Comments on: World-class potty training?

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By: Charlie A. Roy

Charlie A. Roy — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

I doubt it is illegal. I would imagine the original intent was aimed at a few students who chronically abuse the system and always ask “to make water” right before a test or during the same class each day and have annoyed a certain teacher (probably an after lunch class) and won the administrators ear and approval.

Probably best to deal privately with those who abuse the privilege than to not.

I’ve seen some high school’s address their passing periods to put in a longer mid-morning break and afternoon break than the traditional 4-5 minute passing period. They do this to allow the natural “need” as it arises without disrupting classes with frequent requests to use the facilities. This also cuts down on the number of students roaming halls during class times and stretching a few minute “nature call” into an exploratory jaunt through the building.

By: sean williams

sean williams — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

Probably not inhumane or illegal, probably degrading though. This sounds like there was an issue for a couple of teachers and instead of dealing with those classes and “system” was put in place. Of course without more details it would be impossible to say.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

I really can’t believe this practice and can’t even comment on it in a rationale manner as I don’t believe it is respectful. Never mind that is disrespectful to kids for those who do have a need. I can’t even begin to tell you how I feel that they get extra credit for unused punches. I guess I will teach my children to limit water intake and hold it so that they can get some extra credit.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

That’s a pretty sad attempt at regulating student behavior. If it’s a problem, deal with those students or teachers. Are the teacher’s held to those standards? Probably not, but teachers also get a free hour every day to use the facilities. Students don’t. If a student is going to go #2, the passing period isn’t long enough. Some students don’t have the system to wait 8 hours, we shouldn’t hold that against them.

My biggest problem with the policy is that (hopefully) a teacher would let a kid go if they could tell it was an emergency and they were out of punches. I’d hate to think a teacher would tell them no and let a student have an accident. So, does the teacher get written up for not following the policy?

By: Cathy Nelson

Cathy Nelson — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

Too funny. As a student I would have been humiliated if my card was all punched up, EVEN if I had a doctors note that made teachers let me go. It would definitely be a deterrent. Of course as we all know, 80% of kids make good choices, while 20% don’t care about good or bad, so these kids would wear their punch card like a red badge of courage. And bad boys and girls are all the rage at middle school. Our principal identified students out of class as an issue that needed to be addressed this year too. Everyone, even the library, has to have sign out sheets at the door for every student to log their leaving class with the date, time, and purpose/destination. These are turned in monthly. I suppose it is to monitor where all these kids are coming from and/or going to. I hope the data is being used to address teachers who seem to have kids out of class all the time. But what I would LOVE is to see is that data shared in a non-threatening way at a faculty meeting. I’d really like to see girls vs guys, grade by grade, hang even the “gap” (since they LOVE to share achievement gap every year with test data, let’s see how that achievement gap correlates to students leaving class.) As I sit here and reflect on this, it sounds like a fantastic research analysis. Our 8th graders are currently looking for a long range projects they can collect data on, so perhaps I’ll suggest this as a possible project. of course they will have to get permission and access to the data each month. Thoughtful post Scott. And funny in a sick way.

By: shafeen

shafeen — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

First, this is plain wrong. Second, it’s indicative of an inability of the teachers and students to trust each other, or of the school administrators to use anything other than brute force to provoke respectful behavior. Finally, if a goal of our schools is to prepare children for the real (adult) world, this a pretty horrible thing to teach.

There’s just nothing good about this.

By: Matt Eichler

Matt Eichler — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

I used to teach high school. I taught in the “vocational” wing of an old school that had been added onto many times. At the time the “vocational” wing was built, no girls’ bathroom was put in the area, which meant girls had quite a walk, 1.5 blocks away. (The school covered 3 city blocks lengthwise.) Inevitably, during my class, many girls would need to go to the bathroom, because my classroom was the farthest away from anything. Even if they walked quickly and only spent 5 minutes in the restroom, it would take nearly 12 minutes just to return back, which was about a quarter of the class period. Poor school design! In the days when the wing was built, it was considered a wing for boys only, since shop and agriculture were located in the wing.

One thing I really hated throughout my teaching was “regulating” student’s bathroom habits. It was crazy. I hated to see them leaving during class to go, especially girls, since they would miss about a quarter of the class period. On the other hand, I hated being the one responsible for whether they got to go or not. I knew there wasn’t time for many of them to have to go before or after my class because of the distance my classroom was from most of the other locations in the school. There didn’t seem to be a good solution.

I also think people reading this ought to think of the struggles of the teachers – when we have students miss out on material, chances are they cannot complete the work that needed to be done during that class time. I also saw students start “the potty parade” (my name for it) where many would try to go at once and call it an emergency – to get out in the hallway together, out of class. If I let them go, I might get a call from another teacher or the principal, finding a pair or more of students of mine congregating in the hallway and making noise or causing mischief at other classrooms. It was a constant struggle.

All-in-all, having to regulate and give permission for people to use the bathroom is a strange part of the teacher’s job.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

Interesting post here, Scott. A bit off the ed. tech rant, but still on the topic of ‘dangerously irrelevant.’ When’s the last time an employer gave their employees punch cards for bathroom breaks? Now that I think about, as an educator I have a ‘punch card’ and it’s called lunch break and/or the few minutes in between classes. On the flip side, I liberally allow my students to go to the rest room. Sometimes I ask them if they can wait for a better ‘time’ (if we’re getting ready to re-group for new concepts, for example) or if there is only a few minutes left in the class. Because I teach in 84 minute blocks, I understand the need that students may have to use the restroom. I sometimes have the same ‘need,’ but I find myself being the one with limited ‘punches.’

By: Doug Johnson

Doug Johnson — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

Is it one punch for number one and two punches for number two?

Doug