Study: Teens Give Guidance Counselors Poor Grades

Are guidance counselors in our high schools doing the job?

No, according to teens surveyed nationwide, as the New York Times reported.

In fact, 6 out of every 10 teens who went on to higher education gave their guidance counselors poor marks. And, half of teens said they felt like "just a face in the crowd."

What's the impact of this? Not good.

"Many young people who go onto college believe that the advice of their high school guidance counselors was inadequate and often impersonal and perfunctory," according to the study by Public Agenda.

When teens have this experience, the study found, they're less likely to go to college or have a successful career. Bad experience equals bad feelings, in other words. No direction, no motivation... no future. At least one that we'd call a SuperFuture.

Are we surprised? Not at all. We've heard from students about the shortfall in schools - and it's no surprise with massive budget cuts. In fact, the study found that in many cases, California especially, schools have just one counselor per 1,000 students. Arizona, Minnesota, Utah and the District of Columbia have 700 to 1. The ideal ratio, according to the American School Counselor Association, is 100 to 1.

How can they get the personalized help they need? SuperFutures recently announced "Discover Your Future" seminars to help these kids get direction and motivation. They'll hear from a Google guy about the real-world plus get help from a great career coach.

We also hope that our programs will be an answer for schools. Our mission is to give students the best guidance - not just for college but for success in business and life.

Stay tuned, because we'll be delivering some other solutions to help our kids. If you want to stay in the loop, be sure to sign-up for alerts to these and other programs.