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That's why they have 5 minutes out of every hour to go to the bathroom and I don't. I have to wait until my lunch break or my prep. I do not think it's unreasonable to expect 16 and 17 year olds to go to the bathroom between classes. I went to a much bigger school than the one I teach in and I didn't have a problem peeing between classes...except for bullies in the bathroom...that was a problem but time wasn't as long as I didn't try to go to my locker between each class.
What's really annoying is it's the same kids over and over. Seriously, how many times per week must you disrupt the entire class to go to the bathroom?
I posted that it's not possible to go to the bathroom in those five minutes a lot them time. And what kind of high school has 30 minute periods? Mine were 45-75 minutes
I feel as if people here are unreasonable with their expectations and holding them to real world scenarios when they aren't adults and especially strange ones at that. Or then arguing that because they aren't adults that they shouldn't be allowed to go to the bathroom during class. Using two opposite arguments doesn't work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivorytickler
I agree. There are times during the day when kids have time to go and they know when those times are.
My pet peeve was my 4th hour class. The one right after lunch. Every day, I'd have three or four kids come in and ask for a couple of extra minutes to go use the bathroom. They just came from a 30 minute lunch period and there are two bathroom accessible from the lunch room!!!! I've asked kids why they didn't go during lunch and the two most popular answers were "I was talking with my friends" and "I don't want to use up my lunch break going to the bathroom".
I posted that it's not possible to go to the bathroom in those five minutes a lot them time. And what kind of high school has 30 minute periods? Mine were 45-75 minutes
I feel as if people here are unreasonable with their expectations and holding them to real world scenarios when they aren't adults and especially strange ones at that. Or then arguing that because they aren't adults that they shouldn't be allowed to go to the bathroom during class. Using two opposite arguments doesn't work.
That's different.
And I posted that I teach at a school that is smaller than the school I attended and we managed at my school. Hence this is not an issue. If I could manage, when I was a student, in a school with over 2000 students, 3 main sections of the building and two floors, why can't I expect my students to manage when there are fewer than half that number of students and the building is much smaller?
And no, people are not unreasonable in their expectations. We're talking high school students here. They should be able to manage their bathroom needs. Do you have any idea how disruptive it is to have a hand go up, during a lecture, and the question is "Can I go to the bathroom?". The entire class/lecture is derailed.
School is 7 hours long. There are 7, 5 minutes passing breaks including one on each side of lunch. Am I to believe that 5 minutes is NEVER enough time to go to the bathroom? I believe that sometimes it isn't but I don't believe that it always isn't.
I intend to make my bathroom policies much more rigid this year because of abuses last year. I don't believe for one second every time a student distrupted class with a bathroom request they actually had an emergency that could not wait until passing time. More often than not, asking to go to the bathroom is just an excuse to get out of class.
And I posted that I teach at a school that is smaller than the school I attended and we managed at my school. Hence this is not an issue. If I could manage, when I was a student, in a school with over 2000 students, 3 main sections of the building and two floors, why can't I expect my students to manage when there are fewer than half that number of students and the building is much smaller?
And no, people are not unreasonable in their expectations. We're talking high school students here. They should be able to manage their bathroom needs. Do you have any idea how disruptive it is to have a hand go up, during a lecture, and the question is "Can I go to the bathroom?". The entire class/lecture is derailed.
School is 7 hours long. There are 7, 5 minutes passing breaks including one on each side of lunch. Am I to believe that 5 minutes is NEVER enough time to go to the bathroom? I believe that sometimes it isn't but I don't believe that it always isn't.
I intend to make my bathroom policies much more rigid this year because of abuses last year. I don't believe for one second every time a student distrupted class with a bathroom request they actually had an emergency that could not wait until passing time. More often than not, asking to go to the bathroom is just an excuse to get out of class.
Yes, the same arguments keep getting brought up a few of you. I don't care to further this when what I'm saying is being overlooked or ignored.
Yes, the same arguments keep getting brought up a few of you. I don't care to further this when what I'm saying is being overlooked or ignored.
It's being ignored because some of us were quite able to manage in spite of going to large schools. My experience flies in the face of yours. If I could manage going to a large school, why do you think my students can't?
Yes, there were times during the day when I could not stop at the bathroom and make it to class but I knew when those times were and made sure I used the bathroom when I had the time so I didn't need to when I didn't have the time. For example, I always used the restroom after lunch on my way to class because I had the time and knew that, because I had just eaten, it wouldn't be long before I had to. I do the same thing now. Whether I need to go or not, I stop at the bathroom on my way back from lunch because I have to go from 11:15 until 2:45 without a bathroom break and I know it. In the rare case that I can't make it that long, I manage to run to the bathroom and back before class starts. My students have one advantage here. They don't have to make a special trip to the bathroom because they, most likely, walk right past one on their way to their next class. Seriously, it takes 30 seconds to pee and wash your hands AND as you've ignored, my policy is to allow a couple of extra minutes at the beginning of class if a student needs it (they have to come see me first and then go to the restroom) so they don't disrupt class yet they do. As a student, I don't think I asked for a bathroom pass more than once a month and, usually, that was when I was on my period. I do not think it unreasonable at all to expect the same out of my students. I average 2 or 3 bathroom requests per hour and that is rediculous. It's especially rediculous when they happen 1st and 4th hours when kids had plenty of time before class to use the bathroom!! The fact I get these requests 1st and 4th hours shows that students are using needing to go to the bathroom as an excuse to get out of class and not bothering to take care of their personal needs when they can.
