A "Gotcha" Question?

A recent article in the Washington Post poses the following: A student asks a teacher if she believes in God.  What is the right response?  As a teacher, I can imagine that awkward moment.

Depending on the age group a teacher is addressing, and the school environment, this can be a “gotcha” question.  No matter where a teacher is practicing his/her profession – in a public, private or religious school -- a teacher must be careful.  She can get into trouble if she answers “Yes” and she can get into trouble if she answers “No.”  She can get herself into even more trouble if she goes into detail on either of these answers.

Either answer given in a public school, runs the risk of someone reacting in the “separation of church and state!” mode.  She could offend the alternative beliefs of a student’s family.  Some parents can be very sensitive to what ideas their children acquire from teachers, so a question like this must be approached in a thoughtful, if not strategic, way.  A teacher is wise to handle the question carefully even if she teaches in a religious school. Parents who pay tuition to send their child to a religious school do so because they have high expectations about the beliefs their child will acquire there – as it should be.  But there can be serious sensitivities in families to any perceived variances. 

I learned this the hard way when I taught in a private religious school.  As a middle school English teacher, I did not recommend any novel to my students unless I was fully familiar with it.  One day, a student asked me what I thought about a specific popular novel I had not read, that was about to open as a movie.  My answer was “I haven’t read it, so I don’t really know about it, but the previews for the movie look interesting.”  The parents of this student came to the director of the school to complain that I had recommended an anti-Christian book to their child.  They wanted me fired.  Fortunately, after my student asked me about the book, I had discussed it with the director, who informed me that it was not a book we should recommend in this school, and I was fine with that.  To the parents, she defended me because she knew I was not familiar with it and had not recommended it. 

It would be unfortunate if a teacher’s fear of offense obstructed the educational value of beliefs discussed in a non-personal, factual way.  For example, in a middle school history lesson about the Crusades, a student asks his teacher:  “Do you believe in God?” in the context of a discussion on the question of whether religion should justify war. The teacher can answer, or not, but then pivot to “what do you think about believers who attack others who do not share their beliefs?”

Teaching, when done well, should establish a measure of trust among a student, his parents, and the teacher.  A teacher can certainly give a simple answer to the question, or to any personal question a student asks, but would be wise to keep the nuts and bolts of her beliefs to herself.  A teacher is a model and influence on her students, and must be thoughtful about what is appropriate for her to encourage them to emulate.