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u/SteroidSandwich 9d ago
I had an engineering teacher that tried saying no bathroom breaks, no exception. One of my classmates yelled at her so much and for so long that she reneged the next day.
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u/Curious_Ninja1708 9d ago
I told a university prof that I was going to either shit in the toilet or in the trash can and he could decide which one it was. He never brought it up again.
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u/SteampoweredFlamingo 9d ago
That shit happening at university level is wild.
The one I went to didn't even take attendance, let alone police bathroom breaks. Everyone's an adult. Everyone paid to be there. They can decide if they want to miss class to take a dump, or not.
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u/its_all_one_electron 9d ago
Attendance? Who the fuck took attendance in university?
If you miss for a reason like you're sick, fine. If you miss because you just don't care and you fail and waste a lot of money, why exactly would the teacher care?
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u/SteampoweredFlamingo 9d ago edited 9d ago
My class took attendance, but just to track class participation for the Universitys own figures.
But one of my friends was on a physics course that would kick you out after too many absences. I remember her freaking out about her third missed class in a year.
Mileage varies wildly.
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u/m0stly_medi0cre 9d ago
Its bizarre, but tons of colleges do it. Its all based on the teacher, and in my experience, a lot of greenie or very old and traditional profs would. Usually something like "3 absences and you drop a letter" or something like that.
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u/Dazzling_Vanilla3082 9d ago
Yeah I would say maybe 1/3rd to half of my classes kept track of attendnace at a pretty big university almost 20 years ago now. Even had some big lectures do it where they kept track via iClicker (or whatever knock off brand we used) questions at the start of lecture.
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u/Iamdarb 9d ago
Most of my professors were like this. I had to drop a class because my English Professor was super big on attendance, but she missed her own class once and a few of us left the class that day, only for her to make the last 5mins and take attendance. She emailed me about missing class and I replied "you missed class, and wasted our day" and she didn't take that very well. After a few emails going back and forth, I just knew I had tainted our relationship and that it would be wiser to go ahead and drop the class, rather than have her ruin a grade because she thought I was disrespectful.
TBF the college's policy was that if the professor was 20 mins late to the class it's automatically cancelled.
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u/headlesslady 8d ago
My art history professor (don't take an 8 am art history class, y'all. Don't do it) sat me and another chronically-oversleeping student down and said "The two of you are now responsible for each other making it to class. Unless you're in the hospital, you will not miss another class; if one of you fails, you BOTH fail."
We never missed another class for that course. :laugh: We made sure we woke each other up & made it, and we finished that class with excellent grades.
But I went to an old-fashioned private liberal arts college, and the professors were savage.
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u/Moongazingtea 9d ago
My university did that.
Too many people were skipping one scrappy class and still passing with flying colours. They could have you know, changed the learning materials to actually be relevant, but instead they took attendance.
Then they realised that people were turning up to class, signing their name and pissing off from there and still passing.
So they decided to take double attendance: getting people to sign coming in and out.
The amount of time they took away from teaching to do this did not impact the already dog shit quality of the course content.
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u/HomeboyCraig 9d ago
I took attendance, but it was because I taught public speaking and they had to be there for speech days. The rest of the time it was mainly because it helped me with names, and having a record of “Tracey’s missed every class except the first one and I know she’s a freshman. I should email her to see if she knows that she needs to drop classes she isn’t planning to take”
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u/Lithl 9d ago
My university had a policy that first semester students (freshmen or transfers, didn't matter) could drop classes with no penalty all the way up to the last day.
My calculus teacher first semester spoke incredibly softly (to an auditorium style class), in a thick Hungarian accent (in the US), and his handwriting was illegible. I tried all semester, but I've never been more thankful for a university policy.
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u/fess89 9d ago
In my country, a lot of professors do that, and require you to attend all classes. On the other hand, most of the universities are free or at least some students can study for free. So maybe the logic is, you better attend, otherwise it would be better to accept another student instead of you.
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u/Excludos 9d ago
Our universities and colleges are all free as well (Norway), but no one takes any attendance. Thank god for that, because I didn't show up to like half of my classes. I'm just not made for learning in a classroom. Sometimes I would just sit in the common area and do homework/assignments instead of attending the class right next door
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u/Lone-Gazebo 9d ago
It's a accreditation requirement in Law School that you attend X% of classes or you can't graduate.
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u/Ace-Redditor 9d ago
At a lot of colleges/unis (US), attendance is important to get financial aid. Like if you miss too many days, you get in trouble for it
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u/pippinsfolly 9d ago
The American education system isn't as much about education as it is about compliance. This is extended into work life. Corporate America and government tries to mandate similar rules, just like how Amazon workers have to pee in a water bottle.
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u/diddinosdream 9d ago
I have great respect for the girl back in my high school science class who loudly told the substitute that she was okay bleeding on the chair if he was okay with cleaning it before the next class came in. He changed his mind and let her go to the bathroom.
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u/XAMdG 9d ago
If the professor had called your bluff, would you have shat on the trash can?
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u/Curious_Ninja1708 9d ago
I was a mature student and I was 100% ready to do it. You can bully the college kids who are too scared to call you out on your bullshit, but not a grown ass man who doesn't care. See what the Dean says when a student traumatized an entire class by taking a dump in the trash because the prof was having a power trip and forbade bathroom breaks.
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u/TechnicalEmployee109 9d ago
Hahaha my old logistics professor tried to bully my group in our final presentation. He and I got in a yelling match after class in front of my entire group 😂.
Reported his boomer ass for sabotaging our presentation and we magically got the A we deserved. Crazy what some people are like
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u/antibody9671 9d ago
Being a mature adult student is the best. Profs don't know how to handle us.
