cannot expect the girl to be as outgoing as he r classmates are, for the behavior she presents embodies a cultural heritage among the Chinese. Furthermore, culturally skilled counselors understand the consequences arising from one’s exercise of cultural traditions and rites. In some parts of Asia, for instance, there is still the custom of prearranged marriage. Thus, a counselor who encounters a high school student in this situation should suspend judgment of the custom, but rather honor it, and perhaps counsel the child to make her own choice, after laying down the consequences of abiding by the culture. In considering choices, the counselor may enumerate possible circumstances the child would face if she relents to her parents’ decision, or vice versa. Under no circumstances should the counselor dictate to the child what she should do as this may result in confusion or family conflict. Likewise, the counselor may also opt to explain the issue to the parents, but before doing so, the counselor must take precautions so as not to offend them. At all times, respect should form part of every counseling situation. Aside from obtaining a rich background of their students, a competent counselor, according to Sue et al. should also be kept updated with the latest trends and occurrences that concern his clients. In the case of a school counselor, it would be of great help if he engages in research and other activities to keep him updated with the students’ lingo, hobbies, behavioral patterns, etc. They should actively seek out opportunitiesâ€â€personal and professional experiences that enrich their knowledge, understanding, and cross-cultural skills. Moreover, as some schools implement nowadays, counselors can engage in outside school activities such as outreach programs, educational trips, camps, and other activities which would help gain a more vivid profile of the counselees. They should also be actively involved with minority individuals outside the school setting. Community events, celebrations, and other gatherings may help provide a wider perspective of minorities which relate with the academic scenario. Considering the dynamic role that the school counselor plays in society, the responsibility of ensuring that they possess the relevant qualities expected of a counselor should be borne by colleges offering the course or training. Based on the literature gathered, schools have positively become fully concerned about the issue of multiculturalism. Many schools and universities nowadays adhere to the demands of the culturally diverse society. However, the way to attaining competency of some school counselors may still be too far. In one study Holcom-McCo y (2000) conducted, the author identified five underlying factors influencing school counselors’ perception of themselves as competent professionals. These factors included understanding of racial identity development, ability to comprehend multicultural terminology, multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. Among which, counselors perceived lack of knowledge of racial identity development as the problem that hindered them from being fully competent in multiculturalism. To address this problem, Schwallie-Giddis et al. (as cited in Sanabria, 2004) suggest that future school counselors should undergo multicultural training on racial identity development, and multicultural knowledge development. In a study conducted, school counselors assessed the effectiveness of a nine-month multicultural professional development program. The study involved 13 school counselors in a multicultural professional development program held from school year 2001-2002. Applying three dimensions of multicultural competencies, the participants assessed their own competencies. Resources included a videotape of a case study to which participants reacted, in order to discover assumptions, values and biases. To assess understanding of the clients’ worldviews, the study made use of case studies of linguistically and culturally diverse (LCD) students. The participants were asked to apply a framework to the cases to examine aspects school counselors should consider when handling diverse students. The participants had a lengthy discussion on the provided cases, and at the end of the session, they expressed the advantage of having discussions with peers. Another session comprised of a panel interview with three mothers of different cultures. Each of the women talked about her child’s experiences in school, all of which related to the inefficiency of the school officials to handle multicultural students. In all the issues raised, lack of communication surfaced as the most recurrent problem. In relation to this, participants commented that had there been proper communication between parents and school officials, issues would have been resolved more easily. Moreover, the study also included a session that dealt with developing appropriate interventions to cases of LCD students. Through this, participants were able to exchange views and experiences which could help build up a resource for interventions to cases of LCD students. Based on this session, counselors noted that most of them found it difficult to deal with LCD student mainly because of the language barrier. Furthermore, insecurities due to lack of knowledge of other cultures affected the competencies of the participants. In sum, the school counselors agreed that having enough facility to understand the student and overcoming language barriers is one major key to providing adequate help to students. Similarly, Chandras et al. (2006) suggest counseling strategies and techniques in handling multicultural students. One skill they emphasized to be critical in every counseling situation is effective listening. Effective listening, as Neuknug (2002) defines, includes