A fellow educator and I were debating whether or not teachers should ever drink alcohol in front of their students. On the one hand, it might be a good opportunity to model for our students how to drink responsibly and in moderation - moderation being an important principle to teach. On the other hand, we might simply be validating drinking in the eyes of the students, especially if they don't pick up on the subtlety of our moderate alcohol consumption.
Might it matter what the context is? Is it different if it is in the teacher's house? School sponsored event vs. personal event? Religious event?
I have some thoughts on the issue, but would love to hear some other perspectives.
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I think there are a few factors that need to go into making a decision about drinking in front of one’s students. I believe that if the event is school-sponsored there should be no drinking. You can go that one night without drinking alcohol, you can have wine next Shabbos. I don’t believe there is room for alcohol of any kind in any school setting. On the other hand, at Kiddush on Shabbos or any other time a student may encounter his educator in a private, non-school setting, drinking can be done. Of course this would have to be in a moderate and responsible manner, as would be expected from an educator—in any situation. For a student to see his educator drinking, in his private time in a responsible manner is a great learning experience that would be beneficial too many students.
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of what you said, "The Author". This question came up at a recent community Shalom Zachor, and my concern was that the students wouldn't be watching their educators so consistently in a setting like that, so they might not see the whole "drinking responsibly" part. But I definitely agree with that being a good model for them.
ReplyDelete"AJJ2EYUA", I think that if you are at a Shalom Zachor and you want to drink then drink. How could the student not see the "drinking responsibly" part? You will be drinking responsibly won't you? A student is never going to see a teacher drinking and actively think in their mind, "hey they are drinking responsibly, what a great teacher/rav/person, I want to be just like them." That will never ever happen, if it did, then we wouldn't need to have this conversation. But its good enough for them to just see it, they'll look back on the Shalom Zachor later, maybe 5 or 10 and maybe subconciously and they will think of their Teacher/Rav with a beer in his hand and they will think wow, he embodied all of torah values and responsibilities, plus he knew how to let down his hair when it is appropriate. On the total opposite, any little thing you do that is negative or irresponsible they will see, they will internalize and they will never forget it.
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