From December 2009:
Here at Chamblee High School, complaints about restroom regulations resound throughout the student body.
How do they expect us to go to the bathroom and go to our lockers in five minutes?
“I’m going to pee in my pants!”
Our bladders have been faced with a grave dilemma from the administration and teachers: we are not allowed to use the bathroom freely.
It is easy to see where problems arise with this rule in place. When a student asks to use the bathroom a teacher will often respond with a “no.” There are many reasons for this including bad timing or the tedious paperwork that must be filled out. Whatever the basis for the teachers’ denials, students with full bladders are left disgruntled and without answers as to why they are not allowed to use the bathroom when they need to go.
According to Dr. Philippe Zimmerman, Professor of Urology at UT Southwestern University, people use the bathroom an average of six to eight times per day. The body’s kidneys filter the blood, creating waste in the form of urine. If urine is allowed to stand still, or back up, a kidney infection can develop, according to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse.
A minimum of seven out of 24 hours are spent at school, a substantial amount of time to be denied restroom access. However, it is somewhat understandable that teachers do not feel the true weight of the plight that students face because they have two 55-minute planning periods in which they may tend to their bathroom needs. Seeing as students do not enjoy this period of time, we are either left to the mercy of our teachers or stuck getting tardy passes that mar our records.
It seems that the rule was first developed to prevent students from abusing bathroom time. Naturally, there are some ill-willed students for whom this regulation is relevant. However, most students actually go to the restroom to use it.
Although it is extremely unlikely that bathroom use will become completely unrestricted, it would be in the students’ best interest if teachers were more lenient and understanding of their needs. A compromise allowing students to use the facilities freely and to be individually disciplined for abuses to the system would satisfy both students and teachers with little room for dispute.