allowing students to talk, concentrating on what is being said, giving minimal advice, empathizing, asking for clarifications, and limiting questions. When handling multicultural students, it is important for the counselor to be fully sensitive to verbal cues that relate to culture. For instance, a student who is often bullied in class may not admit why he is being bullied due to his insecurity. There are some students who would rather keep the truth to themselves or resolve their own conflicts instead of asking help from school officials. Despite this attitude, a good school counselor could still unlock verbal cues that could make the student open up. For example, a child who claims he is not interested in making friends with his classmates could likewise mean that his classmates are cruel to him and not totally uninteresting. As such, clarifying responses and not directly giving advice may help the child reflect on his own situation. To maintain effective counseling strategy, a constructive and emphatic relationship is very important (Chandras et al., 2006). In this respect, the counselor’s role is first to build up trust and optimism. On the one hand, gaining trust of a student is paramount to establishing a good relationship. Without trust, there can be no revelations, no life experiences told. On the other hand, developing optimism facilitates finding a solution to the problem. Also, when a student perceives that there is a solution to the dilemma, he becomes more willing to cooperate in the counseling process. Secondary to the abovementioned is discussing stages of the counseling process. It is important to inform the counselee how the counseling would go, what can be achieved during counseling stages, and how long they will take. Together with this, the counselor should set guidelines both he and the student will follow, such as time schedule, behavior rules, and limitations. Chakras et al. determine other responsibilities of a counselor. These include preparing the student for counseling session. As a counselor, one has to establish the reason why the student should undergo counseling. Asking the student what he feels is wrong, or eliciting experiences that seem difficult for him are ways to prepare the student. In addition, the counselor must assert that the problem can be worked out if the counselee cooperates in resolving it. Also, some situations that lead to the attention are considered for school counseling. These include breaking school rules, misbehaving, or underachievement. As such, the class adviser and the school counselor should work hand in hand regarding record of students’ behavior and progress. One of the misconceptions about counseling is that students are referred to it only for disciplinary purposes. Students tend to think that if they are called for counseling, they have been noted to misbehave in school. Thus, some students create a wrong view that counselors are disciplinarians. Importantly, this issue should be addressed during school orientation, letting the students know and feel that counseling is a helping process, and not a disciplinary one. Furthermore, what the counselor can do to avoid this misconception is to call each student one by one, get to know them, and allow a time for them to be acquainted with her and her work, so that fears regarding counseling could be avoided. Importantly, not only those who have reports of misbehavior should be called for counseling, but every student handled by each counselor. During counseling session, one good characteristic the counselor should exhibit is to remain focused on the specific problem. If the student’s problem concerns only his classmates, the counselor should identify ways to resolve it at the said level, and not delve on the students’ family background, as such may give the student an impression that his problem is huge. For example, if the student identifies that he is having problems with classmates bullying him, the counselor must call the attention of the said classmates and allow the said parties to explain the issue (i.e., tell them of the situation to find out if they are aware of the problem they cause their classmate). Furthermore, it is the counselor’s role to sustain interest of the counselee during the counseling process. To attain this, the counselor should ask questions relevant to the situation, and involve the counselee in arriving at the best workable solution. Asking irrelevant questions and monopolizing the discussion may distract the concentration of the counselee. In addition, the counselor may give assignments or home work so that the student would feel responsible and be prepared for the next counseling session. As regards developing appropriate intervention strategies and techniques to help multicultural students, counselors should also be effectively involved in non-academic and out-of-school activities. As the core of the student’s personality, the counselor should focus first on building family relationships. Activities involving the students’ family would be an effective strategy to (1) know students well, (2) gain knowledge of family structure of students, whether parents are separated, and where students stay, (3) provide a venue for family bonding, and (4) inform parents of their children’s progress/problems. Parent involvement in counseling is inevitable. Some studies confirm student improvement in â€Å"academic performance, attitudes and behavior, attendance, school adjustment and engagement, and graduation rates†(Barnard, Epstein, Simons-Morton Crump, as cited in Sanabria). In Jevnes (as cited in Sanabria), a recent meta-analysis of 41 studies shows a significant relationship between parent’s involvement in school and academic achievement of urban students.            