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 When the media circus around the Tiger Woods scandal began, I thought that it was funny that as different as his world is from our humble lives as teachers, in some ways he and other celebrities could learn some useful life lessons from us.
I am reminded of a Parent Night a few years ago when two teachers at our school went out to eat before the festivities began, and had a glass of wine with their dinners. When they came back, an administrator smelled the alcohol on their breath, and there were some tense discussions that followed. At first I thought it was ridiculous that they were reprimanded. That weekend I asked some of the guys on our local rugby team what they thought of the situation, assuming they would support the teachers’ right to drink (these were rugby players after all). Initially, not surprisingly, people said the teachers had every right to have a drink with dinner. But then a 20-something player from New Zealand spoke up, “You know, those guys have 364 other nights to have a drink. Why not hold back on that night?” You have to love the simple wisdom of rugby players. It made so much sense and it fits with much of how we live as teachers in communities. A few years ago, retired basketball star (and pal of Tiger Woods) Charles Barkley famously claimed that athletes should not be responsible for being role models for kids. Most people realize that statement is ridiculous. Whether athletes want to be role models or not, kids look up to them that way. And it is not like the public expects athletes (or teachers) to be perfect. They just expect them not to do things like shoot themselves in the leg when they go out to bar or bring their mistresses to highly publicized events (let alone have affairs with 15 to 20 women). Teachers have no such ability to opt out of that role. Our lives are too closely connected to those of our students to think that students (and their parents) don’t react to the things they see us doing. If I go to a concert where I know students will be, I need to think about how I behave. If I am at a cocktail party with parents from my school, I need to be aware of my actions. That is just one of the realities of being a teacher. No one wants to be the subject of Monday morning discussions because they drunkenly rushed the stage to participate in the finale of the spring musical. Now, this does not mean that we need to be paralyzed by this public scrutiny. If I am having a drink downtown and a student sees me, I don’t try to hide the fact that I am having a drink. I am an adult, and it is important for students to see us as real people. I just know that I have to choose my actions with some discretion. It is really not so hard, and I don’t even have a 300-foot yacht or a mansion in a gated community to retreat to. It also doesn’t mean that teachers are immune to such mistakes. Every school has its story of the teacher who runs off with the student at prom and becomes an insurance broker, but in general, teachers, because we have fewer options (and maybe a little more common sense), make wiser choices while still having plenty of fun. As Tiger Woods tries to recover from his massive family and public relations disaster, he and other athletes should take a lesson from us teachers. Go out and have a good time, but watch what you are doing.
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