Whenever I go to conferences, I meet some high school counselors and some private counselors who feel the two groups are somehow pitted against each other. Most of them have legitimate gripes about isolated members of the opposing party who've made them look bad with disparaging comments to kids, or somehow made it harder for them to do a good job for the families they serve. Then they take those frustrations and apply them to the entire "opposing" profession.
If you're a high school counselor who tells your students that all private counselors are snake oil salesmen out to make a quick buck off kids, guess what? You're wrong. And you're part of the problem.
And if you're a private counselor who tells families that high school counselors aren't qualified, that kids need you to get into college, that school counselors don't know enough or are just too busy to do a good job for kids, you're wrong, too. And you're not part of the problem. You are the source of the problem.
Every great high school counselor I've ever met openly acknowledges that there are some wonderful private counselors out there who do a great job. And there are also some far-from-wonderful ones who just aren't worth the money they charge.
And every great private counselor I've ever met tells kids they don't need to hire someone to get into college, even a highly-selective one. They advise families to avail themselves of everything their high school counseling office offers to them before they even consider hiring outside help. And they'd never do anything to undermine a high school counselor's work with a student.
If we're in this to help the kids, our goal should be to emulate the greats on our sides.