Parent involvement in school can include activities designed to inform them of their children’s progress, workshops or conferences to help them cope with the difficulties of parenting, marriage, etc. However, some parents lack the initiative to get involved in their child’s school affairs. As Lareau (as cited in Sanabria, 2004) posits, parents perceptions of racism and their own negative school experiences tend to create the distance between them and the schools. One study conducted by McKay, Atkins, Hawkins, Brown (as cited in Sanabria, 2004) found that the racism awareness of low-income African American parents was positively related to at-home parental involvement, and inversely related to at-school involvement. In this case, the counselor should coordinate closely with class advisers and other school officials to help convince these parents to give priority to their children. One source of motivation could be research dat a establishing correlation between children’s progress and parental involvement. One activity the counselor could organize is a â€Å"Day with Parents.†This could be a panel discussion involving model parents (probably of outstanding students) to act as the panel, and discuss relevant issues with students and co-parents. In this activity, the panel discusses ways on how they get involved with the affairs of their children, and how these measures create positive output to them. After the pane interview/discussion, the parents may exchange ideas in a forum to discuss proper ways to bring up children. Specifically, student problems, whether academic or personal, may also be brought up. Another activity the counselor could organize is a family day in which the whole family will come to the school to enjoy rides, games, or dining together. This event may be school-wide and would need the participation of every school personnel and students. Aside from organizing events for the family, the school counselor could also incorporate in the program field trips, camping, games, and other fun activities for the students. This will help students, especially with multicultural background, to get to know their classmates well. This way, they would also find time to have more friends. Aside from this, fun activities would also make them realize that school is not just for learning academics but also for having fun.            Moreover, other activities school counselors could provide include workshops or performing arts activities. These activities are very ideal to cultivate the talents of students. Examples of which include art, theater arts, dance, and singing workshops. After the workshops, counselors could also have a culminating activity in which students show what they have learned from the workshop. For arts, students will have an art exhibit, for dance, theater arts, and singing, the counselor could propose to school administration to allow a concert or show, in which students will be the performers. This particular activity could also serve as a fund raising campaign aside from showcasing the talent of students.            Other activities to make students realize their potentials include sports activities/intramurals. This would allow sports-minded students to show their capabilities in their field. Also, this could serve as the school’s campaign against drug use among students.            Further to the given interventions, counselors could also conduct career orientation, especially for graduating students. In this activity, the counselor would invite some professionals to talk about their career to inspire students to follow a similar path. At the end of the session, the counselor would elicit from students, which career aroused their interest, and what made them interested to it. Importantly, students should be given many options to choose from, and career professionals to be invited should likewise have multicultural identity, so that students can easily relate with them. Evaluation sessions should also follow to allow room for improvement.            Counselors also have a part in the school’s community outreach. By giving orientation to students regarding the activity and motivating them to help other people, students will realize that the helping profession is not limited within the four corners of the school. The participation of the counselor is very important as this will strengthen the role of the counseling profession and the school’s mission of helping other people.            Other interventions the counselor could incorporate in the counseling program include achievement tests, personality tests, and other assessments to gauge the students’ academic and personal progress. These could help identify the needs of the students or their inclinations to serve as guide in choosing their future career. There are a lot of ways a school counselor can adopt to help in the holistic development of students. In adopting each intervention, what is important is to bear in mind its applicability to the multicultural students. As each student comes from a different background, it is imperative to learn about them individually, and not just by names or culture affiliation. As long been practiced by other counseling professionals, one strategy the counselor could employ is to do home visits. By visiting students in their home, the counselor will gain a clear and accurate picture of the students’ background. Similarly, this would also create for him a first-hand experience of the students’ cultural background.  