azoi – Interesting question you posed. I’ve been teaching for close to 30 years and B”H I’ve generally had very good relationships with my students. Oh – and we learn a ton. No party time in my class. But I try to never miss an opportunity to bring out points of hashkafa, no matter what the actual subject matter is. Kids are thirsting for hashkafa; they want things to make sense.
I just question why parents were left out of this question! Is it the sole responsibility of mechanchim to deal with kids and their questions? Parents need to be active participants and role models for their kids! They need to speak hashkafa – not just mussar – and explain things as well. And if parents don’t know the answers, they should model to their kids that it’s only proper to ask a rov.
As a mechanech, I don’t shirk my responsibilities, but I think we’d have less of a OTD issue if parents and mechanchim could work TOGETHER.