Get Up and Go!

Passes, permission, rules… why can’t we just use the bathroom?

Ailyn Ponce, Staff Writer

Understandably, students need to let teachers know when they’re leaving the room and where they need to go but when a teacher refuses to let a student go to the restroom for no good reason that’s when there’s a problem, some teachers have a bathroom policy where you only have a certain amount of times you can go per semester, that’s pretty ridiculous and unnecessary. Some students will leave at least once every class and miss the lesson, sometimes people need a break unless they don’t take too long; it shouldn’t be a problem. Other teachers just ask students to go to the restroom after the lesson and to take the pass, sometimes they’ll ask students to write their name on the board just so others know that someone is out and for the teacher to know as well in case something happens; that way is better and much more reasonable. 

I completely understand why students need to ask teachers to go to the restroom but at our age, it’s a little uncomfortable, especially with girls because girls go through their cycle and sometimes they just need to get up and go; for a teacher to say no to that is so ridiculous and it’s happened here at Frederick high school. Teachers can’t just walk out in the middle of class to go to the restroom for obvious reasons, but if they need to go then they’ll ask another teacher or staff member to look after the class; the struggle for teachers is understandable but for them to say no to letting someone go to the restroom is not okay in most circumstances because honestly who are they to say no to that. 

A student told us that at her old school, a teacher would bribe students and he kept track of the times they went to the restroom per semester they couldn’t go more than 5 times if they didn’t go at all the entire semester they would get 5 extra credit points. That sounds tempting to a student and it honestly is achievable but this teacher shouldn’t have been doing this. I also saw a teacher tell a student that she couldn’t go to the restroom because she had already gone the times she was allowed per semester; I understood where the teacher was coming from but why do students need to have a certain amount of times they can go to the restroom it’s just unethical; it would maybe be okay if there was a class discussion of how many times you could go per semester or if this should even be a thing because it just shouldn’t be but each teacher has their policy and most students do what they can to respect it.

Letting students, especially high school students use the restroom when they need it is important because it’s part of creating a healthy learning environment, although it’s not all teachers, most teachers should be more lenient and not as strict with their bathroom policy.