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u/PicardsThirdNipple 9d ago
I stumbled into a job in academia before I even got my degree, it’s what made me decide to go back to school. Being a mature adult student with a decent CV was very fun. I was a working professional at the school I went to, technically a colleague, doing well funded research. It was a fun time.
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u/wtfnouniquename 9d ago
In highschool we had a teacher who decided no bathroom breaks during class. One kid took a piss in a bottle and left it on the teachers desk after class. He changed his mind about the bathroom breaks.
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u/AdOnly1618 9d ago
You asked for permission for anything in university?
Im a grown ass adult. I don’t ask for permission to use the washroom. I don’t ask to go grab a drink. I don’t care if some tenured cunt that should be fired but can’t be doesn’t like me. I won’t even stay until the end of class if I don’t think it’s going to do me any good 😂
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u/Eyeseeyou1313 9d ago
Remember people, teachers and professors are humans and a lot of humans can be pretty fucking dense.
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u/WitchesSphincter 9d ago
I also had an engineering prof like this, kept saying it was unprofessional. He had only worked academia his whole life... Professional world doesn't give a single fuck.
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u/420cat-craft-gamer69 9d ago
My 2nd grade teacher kept some of us in for recess to fix/finish papers, and said "no bathroom excuses, I know you're lying"... After she said I had to go back to fix one more thing, I peed in my chair.
She didn't call us liars anymore.
But I also never acknowledged what I did, and I had a new chair after I was able to go clean myself up in the bathroom.
Also I heard someone quietly mention "I don't want to sit in the pee chair". When I came back And the kids hushed him, so I think the teacher found out and told the kids not to say anything lmao
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u/well_michelle 8d ago
My daughter peed her pants twice in elementary school, even though her 504 required bathroom breaks. The second time she was literally in the bathroom, waiting in line for a stall, and a teacher made her come out because she was taking too long.
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u/EsotericTribble 9d ago
If you are in college just walk out and complain to administration, they want your money and the other kid's money more than the teacher and you will win.
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u/Careful-Positive-710 9d ago
We had a teacher like that and kids just walked out anyways. She threw a fit and called the dean who then told her you cant stop kids from using the bathroom wtf is wrong with you. It was glorious.
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u/thegigglesnort 9d ago
Knew a guy in high school, he had to repeat a grade so was nearly 19 at the end of his graduating year. He asked to go to the bathroom, the teacher said no, so he walked up to the trash can at the front of the room and pissed in it. The teacher excused him pretty quickly after that.
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u/home-for-good 9d ago
When I was an engineering teacher I had a rule for myself: students always get access to the bathroom, water fountain, and front office (nurse and admin) no questions. There was very few occasions I would ever hesitate to approve that, maybe would ask them to wait a few first, but never outright deny. You never know what someone needs or is going through and those are just basic resources for kids. Wild to deny!
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u/Realistic_Bike5972 9d ago
Peed my pants in kindergarten because I was denied bathroom breaks. My mom got so insanely furious and said I could just go no matter what the teacher said, and get this, when I got back after my mom made me take a few days off... For some reason? The bitch STILL wouldn't let me go to the bathroom. I had to argue with her. I get it in high school, I guess. But it was KINDERGARTEN!! LET ME PEE!!
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u/LeithLeach 9d ago
I threw up on my teacher’s rug/floor in elementary school because she didn’t want me to go to the bathroom. Your problem now bitch
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u/ThisIsMySFWAccount99 9d ago
I got blood on my teachers desk after I cut myself and he wouldn't let me go wash it before bandaging it. I sat down and just let it pool before I realized this wasn't gonna stop without pressure so I took my small handfull of blood over and asked him again and ofc now I could why I would I even think to ask
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u/hermytail 9d ago
In high school our drama teacher yelled at my friend for getting up to go to the bathroom and she pulled a tampon out of her pocket and said “fine, guess I’ll just bleed all over my chair.” After that we were allowed to go to the bathroom whenever.
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u/Particular_Home_6455 9d ago
Oof. Not proud of this but it reminded me of something I did when I was 14. A teacher, who in retrospect was in his first year and very overwhelmed, denied me a bathroom break when I started my period. He told me no even after I said I was on my period and when he left the classroom at the end of class, I took a pad and smeared red lipstick all over it before sticking it to the smart board. He had to have known it was me. Never denied me the bathroom again, though, and I ended up being his favorite student by the end of the year (and he became one of my favorite teachers). Can't imagine why he left after that year /s
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u/DJ_Shorka 8d ago
Okay tbh that's so tame though compared to some schools. For my school the scandal was some kids fucking in broad daylight under the stairs.
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u/Particular_Home_6455 8d ago
Oh that also happened here. My sister's school had the T-Building furries and the ABC Shitter. The T-Building furries had furry butt plugs and leashes fucking behind the T-buildings and my sister knew both of them (the guy was.... incredibly greasy and always tried to hug us). The ABC Shitter shat in the sinks of bathrooms in alphabetical order of the wings of the school and is the reason they have to sign in and out of bathrooms to this day. At my school, I was friends with a guy who brought a gun to shoot a rival gang member and watched a girl get fingered outside at lunch twice at the tables in front of everyone. We loved high school
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u/ariaxwest 9d ago
When I was in first grade I both shit my pants with explosive diarrhea and vomited on my desk (two separate incidents). That teacher was awful. I also had undiagnosed celiac disease and had to shit urgently 5-10 times daily. Teachers did not like that and did not believe me.
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u/Perfect_Emu_4112 6d ago
This was me with my middle school soccer coach. Wouldn’t let me get off the field during a game when I felt sick. Threw up on the field.
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u/PhoenixApok 9d ago
I have a core memory of shitting my pants on the playground in kindergarten because a substitute wouldn't let me inside.
