Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Her Parents or Her Boyfriend As a high school teacher, somehow I always hated when students opened up to me and shared with me things that they could not share with anyone else. It was one of those things again when Emily, a White 11th grader, wanted to talk to me. She said she wanted to talk to me about something important and that she needed my help. I am a caring teacher, so I listened. She has been dating an African American student named Willy and she is really in love with him. Willy loves her too. They want to go to the same college and get married after graduating. The problem is Emily has not been able to tell her family about this relationship. She said that her father is not very fond of Black people, and that there is no way he would approve this relationship. She asked me to talk to her parents. I told her that I could not do it. She, then said, she would either kill herself or run away from her house if somebody did not convince her parents. I have to do something, but what? Please advice. Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I'm not an educator yet, but I have often found myself as the person others turn to for advice. It can be a very frustrating experience at times, or in this case alarming. My own personal advice would be to immediately alert a counselor to the situation in private, and to have her discuss with you potential options you should try to implement with this student. I would try these out, just you and the student first, without the student knowing you sought out the counselor. It seems that this student really trusts you, and I wouldn't want her to feel betrayed by you or act drastically. If you try these solutions from your counselor and find the situation doesn't improve, I would then have the counselor intervene and call the parents in to inform them of the situation. Hopefully the student won't lose trust in you, but I think that it's better for her to be upset with you then follow through on her threat.