When starting high school, you often hear the most common advice: build connections.
Whether it be with your teachers, admins, clubs, or most importantly, your counselors. Counselors are supposed to be your biggest supporters; you go to them for transcripts, schedule changes, emotional support, and advice on college applications. That’s how it’s supposed to go, at least; however, in DeKalb County, the common consensus among teens is that counselors are simply useless.
Many students go their entire four years without ever meeting their counselors. The main reason for this is that it is extremely difficult to schedule a meeting with them.
Stone Mountain High School teen, Brett Thomas, 17, says, “I’ve been trying to get a meeting with mine since I moved here last semester. I frequently visit the office and try to schedule, but they usually just say some bullsh— excuse.”
“They act nice when you come in, but when you try to actually get something done, it takes horribly long, months long,” said Tucker High School teen James Sims, 18. Clarkston High School teen, Issac Gayflorsee, 15, says, “I asked her what types of AP classes they offered, and she had no clue, couldn’t even search on her computer.”
However, counselors aren’t just for academic guidance; they are also meant to support mental health. They are intended to help students with the stresses that come with being a teen and transitioning into adulthood.
DeKalb County has reported over 90,000 students in the district, but only 183 full-time counselors. That makes the student-to-counselor ratio almost 500:1, which is double the 250:1 recommended by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA).
All of this is not on the counselors, but rather the District.
When asked why she’s never gone to her counselor, Stone Mountain High School teen, Aamiyah Robinson, 16, replied, “Because why would I go out of my way to talk to people I don’t know, that means they’re strangers.”
