By Valerie Perez
Ding! Your anxiety builds up while your apprehension immediately kicks in. You just received your Infinite Campus alert for your math quiz score, and you were only two points short to an “A” for the semester. The only thing that can rescue you now is your extra credit bathroom pass but you had an emergency earlier this year so game over.
All teachers fit into one of two categories: either allowing unlimited bathroom passes or restricting students to a specific amount per semester. It’s understandable why teachers give limited passes because they have lessons to give and don’t want their students leaving class frequently. However, sometimes students get hit with an end of the world emergency, so they have to leave class for specifics. In all seriousness, most of the time students just need to go to the restroom because face it: they have to go.
Often times teachers hand out a certain number of bathroom passes per semester. It tends to be a good system for keeping students out of trouble and in class to do what they are supposed to do. It’s extremely bothersome to teachers and classmates when students ask every other second if they can have the pass; therefore, they introduced the problem-solving revelation, limited bathroom passes. It’s convenient for teachers who have important lessons to teach in a short amount of time. These passes also motivate students and allow an easy way to rack up extra credit at the end of the semester.
Although teachers give out passes each semester, problems still occur. Students all have those days where they either have to leave for a specific reason or need a deep breath of fresh air in the busy rush of a school day. Nevertheless, it’s difficult to achieve when students have lingering thoughts of guilt because those tiny slips of paper could alter their grade drastically.
The easiest solution to this problem would be for teachers to have bathroom passes for any time required. A sheet next to the pass would allow students to write their name, time in and time out before leaving class. If these sheets are checked frequently, teachers can speak upfront to the students who overuse the privilege and limit their usage.
When your grade is on the line, it shouldn’t be up to the bathroom passes to decide your fate. Extra credit should be given as educational purposes not as a cheap way to keep students in class.