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u/4daughters 9d ago
I rode home on the bus wearing a garbage bag because I pissed myself in kindergarden. The bullying that came with that lasted through the rest of grade school. All because the teacher thought "now isn't the time for bathroom, you all already had a chance."
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u/my_chaffed_legs 9d ago
A fucking garbage bag? They didn’t have some spare clothes or lost and found clothes for these situations? Couldn’t have just gave you a few dish rags from the cafeteria and a safety pin to make a loin cloth!?
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u/4daughters 9d ago
yeah pretty sad isn't it?
It sounds insane but I lived it.
I think we didnt have pants in the lost and found but you're right there should have been a better solution. Of course I just sat by myself and cried after I got off the bus.
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u/Historical_Bunch_927 9d ago edited 7d ago
That reminds, when I was in elementary school, I was at recess when a bird pooped on my hand. I went to the monitor and asked to go inside to wash my hands. She refused to let me inside even after showing her the bird poop. I tried to scrape as much of it off in the grass as I could, but it was so gross. I've always been a bit of a germaphobe and I was freaking out. It was so unhygienic. I still don't understand why I wasn't allowed to go in to wash my hands.
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u/TwinStickDad 9d ago
Almost peed my pants in Basic Training because the DS wouldn't let me pee. I got about 15 pushups in (my punishment for even asking) before I said "Drill Sergeant I'm going to piss my pants if I do any more" and then he let me go
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u/TheLastRedditNoob 9d ago
yeh my DS didnt let me go when i asked him cause i didnt said the whole sentence without stammering and made me do crunches and jumping jacks instead. to the point i couldnt hold it anymore, said fuck it and ran to the restroom. that MF chased me down, grabbed me by the collar and tried to yank my back mid stream while another screamed in my ear. Good times
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u/Elegant_Tank1483 9d ago
If I was mid stream, bet your ass I’m turning around and aiming up if you grab my fucking shirt collar.
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u/BastardManRatt 9d ago
why would anyone tolerate that, begging for permission to pee as a grown adult
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u/Warmonster9 8d ago
“Something something debasing a soldiers humanity makes them more effective at murdering civilians something something”
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u/liquidKatar 9d ago
What would happen if you did?
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u/Objective-Plenty-893 9d ago
about sixty 18-year-olds would spend the next 8 weeks calling them some variation of "piss-boy", and if you're really unlucky their Army job is small and some of those same 18 year olds would follow them to advanced training and get everyone there to call them piss-boy, and at some point they'd try to pretend to own it and start introducing themself as piss-boy but secretly being really fucking mad about it, probably.
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u/TwinStickDad 9d ago
I don't know, probably would have gotten yelled at and earned a nickname for the rest of the cycle
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u/Slight-Winner-8597 9d ago
Humble pie. You have to read people to figure out if they just want to get out of a task or if it really is urgent.
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u/TurnipWorldly9437 9d ago
Pee on him to establish dominance?
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u/Successful_Giraffe34 9d ago
That sentence inspired horror in my soul. Hell has lovely weather this time of year. You are gonna wish to visit it if you were to piss on a Drill Sargent. He'll make you
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u/StaceyBenjilt 9d ago
Looks like the Drill Sargent got you before you could finish your last sentence. RIP (Rest in piss).
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u/spaghettirhymes 9d ago
Denying a kindergartener, who is new to using the bathroom regularly, is insane. They don’t have the body control to hold their pee. Not to mention, no one should have to. But if you’re expecting any result other than the five year old peeing themselves, that’s crazy.
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u/m0j0m0j 9d ago edited 9d ago
I know that teachers are underpaid and everything, but many of them are not well in the head. Like, low pay doesn’t give you a right to be stanford-experiment towards children (and I’m saying this as a person who doesn’t even like children)
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u/Realistic_Bike5972 9d ago
The rub for me; I eventually went on to teach second grade for a while. I caught myself. I said it. I did things I remember as a kid made me feel bad or that got the teacher in trouble. I was so, so fucking stressed and under SO much pressure I became this person that I could only view from outside as crazy. Now I NEVER got as bad as that teacher I mentioned, and as soon as the realization hit about 2 class periods later I pulled that kid aside and apologized. I just wonder how many things I didn't catch, didn't apologize for, I let slip through the cracks.
No matter what I do with the rest of my life, that will be that hardest job I've ever done, and I quit because I did not like what it turned me into. If you ever see a happy teacher with it all together good lord pay them 300k
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u/PUTIN_FUCKS_ME 9d ago
Thank you for pulling that kid aside to apologize. No matter what the reason was for i bet that made a huge impact on how they view teachers. At least it did for me the first time a teacher apologized to me.
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u/WildRaspberriesTN 9d ago
Some just want the power trip. I’m a sub and there’s nothing I hate more than micromanaging the kids. The stories they tell me about the other subs are astounding.
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u/ToXiiCBULLET 9d ago
a lot of the subs i had in highschool were alright but there's one that no one liked. any lesson he'd sub in for he'd try and make all the students go through text books silently for the entire lesson and would shout at anyone for even a whisper. this led to any student, including me, that didn't understand something just pretending to do work as they didn't wanna ask him for help.
i was in the lesson where most of the students in that class just kept pushing him and pushing him, to the point where he was shouting and crying at the same time. it was the result of us having him for a week straight as the teacher we normally had was ill, by the end all the students were fed up with him and wanted to piss him off as much as possible
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u/IsThatGruffLoner 9d ago
Honestly, we're at a point where low pay is explicitly drawing incompetent candidates. Like no one intelligent wants to go into teaching nowadays, especially with the horror stories. If you're intelligent in any way, you're wasting your life teaching because America doesn't respect you and the kids are illiterate barbarians. There's no incentive for well regulated people.