Conclusion As we continue to live in the Information Age, we are driven to realize the many impacts of multiculturalism on people, educational institutions, and society in general. In particular, we see how it changed history in the 1960s with the civil protest of Black Americans, and how it restructured school policies on employment of faculty, and treatment of students. Similarly, we see how it inspired minority groups to express their views and contribute to the rich and modern culture. Moreover, we see the important role of multiculturalism in the counseling programs of schools and the community, not to mention the challenges it continues to bring counselors in providing care and assistance. Although discrimination based on race, ethnic origin, gender, religion, disability, socio-political, and economic status are still evident in our society, the progress attained by forerunners and supporters of multiculturalism make us look forward to a better nation in the next decades. As time unfolds, we may take pride as we watch Americans embrace Africans, Asians, and other people of color. This view will continue to unveil as school administrators continue to uphold and cultivate the gifts of diversity in their orientation of students and communities. Much to the efforts made by school activists, we may look forward to more reforms in the counseling scene, either in schools or communities. The standards set by the AMCD or APA would continue to lead counselors to realize the importance of their roles in the society. The role played by counselors is not an easy task. However, by being conscious of their own tendency toward biases, counselors would avoid disserving their clients, and in the long run, the attitude of people especially schoolchildren toward counseling would further be affirmative. Moreover, adhering to the second characteristic, counselors would maintain a sensitive attitude toward cultures of other people. As such, they will feel the importance of bridging gaps among multicultural individuals, thus becoming proponents of unity and peace in the long run. Also part of the competency requirements of counselors is to devise or organize strategies to provide relevant counseling and helping services to the people. In this respect, their role is not limited to the school setting they serve, but it is likewise relevant to the community they work with. By fulfilling their part as community helpers, counselors would have a richer cultural experience which could help in their field. Recognizing the difficult task expected of counselors, we may develop the doubt regarding the capability of school counselors of today in taking on the said challenges. In this regard, counselors would need all the assistance it could get from school officials such as teachers, principal, and other staff. Through the collaboration between counselors and school officials, multicultural students will realize the important contribution they can make in the society, not only in their group but also in the lives of other people, in the fields of technology, manpower, innovation, and care for the environment. The nature of helping students does not end in counseling them or providing moral support. Rather, it extends to making them feel their importance as people, providing them choices in life, and cultivating their talents. The counseling program of every school should be the most active program among all, as it involves not only the students and counselors, but also other school officials, including the teachers, librarian, and support staff. If every one in the school system shares in the goal of achieving multicultural counseling, we can hope for the success of multicultural students. As such, everyone should his/her own part and responsibilities in promoting the welfare of the studentsâ€â€that is, giving respect to people of other cultures, helping them realize their life goals, and making them co-creators of society. Despite all the efforts exerted by counselors and other individuals to make up a better society, we can still note some people, even students who would resist multiculturalism. The harsh picture of some students exhibiting exclusivist attitude toward their peers should not be overlooked. Rather, it should be the concern of everyone in the school, especially its officials. In line with this, more studies should be conducted on how to incorporate multicultural views into the counseling program of every school, beginning from pre-schools to post-graduate schools. It would also help if psychological groups or associations would set standards particularly for multicultural school counseling. These rules would serve as guide for school administrators in choosing the right school counselor. While it is the role of school counselors to provide counseling to multicultural students, it would also help if schools would implement a procedure to evaluate if other aspects of the school adhere to promoting cultural diversity. Particularly, school administrators should realize that the issue of multiculturalism should not be addressed by the counseling program alone, but also by all aspects of the school, including the physical structure of the school. In this regard, future research in psychology could include ways on how the school’s physical structure could support counseling programs for multicultural students. References Chandras, Kan, David DeLambo, Sunil Chandras. (2006). Counseling strategies and techniques to sensitize school counselors to the life experiences of culturally different students. Retrieved January 28, 2008, from http://www.counselingoutfitters.com/Chandras.htm Constantine, Madonna. (2001). Universal-diverse orientation and general expectations about counseling: Their relation to college students multicultural counseling expectations. Journal of college student development. Retrieved January 28, 2008, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3752/is_200111/ai_n8993131 Freedman, Kenneth. (1999). Multicultural counseling. Retrieved January 23, 2008, from http://www.alaska.net/~fken/Multiculture.htm Gorski, Paul. (1999). A Brief History of Multicultural Education. 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