What would you do if a student lied to you and then admitted it?
This happened to me this week. Monday I had a student call me at home after 5pm. I was in the middle of dinner with my family at the time, so I did not answer the call, but she did leave a message. I returned her call about an hour later.
The information she disclosed to me is of too personal a nature to fully disclose in this blog, even though it’s a LIE, except to say it was of a life-and-death medical nature.
I worried about this situation for 3 days and kept it to myself, against my better judgment, after advising the student to speak with the program head about the issue. The student spoke with the program head but never told her the same information about the medical situation as she told me.
I spoke with the student again today and told her if it was a lie (as I suspected it was), that I would be disappointed and would have a hard time ever believing her again. She then admitted to me she had lied about the medical issue and that it was all a way of getting attention.
This bothers me even more than the original information I received from this student. That someone would lie about a life-and-death medical issue is more than disturbing to me. Since learning of the lie, I have spoken to my supervisor (the program head) about the fact that this student lied to me about a serious situation. I have told the program head that I feel the student violated the teacher/student relationship and that I will have a hard time connecting with her in class for the rest of her time in the program…no matter how long her time is in the program.
This situation calls her character in to question. I would never be able to give her a favorable reference for employment or for admittance to dental hygiene school. I do not believe she is of the caliber of person to be in hygiene school or to be employed in dentistry. We deal with sensitive information every day, how can someone who would lie about their own health be trusted with information about other people’s health?
I knew eventually I would come in contact with a student that disappointed me; I just never thought it would be this serious of a situation.
