SEFER CHOFETZ CHAIM
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Day 60 ¨C Problem Students
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The dedicated teacher often finds it necessary to discuss the progress and difficulties of students with parents, colleagues and principals.? A lack of clear guidelines with regard to loshon hora(2) can create either a free-for-all
atmosphere, where people talk about anyone with anyone, or, at the other extreme, a simplistic approach to Shmiras Haloshon(3) which could inhibit the teacher¡¯s effectiveness as an educator.
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Generally speaking, the area of chinuch (child education and upbringing) constitutes a constructive purpose which would permit relating negative information concerning a student.? However, the specific conditions which permit speaking negatively for a constructive
purpose must never be overlooked.
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Verification of facts is crucial.? For a teacher to play amateur psychologist and hastily diagnose the student as having some complex disability or disorder without pursuing the matter properly constitutes recklessness ¨C and the consequences can be devastating.?
To communicate one¡¯s evaluation under such circumstances would be hotzaas shem ra (slander).? It is an unfortunate fact that certain problematic children have not succeeded only as a result of having been misunderstood by a teacher, whose labeling tainted
the image of that student in the eyes of all his future teachers.?
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A teacher must make every effort to fully understand the behavior of each student; he must not be swift to condemn.? It is essential that a student feel comfortable about expressing his true feelings to his teacher (in a respectable manner, of course).? Conditions
1-4 of constructive speech (see Day 50) necessitate a good heart-to-heart talk with the student before reporting a problem (unless one suspects that serious danger may be imminent).
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SEFER SHMIRAS HALOSHON
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Source of Merit
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To reject loshon hora as false is an exceedingly great source of merit ¡ª especially if the subject of the report is respected as a man of spiritual stature. Tanna D¡¯Vei Eliyahu (II, ch. 7) states:
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It is said of Yeravam ben Yoash that he was a man who accorded the prophets honor. Therefore, those nations which the Holy One, Blessed is He, did not give over into the hands of Yehoshua bin Nun or David, King of Israel, He gave over into the hands of Yeravam
ben Yoash, as it is written, ¡°He [Yeravam] returned the borders of Israel from the approach to Chamas until the sea of Aravah ...¡± (II Melachim 14:25). Why did Yeravam, who was an idol worshiper, merit this? Because he did not accept loshon hora regarding
the prophet Amos. ...At that moment [when he rejected the report against the prophet], God said, ¡°Though the generation is guilty of idol worship and its leader is guilty of idol worship, nevertheless, the land which I promised to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov
will be given over into his [Yeravam¡¯s] hands.¡±
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