<p>Thanks for the follow-up, desiw. It sounds like you were fortunate enough to have a Smitty-esque guidance counselor at your son’s school. That’s the way the world should work. As I mentioned in an earlier post, even though I do some private counseling myself, I’d still like to see the whole profession become unnecessary. </p>
<p>But we’ve got a long way to go before we’re there, I’m afraid. Lots of kids do not have great school counselors–or they may have only minimal access to any counselor, good or bad.</p>
<p>Also, some students and parents are more comfortable with this process than others. It’s like many other tasks we all face … tax preparation, auto repair, computer tech support et al. Comfort zones can vary a lot from household to household, and sometimes we may change our own oil but then pay a pro to install a Web cam (at least that’s what happens in this household, though, admittedly, I only paid the pro to do the Web cam once. When I saw what a no-brainer it was, I did the second one myself. 
)</p>