Teaching and Responsibility

TzenaRena

Mon, Jun 25 2007, 11:14 am

I saw this in a different thread,

breslov wrote:

I heard that even the best doctors make mistakes and cause lives to be lost, hence tov shebarofim ligehenom.

and couldn't help making a comparison to the teachers who educate our children.. They teach and help so many, and yet sometimes do make mistakes that impact on some children forever. Responsibility appears to be a two edged sword.

Why would even someone highly qualified enter the field of chinuch when it's almost inevitable that at one point, a child will suffer from them in some way and possibly go down in Yiddishkiet as a result ? Whereas doctors have malpractice insurance and moral dispensation if they really tried their best, I have never heard of any such thing for teachers.

Do teachers really bear the responsibility for their students failures, when they have sincerely tried to give?

chocolate moose

Mon, Jun 25 2007, 12:55 pm

We have seen erlich hyoung men, over the years, learn for smicha and want to become shochtim, then, in their training, decided they aren't "isras shomahyim enough" to be shochtim....and they end up doing something else. (Like working in a store.)

IMO, THOSE are the men who shoud be shechting!

TzenaRena

Mon, Jun 25 2007, 1:16 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

Like my father, he should be well. He did schecht for a short while, but was afraid he wasn't yorei shomayim enough, and didn't stay in shechita. He became a teacher. Wink

shayna82

Mon, Jun 25 2007, 1:19 pm

I think the benefits in teaching children way outway the risk of not reaching a child, or affecting them in a negative way. there will always be a risk. like anything important in life, comes responsibility.

p.s- there are less doctors nowadays because of the rise of malpractice insurance costs.

Motek

Mon, Jun 25 2007, 5:38 pm

TzenaRena wrote:

Why would even someone highly qualified enter the field of chinuch when it's almost inevitable that at one point, a child will suffer from them in some way and possibly go down in Yiddishkiet as a result ?

You think it's almost inevitable?!

A dr.'s mistake generally doesn't take months to manifest. The patients reacts to the wrong medication immediately or dies.

Teachers, like parents, can say the wrong thing but it would be highly unusual for one remark to ruin a child instantly.

chocolate moose

Mon, Jun 25 2007, 8:13 pm

Not true, Motek - or not completely true.

AS a toddler, I felt DD didn't see well and the dr said she was too little to test. I anyway took her to a specialist and it was determined that she had a lazy eye which could be corrected. The dr fumfitted from day to night, trying to explain himself! No, no one died, but if we had listened to him, she might not have sight in that eye today.

We have other stories to tell, but you see the point. A mistake doesn't have to be life-threatening. But if the dr doesn't know what to do, the patient can suffer.

Seraph

Tue, Jun 26 2007, 5:22 am

Even though its scary that theres that much responsibility on you, and what if you make a mistake, ch'v!!- what if you actually do something right, and make a remarkable impression on a kid, and influence him positively for the rest of his life?
Yes, you could always look at the negative what ifs, but if someone is a good mechanech, they'll generally make a lot more positive "what if"s, and end up being much better on the whole.
Yes, its tragic when a child gets scarred permanently because of what a teacher does- but hopefully it won't be common, and the positive influence will outweigh the negative.
Hashem judges us not on if we ever made a mistake, but if we did more mitzvos than mistakes.

All I say is teachers should learn what to do and what not to do, and try their best to be loving (however they want to interpret that) teachers, and daven to Hashem for siyata dishmaya, and do their best.

sarahd

Tue, Jun 26 2007, 7:09 am

breslov wrote:

Hashem judges us not on if we ever made a mistake, but if we did more mitzvos than mistakes.

Do you have a source for that? It's my understanding that we are judged for each individual action, as well as for whether we have more mitzvos than aveiros.

Seraph

Tue, Jun 26 2007, 8:13 am

sarahd wrote:

breslov wrote:

Hashem judges us not on if we ever made a mistake, but if we did more mitzvos than mistakes.

Do you have a source for that? It's my understanding that we are judged for each individual action, as well as for whether we have more mitzvos than aveiros.

What I meant was, as far as I learned, a beinoni was someone whos mitzvos equaled aveiros, rasha did more averos than mitzvos, and tzaddik does more mitzvos than averos. (I KNOW chabad/tanya holds differently on this, however, I am not interested in a debate on this...)
I don't know a source, sorry...

However, I also always thought that your machshava and hishtadlus is most important, so even if you tried so hard to do a mitzva the right way and you fail, you still get schar and I'm not sure if you get a punishment at all... if you honestly tried your VERY VERY best- but on that last point, I could be wrong...