Review of The student personnel program

Abstract

Reviews the book The student personnel program by M. D. Woolf and Jeanne A. Woolf (see record 1954-06582-000 ). Subtitled, Its development and integration in the high school and college , this book is an "attempt to picture a comprehensive student personnel program" (p. v) and draws heavily on the authors' twenty-six years of educational experience. Most professional workers will find much of interest in it. Most will also be bothered by a number of shortcomings. Virtually all phases of the student personnel program are dealt with. After a short introductory chapter on the expanding role of the personnel worker, there are chapters on counseling, group methods, student government, discipline, housing, remedial services, measurement, orientation, faculty advising, training of personnel workers, and administration of the program. Unfortunately, there is no readily discernible framework, no integrating philosophy which might have given added meaning to the extensive content. Taken as a whole, the defects of this book seem to stem from two principal sources. In the first place, there is the previously mentioned apparent confusion about whether this is a scholarly book or one primarily reporting on experiences. Both are valuable and necessary, but they need to be carefully amalgamated, not cut and patched together. Secondly, there is the lack of a carefully thought out and explicitly stated philosophy of student personnel work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)