Teacher-Student Love

Lalit A Patel

Love exists between different pairs. Common and well-studied love pairs are: mother-child, father-child, husband-wife, grandparent-grandchild, brother-brother, brother-sister, sister-sister, friend-friend, and child-pet. Occasional and less-studied love pairs are: teacher-student, and employer-employee. In general, the teacher-student bond is short-lived and detached; it involves respect from student to teacher, but does not necessarily imply love in the strictest sense. However, under certain situations, this bond can be strong enough to be treated as love.

One reason for a teacher-student love can be culture-based lifestyles and mannerisms. In the ancient (Asian) Indian society, a typical boy lived with his parents and siblings up to the age of about seven years, then with a teacher and the teacher’s wife up to the age of about twenty five years, then with his wife and children up to the age of about seventy five years, and then in the forest till death. This system led to a very strong bond full of love between a teacher and his students. A teacher loved his students, and a student worshipped his teacher while worshipping gods and parents. An exemplary love of this type existed between Rishi Sandipani and Lord Krishna. Along with his study-mates, Krishna did many of the household chores for Sandipani. At the time of Krishna’s departure after completion of his study, Sandipani’s wife cried so much that Krishna and Sandipani had to console and advise her.

Another type of teacher-student love can result when a teacher comes across a disciple who can and is willing to continue his missionary or unique activities. There are numerous examples of this type of love. In the ancient Greek civilization, teacher Socrates and student Plato loved each other. After his rulers mercilessly poisoned Socrates, Plato spread the philosophy of Socrates (Beck). In the pre-Roman civilization, teacher John the Baptist and student Jesus Christ loved each other. John expressed his love for Jesus as much as a father for his son and Jesus revered John as much as a son for his father. Through their mutual teacher-student love, they derived their strength and missionary zeal.

Another reason for the development of love between a teacher and a student can be an especially noteworthy brilliance of the student. In the Mahabharat story, when Guru Drona was entrusted with the task of mentoring the princes, Arjun could perform much better than his mates and much better than Drons’s expectations. In the final examination, when all other princes were seeing too many objects around their target, Arjun could focus only on the target. Such a high level of sincerity impressed Drona, and that led to a long-lasting love between Drona and Arjun.

Often, a student’s love for a teacher can be due to the teacher’s outstanding position, and then the teacher’s reciprocal love for the student can be due to the student’s kindness. In the movie “A Beautiful Mind”, Professor Nash’s genius attracted one of his students so profoundly that she took a risk of becoming his life partner. At times, the teacher-student love affairs are casual and romantic. Such cases can end in unhappiness and can badly affect other students. An outgrowth of such cases has recently drawn attention of policy-makers, and many people have expressed that “while sharing an apple with a favorite teacher may be an acceptable tradition, sharing a valentine is not” (Lannon).

It is worth noting that the teacher-student love is much more polarized than the parent-child love in the sense that a teacher may very much love a particular student but may not love other students and may even hate some students. A well-known example of this polarization is the teacher-student love between Drona and Arjuna. In order to save Arjun from future competitions, Drona asked his student Eklavya to donate his right thumb. Just as there are varied reasons for a teacher-student love, there are varied reasons for a teacher-student love-polarization. Some of these reasons are: a wide spectrum of students, non-educational priorities of most students, inability of a teacher to love all students, self-distancing by less-loved students, gender-related partnership, and politico-commercial considerations.

The teacher-student love has many consequences and implications. A loved student gets a gift that can become a valuable possession or savior. During the Silk Road invasions, when most of the holy books were being destroyed, a few students got special weapons that strengthened them enormously. As a result of a teacher-student love, a student continues a teacher’s mission after the teacher’s death. This has been a popular method for passing music and other special skills from one generation to the next one. A teacher-student love can lead to a marriage and subsequent routes in life. This is, for example, what happened in the case of Evita of the Argentinean Revolution (Evita).    

The teacher-student love is unique, varied, multi-faceted, and influential. A closer investigation on this important relationship can explain many educational, sociological, and anthropological processes.

Work Cited

A Beautiful Mind. VHS/DVD Movie; Starring: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris; Director: Ron Howard. Universal Studios, 2002.

Beck, Sanderson. “Introduction to Socrates and Plato”. 2003. 1 September 2003. <http://www.san.beck.org/Plato-Intro.html>.

Evita. VHS/DVD Movie; Starring: Madonna, Antonio Banderas; Director: Alan Parker. Disney Studios, 1996.

Lannon, Paul G. “Forbidden Love: Policies on Student-Teacher Romance”. 2003. 1 September 2003. <http://www.hklaw.com/Publications/Newsletters.asp?ID=282&Article=1608>.