Identity crisis may be one of the most significant challenges that elementary school students face however there are other challenges they tackle day to day that may affect their academic and career aspirations and affect their identity too (Alexandria 2012). These problems may include, bullying, self-esteem issues, academic pressure, temptations (concerning substance abuse and sexual activities), rejection and depression (Ranon 2017).
Identity-based bullying has a direct connection with identity as the people bullied are bullied because of who they are, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or even physical appearances. This has a direct impact on how the particular group that’s bullied views themselves and may result in low self-esteem, depression and eventually substance abuse. Affecting not just one student but rather all those from a particular ‘identity’ as they may fear to be the next victims of such bullying and thus becomes a community problem (Spiegler, 2016)
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From the above situation, it’s clear that all these issues link up to create one big identity problem that may affect the academic and career aspirations of any particular group of students. These issues go ahead and form a stereotype that students find themselves conforming to and accepting it as part of them, as their identity thus affecting their academic and career aspirations.
Students may struggle with gender identity; females may find themselves shying away from aspiring for jobs that may be perceived as male-dominated. Ethnic/cultural identity is another major issue, as they question what it means to be Italian or Russian or even African American and what opportunities are there out there for them. They may view themselves as unworthy if people from their race aren’t in the fields they aspire to work in, thus a low self-perception. For example, an African American child may shy away from white collar jobs as they may fear that doors won’t be open to them due to their ethnicity. Socioeconomic identity is also a huge problem, as, they find themselves comparing themselves with other students that may come from wealthier families and wonder why they should try, as no matter how much work they put in, they may never get to the level of those families due to their ethnicity or gender. (Gomez, 2014)
There are various interventions a counselor may embark on to ensure identity has a positive impact on academics and career choices. The motivation model, a counselor comes up with a personalized identity-based motivation that revolves around a particular individual or a group of students that he may have identified to have the same problem. For example in the case of the African American who’s top of his class yet still feels like they can’t aspire for a white-collar job, he may show the students various individuals of African descent who are working in the fields they may be wanting to work. He may even organize for talks just to pass the message across. This goes a long way in building their identity and encourages them, as they now see that they can be an exception to the stereotype (Sheri & Bounds, 2013).
Strength-based Intervention should also be incorporated. A counselor focuses on the strengths of an individual, encouraging them to perform even better than they would. When a student notices that they are recognized for whatever little effort that they put into something that they're not particularly good at, they are motivated to try harder and become better at that particular area. For instance, a student is interested in a specific field, i.e., to become an engineer and the grades they are getting in math aren’t very good, yet they may feel disheartened and discouraged. The counselor has to identify what other fields the student may be good at, and he may praise the student for doing so well in that other area and encourage them to do better in math (Owens, Conoley, & Magyar-Moe, 2015).
Counsellors have a significant role to play in ensuring that students grow into wholesome individuals and get the best in their lives. Self-perception has been identified as a problem that many students face and shape who an individual may be later in life that counselors have to deal with. There’s need to identify the various challenges that students may be facing that involve self-perception and help them meet these challenges through whichever method they may feel is most effective. They may decide to incorporate the techniques mentioned above and other ways they may deem fit (Moe, Owens & Conoley 2015).
References
Ranon, A. (2017). School Counselors Commonly Offer Support for these Five Student Issues - Blog. Retrieved from https://teach.com/blog/school-counselors-commonly-offer-support-for-these-five-student-issues/
Spiegler, J. (2016). What Is Identity-Based Bullying and How Can I Stop It? Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/what-is-identity-based-bullying-jinnie-spiegler
Alexandria, V. A. (2012) American school counselors association .The ASCA national model. A framework for school counceling programs, Third edition.
Gomez, K. (2014). Career Aspirations and Perceptions of Self-Efficacy of Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Students of Economic Disadvantage (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://preserve.lehigh.edu/do/search/?q=karen%20Gomez&start=0&context=5678855&facet=
Sheri, P. & Bounds, R. (2013). Examining the relationship between career decision self-efficacy, ethnic identity, and academic self-concept and achievement of African American high school students (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Iowa.
Owens, R. L., Conoley, C. W. & Magyar-Moe, J. L. (2015). Positive Psychological Interventions in Counseling: What Every Counseling Psychologist Should Know. Positive Psychology Special Issue , 43 (4), 508-557.
