"Making Everyone Suffer Isn't Fair": Parents Are NOT Happy About A Teacher Giving Extra Credit To Students Who Don't Use The Bathroom
Anyone who's attended a public high school in the US has experienced all sorts of teachers with different sets of class rules. Sometimes, you had assigned seats; sometimes, you could sit wherever you liked. Some teachers gave quizzes every week, while others had none. And some classrooms were more strict with their rules.
Recently, Sita Zarcufsky, a Pool Programs Coordinator in Eureka, California, shared her frustration with her daughter's math teacher offering extra credit if students didn't use the restroom during class. She tweeted, "If they don't use it, they get academic extra credit. I am livid. But my daughter is mad that I want to email the teacher and CC the principal. Am I wrong here?"
My daughter's math teacher has a rule that they only get one bathroom pass per week, AND, if they don't use it, they get academic extra credit. I am livid. But my daughter is mad that I want to email the teacher and CC the principal. Am I wrong here?
— Seets💫 (@MamaSitaa__) September 5, 2024
Her tweet sparked a viral debate among those who believe the incentive is unfair to students and those who feel students should use the restroom outside of class.
Many people replied in support of Zarcufsky, saying, "Some kids may have a medical condition, seems like this policy would be unfair to them."
Some kids may have a medical condition, seems like this policy would be unfair to them.
— Patricia Conroy (@estamujergringa) September 5, 2024
They said that menstruating students were more likely to need to use the restroom, thus needing to use their pass.
TMI but as a girl who suffered from ridiculously heavy periods I absolutely hate these rules for girls in school today. It shouldn't require a doctor's note and FMLA paperwork. I understand some students take advantage and use it to skip a lot of class but making everyone suffer…
— LowkeyLoki23 (@LowkeyLoki2355) September 6, 2024
They also mentioned the potentially harmful side effects of students choosing to avoid going to the restroom just to get extra credit.
there are going to be kids who feel the need to perform to the rules to prove that they have worth and in doing so, they might be unintentionally harming themselves (utis, dehydration, etc). your daughter might not understand but this is horrid on so many levels
— 🅚🅔🅛 (@repgirlypop) September 5, 2024
However, others disagreed, feeling that bathroom passes are often abused by students trying to avoid class.
Just curious, why are you mad? I agree 1 pass per week is extreme, but what would you propose instead? Should teachers go with the flow when bathroom passes are abused the way they are? Should half the class go play on their phone in the "bathroom"?
— nolimetangere (@noli_me_angere) September 6, 2024
They also thought the students should use the restroom between classes instead of during class.
Explain why they can't use the restroom before class or after?Has the human body changed so much in the last 40 years that students then could manage it but cannot do it now?
— Riley Jane Meli (@oldwomaninwoods) September 6, 2024
BuzzFeed reached out to Zarcufsky for more details on the situation. She said that her daughter is almost 15 years old and is currently a freshman in high school.
Zarcufsky said that while her daughter has not lost any extra credit yet, there "have been at least three instances in the three weeks since the beginning of the school year where the rule negatively impacted her: twice where she needed to use the restroom before class and wasn't able to due to the long lines for the bathroom (coupled with the fact that half of the school's bathrooms are currently under construction and out of use), so she was forced to hold it for the entire two hours she was in class."
The third time, Zarcufsky said, her daughter "felt increasingly sicker throughout the class and asked this teacher if she could text me to come and get her. The teacher said no and that she would have to use the pass (and thus lose her extra credit) to see the nurse. My daughter stayed in the entirety of the class despite being sick due to fearing losing the extra credit."
According to a sampling of high school schedules BuzzFeed assessed from across the US, schools generally offer around 4–10 minutes between classes, giving students a limited amount of time to travel to their next class and use the restroom.
Brooklyn Technical High School in New York City provides 4-minute passing periods; the Chicago Teacher's Union's schedule models show 4–5 minute passing periods; Tomball High School in Houston provides 6-minute passing periods; and Los Angeles High School in Los Angeles provides a 10-minute passing period.
Zarcufsky said, "I feel the rule of giving extra credit for not using the bathroom is completely unfair, it's unethical, and inhumane because it disregards basic human needs and can cause discomfort or distress, potentially affecting their focus and performance in class."
She added, "This is bad enough for non-disabled children, but it makes the rule even worse for children with disabilities who already struggle compared to their peers and now face even more burden at no fault of their own. Additionally, the rule is misogynistic, not taking into account the higher rate of bathroom use for females during their menstruation cycle, an embarrassing enough topic for high schoolers without the added fear of bleeding through their pants for the sake of extra credit."
Menstruation aside, not using the restroom when you feel the urge to do so can cause health issues. Medical News Today says that regularly holding in your urine for an extended period of time "may cause a urinary tract infection (UTI), pain, and more. In the long term, it can cause the bladder to stretch."
And Healthline says that, "Regularly ignoring [the] urge to poop can lead to constipation...You may also strain when you do have a bowel movement and pass hard, dry stools."
Zarcufsky said the unexpected engagement with her tweet made her feel that "addressing this problematic rule is ultimately in the best interest of every student who has ever faced oppressive and unfair rules by authority simply because authority can implement them and often stay unchecked."
When BuzzFeed reached out to Zarcufsky, she had already contacted the school. She said, "I started by placing a call of concern to her school counselor, also lamenting on the fact that my child is concerned that me bringing attention to this issue could potentially set her up as a target in the classroom. The counselor seemed surprised the teacher had this rule written out in the syllabus and forwarded me to the principal."
And when Zarcufsky reached out to the principal, "the principal stated that she used that rule in some form herself during her time as an educator, and while she could look into allowances being made for my daughter, she ultimately stands with the teacher."
Zarcufsky said of the response, "It's incredibly disappointing to see such an archaic form of control demanding obedience in schools over children who simply need to go and use the bathroom." She added that she hoped to be able to address this directly with the teacher during an upcoming back-to-school night.
Finally, Zarcufsky said, "While I do understand the pressure that teachers are under to not only teach their lesson plan and ensure their students succeed but also to monitor and discipline behavior in the classroom, I think a teacher whose automatic response is to deprive students of autonomy as it pertains to basic human functions is failing to understand how problematic and ableist these 'solutions' are."