While I, usually, won't do frivolous extra credit, I've decided to hand out passes at the beginning of the semester. Unused passes can be handed in for extra credit at the end of the semester. Students can then decide whether or not it's emergency enough to lose the points and after three passes, you can wait. I'm tired of being in the middle of a thought when a hand goes up and the question is "Can I go to the bathroom?".
Unfortunately, since my students are minors, I am responsible for knowing where they are at all times. I'd much rather things were run like they are in college when you just got up and left and if you missed something that was your problem. That is not the case for high school teachers.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 07-10-2011 at 04:26 AM..
If you REALLY have to go to the bathroom that badly during class, then it's worth a detention. Next time, you'll learn to fit it in between periods. We weren't allowed to leave class to use the bathroom in high school and it was never an issue. Kids respond to their environment and take advantage where they think they can get away with it.
If you REALLY have to go to the bathroom that badly during class, then it's worth a detention. Next time, you'll learn to fit it in between periods. We weren't allowed to leave class to use the bathroom in high school and it was never an issue. Kids respond to their environment and take advantage where they think they can get away with it.
I'm CERTAIN students are abusing the bathroom policy. I WISH we could give detention for using the bathroom. I agree with you. If it's really an emergency, you'll take the detention or the tardy as the case may be. In my school, it takes 3 tardies to get a detention. I would think that if you really had to use the bathroom and really couldn't make it to your next class, you'd just take the tardy. However, since there is no punishment for disrupting class with bathroom requests, THAT is what students do.
I'm, seriously, thinking of giving participation credit and taking points away if students do this. I hate to give frivolous points but 2-3 requests per hour, almost always at the most inopportune time is rediculous. IMO, it's gross disrespect for me on the part of my students and intolerable.
And what do the students do if they have to use the bathroom during detention?
At my school, detention lasted about twice as long as a class period, and we weren't allowed to use the bathroom. Before it started, the dean used to say something like, "Make sure you have something to do; you're going to here a long time. If you need to get a book or use the restroom, do it now. Once we get started, there's no talking or getting up for ANY reason."
And guess what. Nobody ever had to use the bathroom that I can remember.
My son isn't a perfect little angel. He is, however, a human being. If he has to urinate or defecate, he has been instructed to ask (out of politeness) and if the teacher says no, he should go anyway (out of necessity).
Some people need to realize that holding in urine and feces is very unhealthy and causes a myriad of problems.
Holding it for (at most) 45 minutes, until the end of the class period, is not going to cause a bladder disorder and certainly not a case of galloping intestinal distention. Nor is planning ahead. Most people, by the time they're in middle school, have been potty trained for quite some time and can plan accordingly.
If it were literally a choice between wetting/soiling oneself and leaving class I suppose I'd rather my kid leave class. But if they're going to create a problem with a teacher, one in which I have to get dragged in to defend their actions, they'd better have an ironclad reason-- and I've seen my kids hold it for that long on road trips plenty of times, so they can bloody well serve the detention.
Part of the problem that I see with my students is that they don't want to use their class-change time to go to the restroom. They would rather socialize, walk their sweetie to class, or eat a snack. They count on being able to use the restroom during instructional time. I find that to be irresponsible.
Our local middle school has 4 minute class change times. Not long for wading through the crowds hanging out in the loo and taking care of business, particularly if you're also dealing with classes at distant ends of a large campus. That having been said, I expect teachers would rather have a kid come in three or four minutes late than leave for fifteen in the middle of a chem lab or the beginning of a test.
We live in the city, near the school. I wouldn't put my kids on a 40 minute commute every day.
Your kids are little, though. Middle and high school students who attend magnets in this county routinely have upward of an hour commute to get to the High School for the Arts, IB, Gifted Center, or some other program. Even kids attending their zoned schools can have long bus rides if they're at the beginning of an inward route, or the end of an outward one. For the kindergarten and first grade years, we were three miles from the elementary school and Thing One and Thing Two would have faced a 35 minute ride, had they actually taken the bus. And in kindergarten I might have expected a child to have to go NOW!...but the bus drivers don't, to my knowledge, make potty stops.
Last edited by Aconite; 07-10-2011 at 06:32 AM..
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I posted that it's not possible to go to the bathroom in those five minutes a lot them time. And what kind of high school has 30 minute periods? Mine were 45-75 minutes
I agree. There are times during the day when kids have time to go and they know when those times are. 