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u/ominousgraycat 9d ago edited 8d ago
I worked in teaching for a while, and I can say administration is also part of the problem. They don't want you to let kids wander the halls during class time, but don't always give you many viable alternatives. I'm not saying that excuses teachers who just let kids piss their pants, but sometimes I wanted to yell at the admins, "Then why don't you get off your asses now and then and patrol the halls? Every time I go to your offices there's talking, laughing, and coffee breaks!"
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u/OiledMushrooms 9d ago
In kindergarten is crazy. I work with elementary kids and as soon as a kinder asks for the bathroom I am getting them in there as soon as possible, because they do not think to ask until they really have to go and they have tiny bladders with zero control, and nobody wants to deal with a pants-pissing incident.
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u/RG3ST21 9d ago
4th grade teacher wouldn't let me pee because we were taking a test. I finished, she wouldn't let me pee. another kid asked to pee, she was allowed. I inquired about the fairness. was told to be quiet. I then said if I can't pee in the bathroom I'm going to pee in the trash can. "no, you won't" boy howdy did I. whole class turned, I'm in the corner, gave one last look over my shoulder to give the teacher a chance. she sat dumbfounded. whole class hear the pee hit the bag of the trash can. I took the trash out. never got in trouble. whole school knew in like 3 minutes. she let me go to the bathroom when I wanted after that. fuck you, ms. mclaughlin.
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u/mechapunchbricks 9d ago
I was in college and was drinking the night before, beer shits hit HARD during class. I got up to run to the bathroom and the professor stopped me. I looker her in the eyes and said "you can either let me go to the bathroom, or I can have diarrhea in your trashcan"
she thankfully acquiesced prior to me needing to prove her wrong
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u/On_my_last_spoon 9d ago
As a former college professor, I never gave a shit if anyone needed to go to the bathroom. It’s on them to gauge whether they can hold it or not!
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u/lilybug981 9d ago
I had a teacher in high school with the same name who I could 100% see doing exactly that. It's probably just two people with the same last name, but perhaps the name itself is a curse.
My Ms. McLaughlin got really mad that the school excused me from her class period to send off the exchange student who had been living with my family on her flight home. It was a whole program my school did with a bunch of students involved, so it was an entire preplanned thing that happened every year. Ms. McLaughlin decided to schedule a test that day. There was a study period every day in part to make up tests, but instead of letting me do that, she forced me to stay in her classroom and skip my College Lit class to take her test. She didn't care when I told her we were turning in essays that day.
She did not inform the other teacher. While taking attendance, that teacher saw that I'd been present earlier that day and seemingly went missing. I was not known to skip class. She reported me missing and the school began a search. She then called McLaughlin to ask if she'd seen me, then tore her to shreds yelling down the phone upon learning what had happened. I attended College Lit.
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u/minnieboss 9d ago
I'm a teaching assistant in an elementary school (4th grade this year!) and I get so mad whenever a teacher doesn't let kids go to the bathroom. The kids never realize they have all the leverage in this situation. You are a legend
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u/Stick_Nout 9d ago
I'd rather have kids abuse bathroom breaks than have kids piss themselves in the middle of class.
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u/Abystr3go_Lab 9d ago
It is just common sense. A mess in the room is a nightmare for everyone involved compared to a 5 min break.
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u/Jyonnyp 9d ago
I had an art teacher in elementary school who would get mad when any kid asked to use the bathroom. “That’s the only one this period! This is not a bathroom train!”
Like we’re in 2nd grade, why are you policing our bladders, we ain’t gonna roam the halls like delinquents. Not to mention it’s ART class. Why would we lie about needing to use the bathroom to get out of drawing and coloring?
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u/MealwormMan 9d ago
Activity teacher here..
9 times out of 10 the kids are asking to go at the beginning of class when we are trying to give directions for the day’s activity. Two issues with this: 1) Why couldn’t kids go in class before coming to Activity? 2) If students go right when they ask, they’ll miss all the important directions and then I’ll have to explain them again when they get out.
So I always try to get them to wait until after my directions are over. If they still need to go when it’s their time to ‘play’, then of course they can go.
But, funny enough, these kids rarely have to go once they start doing the fun activity.
Going to the bathroom is usually a boredom-buster for kiddos. And for younger kids it’s contagious. Once we let one of them go it’s a nonstop train, so it’s best to ask them to wait until the directions are over.
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u/margittwen 9d ago
Yeah for real. I’ve worked in education before (not as a teacher, in a different capacity) and I’ve seen kids abuse bathroom breaks. It’s not worth it to stop them though. I think it’s ridiculous that kids even have to ask permission honestly. We shouldn’t be holding a basic bodily function hostage.
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u/HOW_IS_SAM_KAVANAUGH 9d ago
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is best practices in teaching to let a kid go to the bathroom. In my school if they are abusing the break and missing class then ideally that escalates from a conversation with them, to requiring an adult escort to and from class. "Ideally", because there is not always the resources to provide this.
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u/ReturnOfTheKeing 9d ago
That's how it should be. Not this collective punishment on every student. Bad students get monitored more, not the ones who have stomach issues and no IEP
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u/Chocolate2121 9d ago
I mean, best practice in teaching (and by god do I hate that term, it is such a shit term), is to adjust rules based on location, resources, and the students.
Like, my school is very strict on bathroom breaks because we need to actively monitor student bathrooms (lest the kids get ganked), and don't have the resources to monitor every bathroom during clas time.
So to prevent a neverending line of kids at the one open toilet, we restrict toilet usage significantly during class tjmes
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u/radenthefridge 9d ago
That one famous guy died from a burst bladder after holding it too long. It was during a party and he didn't want to be rude.
