Most people who have gone through the years of work necessary to be a professor aren’t going to jeopardize it for sex. Even if the professor was that stupid, most women have more self respect.

Depends on the institution. It can be very risky – but usually far riskier for the teacher than the student. The teacher can lose his or her job while the student will merely become the butt of many jokes.

And, like the rest of love and lust, its not always clear who is the instigator. I know of many teachers out there who regularly fool around, and I know of students who have made a habit of sleeping their way to the top.

Ultimately, the rumor mill is pretty compelling … if people know that a student is sleeping with a teacher, EVERYBODY will be gunning for them. This means it has to be done as secretly as possible. That’s not much to base a real love life off of – though I’m sure its just dandy for creating sexual tension.

To be fair, I know of one teacher who slept with his student 30 years his junior, and they are now happily married and have been for almost 2 decades. Of course, they only entered into this relationship AFTER the end of the course.

At least that’s what she keeps repeating.