自己実現を支援する学校と学校カウンセリングをめぐる論点整理のために  [in Japanese] Considering an Educational System for Self-Actualization and the Role ofSchool Counseling  [in Japanese]

An increasing number of people have come to believe that the current school system has failed to adapt to the rapid social changes taking place today, and has somehow become fundamentally dysfunctional. Educational reformers for the most part assert the necessity of transforming the system from a discipline-oriented to a self-actualization oriented one, namely substituting the school as a producer of useful and submissive workers by the school as a supporter of self-actualization. Historically, the modern education system was designed to instill basic habits and ways of thinking which could last consistently throughout an individual's life. The concealed but clear function of education in modern industrial society was to cast children into a mold of industrial workers. However, the contemporary social system demands workers who have the strong ambition to develop their ability as workers and have strong work motivation and the desire to continuously educate themselves to learn new technology and knowledge. Therefore, educational reformers seek useful management technology in order to motivate people toward self-actualization. Professional interest groups of counselors have responded to this demand for new customers by gradually ridding themselves of the medical paradigm an adopting an educational one. Critics who see devices for modern discipline and training to be unnecessary or even harmful, and who view counseling as a useful tool for such devices, are against school counseling. On the other hand, there are people who believe schools should continue to play an important role for discipline and training, but who consider that traditional methods are no longer effective. Those who see things in this way and consider counseling as a useful new tool for discipline and training obviously welcome school counseling. This author is personally in favor of a school system which promotes self-actualization, but is critical of traditional counseling with its inclination to eliminate problems without solving by emotion management. The author is also opposed to the social construction of counseling as an authentic human relation. Many problems involving schools arise from their excessive roles and functions. Nobody can exit from the school as a total institution, because everything resides inside them. This author's belief is that shelters and other options should be provided outside.