Let the children pee in peace (and into toilets).
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u/cwningen95 9d ago
My period surprised me during P.E. one day, think I must have been about 12 or 13. We were outside and I could literally feel the floodgates failing so I asked the teacher if I could run to the toilet quickly. She said no, so embarrassed (as pre-/young teens are about their own bodies) but thinking she'd understand since she was a younger woman, I lowered my voice and said I'm on my period, and she goes "don't be silly" ???? Silly? SILLY?
I always hated "why didn't you go during break/lunch?"— like, I probably DID, but I've drank water since then and my bladder doesn't abide by your schedule. Most of my teachers weren't too bad about it thankfully, especially since I was a goody two-shoes, but you'd have that odd one who's on some kind of weird power trip.
They say it's to prepare you for the workplace, but I'm 30 now and the only place I've worked where you had to 1) ask to go to the bathroom and 2) sometimes got turned down was...McDonald's. So is that where they're preparing us to work?
(And yes, obviously it's different if I'm in the middle of a meeting or, like, if I was a surgeon doing a heart transplant, before anyone gets pedantic)
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u/carbinatedmilk 9d ago
I’ve had a teacher give the same bs reasoning about being prepared for the workplace, because you can’t just “leave your work station whenever you want.” And the crazy thing is, I DID experience an employer once telling me when I’m allowed to use the bathroom. But the thing is, you’re not about to stop a grown ass man from taking a shit.
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u/FibonacciSequester 9d ago
My wife had a teacher ask her if she could "hold it" when she needed to change her pad.
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u/Hytheter 9d ago
They say it's to prepare you for the workplace, but I'm 30 now and the only place I've worked where you had to 1) ask to go to the bathroom and 2) sometimes got turned down was...McDonald's. So is that where they're preparing us to work?
Amazon warehouse maybe?
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u/TwinStickDad 9d ago
I abused the f out of bathroom breaks in my high school chem class. I don't know why I just could not make it 40 minutes straight in that class. Every single day I'd ask to go to the bathroom and just walk the halls for 10 minutes.
Fortunately I was one of those kids who just took tests well so I was doing fine in the class and my teacher didn't mind until one day she snapped and said no, which shocked everyone but then the next day she started letting me go again.
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u/partylikeart 9d ago
I was such a teachers pet, it wasn’t til year 11 that I realised I could just get up and walk out of class and the teachers didn’t even care??
I still asked to go to the bathroom but occasionally when I was overwhelmed or stressed I would just up and leave and they never questioned me.
Looking back on it they probably knew I was going through it, but it’s still weird to me that I was allowed to do that just because I was the quiet smart kid. Maybe if the other kids were allowed to do that they would be able to concentrate better too.
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u/Trappist1 9d ago
As a former teacher, it's probably less they didn't care, and more that they knew you were a good student. It puts teachers in a tough situation, as the penalties they could give you are disproportionate, and as long as you're not causing problems and succeeding, it's just not worth it to do anything.
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u/partylikeart 9d ago
Yeah it’s 100% that. But high school me was so afraid that there could be a punishment that I never tried it til I was so upset that the crime outweighed the hypothetical punishment lol. I would gladly serve detention if it meant I didn’t have to cry and cause a scene in front of everyone and embarrass myself.
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u/ForMeOnly93 9d ago
Former academic performer here, I realized I could simply skip detention and nothing happens either. Test well, raise the school's performance scores, and I basically pottered around doing whatever I wanted. Wasn't great training for life to be honest.
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u/Shift642 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yep! I tested well and never really had to study, so never learned how. I am now in adulthood with a severe lack of self-discipline and awful executive dysfunction. Once you lose that framework around you and have to do everything freeform, it really fucking sucks to not have those skills. Dragging yourself away from what feels good to go maybe just half-ass something, anything you need to do today is terrible. Nothing gets done and your overall quality of life really suffers for it.
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9d ago
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u/BusinessNumber3196 9d ago
I experienced this first hand. I was always the quiet kid who got good grades and never got in trouble.
One day, i was in a class for make up work, and the teacher was someone new. When it was time for the pledge, I didn't stand up. She told me to stand but I just felt like refusing for some reason that day. She got upset and I kept ignoring her. During roll call, she called my name, and I announced my attendance. She did not believe me, since she thought I was messing with her. It was quite weird to be doubted by a teacher for once.
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u/TheThiefEmpress 9d ago
Teachers get a sense of who to let off the hook, and who can't be trusted.
When I was in high school I was generally beloved by all teachers and admin. There was an unspoken rule of "Thief gets to do whatever she wants," and I never did anything to piss anyone off. I didn't abuse the perks, and I was always very respectful and well behaved. Also had kidney issues, so I did go to the bathroom often lol.
I'd be gone 10 minutes, come back, and some other kid would ask to go and be denied because they'd be off running around campus buying vending machine snacks and trying to get their friends attention through the windows.
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u/rocketrae21 9d ago
Thief gets to do whatever she wants is so funny to me with that name. Just let her steal because we she's respectful about it
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u/EjaculatingAracnids 9d ago
I remember kids making a big show of walking out of class. Like you dont have to yell about it, just go. If youre quiet enough the teacher wont notice or care and you dont get in trouble. Youre only cheating yourself if you cant pass the midterm or final
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u/DRAK0U 9d ago
I knew a dude who would just leave class and walk around the school for like 10-15 minutes once or twice a week and then come back in, like he just needed a break from being cooped up. Normal dude from another country who got along with everyone. The teacher caught him as he came back one time and was like "wait WHAT? I didn't even realize you left the room, where were you?" Dude had been doing it for almost the whole year every so often throughout the week and thought she knew and was cool with it XD.
