Sense and Sensitivity: Student Catches Teacher Buying Drugs

[cereta]

DEAR HARRIETTE: My history teacher has been doing drugs outside his working hours. I know this because I saw him hanging out with drug dealers last week on the street, and I watched him exchange money for a bag of drugs. I like my teacher as he has taught me a lot about ways to improve my knowledge of history and how to be a hardworking student.

My teacher's drug habits do not affect his professionalism while he is teaching. That being said, it has become evident to me that I am taking advice and learning from someone who regularly engages in activities that I am prohibited from and that make me uncomfortable. He has also taught me never to tattle on people, especially those I respect. Still, I do not feel comfortable approaching him to tell him how I feel or trying to explain what is right in this situation. Do you think I should try talking to his superior, my parents or his colleagues, or do I do my best to forget about it? -- Concerned About Teacher, Akron, Ohio

DEAR CONCERNED ABOUT TEACHER: I do not recommend that you address this directly with your teacher. An active drug addict is likely to deny his behavior and possibly retaliate against you to protect himself. Start with your parents. Tell them what you saw and why you are concerned. Ask them to help you navigate this. While you may not want to endanger your teacher’s job, you need to understand that it is he who is jeopardizing his future by using drugs in the first place. It may be that the school will help him get help to quit using drugs. Get your parents to help you figure out next steps.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

This fucking country. Okay, I shouldn't say that, I don't actually know this is from the US, but the "drugs are evil" and "teachers must be perfect and pure" attitudes in both letter and reply are definitely terrible aspects of US culture. Ugh.

[jadelennox]

yeah, this. It doesn't matter if he's doing it for a good reason or not, if it doesn't come into his interactions with students.

Like, maybe he's not buying pot to help with migraines, maybe he's buying coke to get high on weekends. Maybe he's buying meth or heroin, and somehow still manages to be a good teacher. So what? The advice for the student should be "watch yourself with the teacher, be wary of invitations to his house, and be sensible -- as with all adults you don't know well personally."