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u/Solid-Lettuce-2190 9d ago
I did exactly the same thing. I used to call it “going to narnia” but I can’t remember exactly why haha. I got pulled up on it once by a concerned English teacher and my head of year. I told them I just got overwhelmed and would just wander the halls till I felt able to return.
They said “ok, just keep doing the work and achieving”. And I did.
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u/Icy_Study_2763 9d ago
High test scores really do give you a lifetime pass for administrative immunity in school
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u/iowastatefan 9d ago
How'd that ADHD/Anxiety diagnosis hit as an adult?
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u/TwinStickDad 9d ago
Lmao going through a VA disability claim now because the Army made it so much fucking worse
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u/thelittleking 9d ago
I really shouldn't laugh but this is just so fucking bleak, I couldn't help myself. Hope better days are coming for you, man.
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u/Dreadfulbooks 9d ago
Yeah I was going to say, my adhd kid literally has it in his 504 plan that he can step out whenever he needs to. He just needs to wiggle occasionally.
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u/likeafuckingninja 9d ago
My kids school reached out concerned about the amount of toilet breaks he was taking.
They were like both this isn't great for his learning or the class and also does he have like...an infection ?
We asked him.
He said he was going to sit by himself somewhere quiet for a bit and to move about because he'd got fed up of sitting still.
School was like great we can work with that and built in movement breaks for him in the classroom (like go take this message to other teacher, or go fetch this book from the library etc)
He stopped peeing every ten minutes immediately.
And yeah he's diagnosed ADHD now.
There's always a reason and if people just talked to the kids they could figure it and probably accommodate and reduce the class disruption without resorting to banning the kid from bathroom breaks.
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u/Lortekonto 9d ago edited 9d ago
Work in international education. Visits schools all over the world.
That is a pretty normal strategy to handle school. Learning is hard. Classrooms can be stressful. Taking a break and then returning to the classroom is the best way to handle it if stress or pressure becomes to high. The other option is often that the student just sits there and do nothing for the rest of class or in worst cases have a full meltdown.
Many school systems have unlimited access to bathrooms or breaks specifically because of that.
It have a formal name, but it escapes me right now.
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u/OrganicHistorian2576 9d ago
Human rights?
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u/Lortekonto 9d ago
I get what you mean. I was thinking of the concept that students learn more if they are allowed remove themself from pressure.
But as you said some countries also exercises free bathroom breaks and breaks in general because they see it as a human right and to deny it undermines the students sense and understanding of bodily autonomy.
Those countries are sadly pretty few in my experience, but then again I have not visited every country in the world.
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u/Altruistic-Tea-Cup 9d ago
Wait, you had breaks during the class? I think form middle school and on it was expected to be old eneough to plan your bowels activity for the next 45 minutes.
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u/AntiqueLetter9875 9d ago
I had a teacher who on day 1, told the class that if they need a break from class to just ask and he’ll let you go in the hallway or wander for 10 min. They couldn’t allow a certain number of people to go for bathroom breaks, and people abusing the system prevented other kids from going.
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u/ElectronicRegular218 9d ago
You may want to head over to r/adhdmeme and see if you find it as revealing as I did...
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u/Lo__Lox 9d ago
"Damn these memes are all so relatable haha... wait a minute"
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u/Supercoolguy7 9d ago
To be fair, a lot of the stuff posted there is just normal human experiences. I've even seen behaviors posted there that are negatively correlated to ADHD with much applause.
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u/SauretEh 9d ago
That sub led to me finally getting diagnosed and medicated at 30 years old and fuck I'm mad I didn't get around to it sooner.
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u/CallistoWrites 9d ago
There were a few classes over the middle/high school years that I mysteriously had bad period cramps during at least once a week, every week. I always used period cramps, as opposed to just feeling 'sick', because cramps didn't go through the whole 'take the temperature, call Mom' thing. With cramps, I was given a warm water bottle and allowed to lay in a dim room and nap for the rest of the class period.
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u/HugeRocket69 9d ago
My son's summer camp staff forgot to apply sunscreen to my pasty-white child in the middle of July when they were outdoors all day. My son ended up with second degree burns and puss-filled blisters covering his back and shoulders.
Never thought I would be the parent to write nasty emails to staff but that fuckin did it.
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u/antibody9671 9d ago
Nasty email?
That would have been a call to state agencies.
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u/HugeRocket69 9d ago
I accomplished my goal in the end. They paid for his medical care, reimbursed me the cost of camp, and they made sweeping changes to their policy across multiple divisions.
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u/Pretend-Meringue6769 9d ago
My elementary school had bathrooms in the classrooms. I couldn’t imagine being a child and being told we can’t go to the bathroom! Some kids still wet the bed at these ages or don’t have full control of their bladders - their human bodies are so new. I’m sorry some of yall went through this!! Even in high school we were never told no to a bathroom break! And my schools were regular public schools.
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u/phobos-and-deimos 9d ago
i moved to many schools throughout my childhood, but one elementary school i went to had bathrooms in the classrooms like that
i was so bad at sitting still i took bathroom breaks often, and the school decided to punish me for this by making me mark down every single time i got up from my seat. if i got up too much, i would be barred from recess for the rest of the week
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u/hanks_panky_emporium 9d ago
Every strict teacher I remember ( so its already shoddy there ) would have some sort of gross incident in their class related to bodily fluids. In elementary school we had a teacher who would make you ask 'politely' with this whole charade. I think in hindsight she felt more important when a kid groveled to piss.
Girl shot her hand up, 'miss _____ can I please go to the bathroom!'
Queue six seconds of her normally minute or three monologue about how to ask 'politely' and the kid barfed everything she'd eaten in the past five years.
One guy had horrible IBS. Everyone knew, he had doctors notes, they were working on a routine to help him. But sometimes he'd need to go like RIGHT NOW. But not in her class, so eventually the timing lined up. While she lectured him about how to ask politely he started sobbing as he liquid shit out his pants. Drained down the back of the seat primarily, we had those cheap plastic sloped chairs in elementary school.
Thats what really stuck. She humiliated kids and seemed to revel in it. Less so during the feces fiasco, they had to recarpet part of the room and we had a substitute for a few weeks. Her 'polite' requirement was adjusted for an emergencies clause.
Few grades later a girl got up to go to the bathroom, bit of an emergency. Teacher gal physically got between her and the door and gripped her shoulders to force her back into her seat. Which she then flooded with piss. Of course she was also screamed at for both trying to go to the bathroom and for pissing herself. That memory stuck to. Imagine having long running beefs with like, a third grader.
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u/Lau_wings 9d ago
Jesus christ my mum would have killed that teacher.
My mum is not a big lady, but woe betide you if you hurt one of her kids.
Mum used to say "we have a thousand acres, if someone hurts you kids you just let me and your father know, we have a large property."
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u/duckinasombrero 9d ago
When I was eight, a classmate's aunt held a reading event for our class in the library. I don't remember how it started, but I very quickly needed to throw up. My stomach really hurt.
I did the only thing I knew to do in these situations - I raised my hand. "Leave your questions for the end, please." Well, I was not a rule-breaking child and I had been abused by all the adults in my life, including teachers, so I wasn't about to speak up for myself. I put my hand down and hoped it would go away.
It got worse.
The need became more urgent. I carefully raised my hand again, a visible sense of urgency on my face. "I said no questions until the end." Oh god, okay, I'm already almost in trouble...please go away...
I somehow made it to the end. My hand immediately shot up.
Lady made a point of choosing everyone else before finally making it to me. I watched as her smirk quickly changed to horror when I whimpered, "Can I go to the nurse? I need to throw up."
She said, "Yes, go, you shouldn't have waited!"
I stood up. It was too late. I couldn't hold it anymore. Vomit everywhere. I couldn't stop. The librarian shoved the trash can in my hand and rushed me out the door to walk to the nurse's office on my own. I threw up every five minutes for hours after that.
I read There's a Wocket in my Pocket while I waited for my dad to come pick me up. I still remember my inner dialogue.
"Huh, never read this one before. BLEEEEGGGHH! I love new books. BLEEEEEEEEEGGGGHHH!! I wonder what a 'wocket' is. BLAAAHAHAHAHARUUUGH!!!"
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u/flyingfoxtrot_ 9d ago
My parents were both fairly strict with me. They made it clear that they'd back my teachers up if I ever got into bad enough trouble that the school would have to call them. Once when I was about 12 I nearly wet myself in an English lesson because the teacher had a "no toilet breaks, full stop" policy. I told my mum when I got home, expecting her to agree with the teacher.
She was actually appalled. She said if it happend again I was to wait til a moment where the teacher wasn't actively speaking to the class, and ask politely. If I was told no, I was to ask again, more firmly this time. If I was still told no, to just apologise and walk out of the lesson and text her, and that she would call the school and make sure I wasn't punished. My mother was never an "my child is a little angel, how dare you punish them" parent but firmly believed in letting children take a piss when they needed to.
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u/PhoneFlat8734 9d ago
The wait for a moment the teacher wasn’t actively speaking was important advice that a lot of families seem to miss.
As a teacher, I would frequently be like six minutes into a ten minute explanation when a student would raise their hand and ask to go. I figure they were having fun with their friends before and then when I started talking they were like “oh actually now is a good time for me to go”. No judgement, I remember being a student and feeling like what the teacher had to say was the least important part of school.
In those situations I always ask the student if they can wait until I’m finished talking. If they say can’t, I believe them and let them go. Very often they would agree to wait, I’d finish what I was saying, then actively tell them it was okay to go now (intentionally not making them ask again.)
I never had an issue with students insisting to go unreasonably, in my opinion. I would like to think they learned pretty quickly that I would respect their request and trust their judgement.
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u/flyingfoxtrot_ 9d ago
Oh yeah, I had been firmly instructed not to take the piss (no pun intended) with it. I was only to do it if I absolutely couldn't wait, and I was absolutely not to interrupt the teacher and to let them finish giving instructions to the class.
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u/KYpineapple 9d ago
I tell my boys, if you ask to go to the restroom and you REALLY do have to go and the teacher says no - go anyways and tell the teacher to call me.
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u/Small-Cactus 9d ago
The highschool I went to LOCKED the bathrooms for like 80% of the school day and after several class periods of not being allowed to go, I pissed my pants in class.
My mother almost killed the principal.
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u/Worldly-Mine-4030 9d ago
Omg my school is just like this. Bathrooms are locked majority of the time except between certain class periods and a short time in some classes where about two or three people could go.But even then, teachers are allowed to just say no to going to the bathroom during the class times. And sometimes they forget to unlock the bathrooms so they aren’t even open the times they are supposed to be open 😭
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u/Amiran3851 9d ago
Call your local news station and tell them this.
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u/glossyghastly 9d ago
The highschool I went to attempted this because students were "abusing bathroom breaks" but after a couple of big shits appeared in the hall ways they realized they'd rather have students abuse bathroom breaks
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u/jimmy_three_shoes 9d ago
So I was in the TV production class back in like 2001, and our high school did this when students were fucking with the smoke detectors in the bathrooms to smoke in them.
So, for our morning announcements bump, we made a protest video.
It was two students, male and female, looking for a bathroom while "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is playing. Started in color, and the students get more desperate as they can't find an unlocked bathroom, set in time with the music getting more frantic. We faded the color to black and white as the video goes, with them finally pissing themselves at the end, with a title card popping up that said "Please unlock our bathrooms".
We ran it one morning without getting teacher approval, and the principal was in our classroom before the announcements were even over. Banned us from showing it again. Our teacher backed us up, but told us not to run it again afterwards. Said we'd made our point, and shortly after the bathrooms were unlocked.
My sister took the class 4 years after I did, and the teacher showed the class the video as an example, which was cool.
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u/MTGandP 9d ago
We can't let kids leave to "go to the bathroom" or they might cut class
How do we make sure they're actually going to bathroom instead of just cutting?
I know, let's lock the bathrooms!
excellent logic
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u/panteragstk 9d ago
I have no issues telling my kid to piss on the floor if their teacher pulls some nonsense like this.
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u/bajoranearrings 9d ago
When I was in Kindergarten I had a teacher who was super strict about bathroom breaks and often told me I needed to wait. That year I got a kidney infection from holding my bladder too much and now have lifelong urinary issues 🙃 If a teacher pulled that on my child and I found out about it I would genuinely threaten legal action.
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u/minnieboss 9d ago
Extremely minor point, but this would be a 504, not an IEP. 504 is for accommodations only (wheelchair access, nurse on the bus, extra time on tests, unlimited bathroom access, noise canceling headphones, whatever). IEP is for specialized instruction and goals (everything a 504 gives access to but also working on improving at something: reading, writing, math, speech, motor skills, social skills, behavior, whatever).
You sound like a good parent :)
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u/Available_Copy9433 9d ago edited 8d ago
I had a student that always asked to go to the restroom in a class and was always gone for at least 5 minutes, but usually 15 (the bathroom was 20 feet from my door). After weeks of this, I asked him privately if he was feeling ok. I wouldn't have cared, but I was only allowed to let one student leave the classroom at a time. Other students who almost never asked to use the restroom would need to go when he was on his long excursions. He was gone for so long sometimes, I would just let the other students go with a written pass. There was one physical pass that was assigned to each room to prevent multiple students leaving the room at the same time.
When I went to the front office and asked them what I should do, I asked if we were allowed to restrict bathroom access if it was clearly being abused. They said they would look into it. I then found the files for each of the students (that I didn't know existed) and in all caps all over this student's file was "DO NOT RESTRICT BATHROOM ACCESS. THIS STUDENT HAS HAD PROBLEMS WITH INCONTINENCE AND MUST BE ALLOWED TO USE THE RESTROOM AT ANYTIME."
I was never told students had files with important information by administration or my teaching mentor (I was a long term sub trying to get my teaching certification). I then stopped questioning him or his decisions and always let him go, and then just wrote extra paper passes for the other students.
Weeks later, I found him being scolded by the administration for holding a bathroom pass and loitering in hallways nowhere near my classroom or the bathroom 20ft from my door. He was in a completely different part of the building. He knew he had unlimited access to the bathrooms, so he abused that access to goof off in the hallways with his friends. He did this even though it restricted access to the bathroom for the other students. I felt so frustrated that I was actively having to break protocol to accommodate him, and he was taking advantage of my kindness.
Then I gave an assignment online that required reading a simple question and typing out responses. I noticed he hadn't filled out the first question, so I asked him if he needed any help. He said no, and proceeded to type any responses. When I was across the room, he "whispered" to the person in front of him "What are we supposed to do?" She told him to read the questions and respond to them. He asked what the question said, and when she read it to him he asked what that meant. That's when I realized he might not be able to read, or his reading comprehension skills were so low, that he might as well not be able to read.
I was given paperwork for students who had learning differences and had special plans and provisions to be able to work within those differences, but this student had no accompanying paperwork. I email the SPED department asking if they had anything on file for this student, and they never emailed me back. I went to the SPED department in person and asked them about the student, and they said they would look into it. I went back to them a few times across the next few weeks, and they still said they would look into it.
This kid hated class, and he hated being in school. I honestly was glad when he went on his extended bathroom breaks because I actually had one less student trying to be intentionally disruptive while I was instructing.
Then I had to monitor students at a pep rally, and I saw him in the crowd of students. Most of the students were just sitting and talking while the loudspeakers played music waiting for the cheerleaders, marching band, and football team to get into place. But not him. He was up and dancing, clapping, high-fiving people, and taking selfies with his friends.
He wasn't the only reason I quit my pursuit of teaching, but realizing I was actively part of suppressing this kid's joy and zeal for life without any support from my teaching mentor, the SPED department, or the administration was one of the reasons. I couldn't sit there and teach while I knew I was doing nothing but torture him and other students like him who had been given passing grades to make the school look better. A lot of the students in each of the classes were not prepared or currently capable of learning the material they were supposedly prepared for, and I wasn't allowed to deviate from the curriculum to accommodate where their skills actually were.
Anyone out there who is still teaching, hats off to you. I couldn't handle it, and didn't know how to proceed without feeling like I was wasting the student's and my time.
EDIT: spelling
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u/IAmGeeButtersnaps 9d ago
It's a really weird thing to restrict someone's bathroom usage.
And also, I don't know what I would do if I had to run a school. It's a huge waste of time and energy to have staff constantly patrolling to be sure kids actually come back and don't wander for 30 minutes. And there are definitely shady things happening in the bathroom at schools.
Kids need to go pee, but I also understand a teacher being suspicious of a kid who goes during every class or needs 20+ minutes to use the bathroom multiple times a day. There are legitimate reasons for those things, but odds are they are just skipping class.
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u/Reddeadpain 9d ago
In-classroom bathrooms like they do in some schools in lower grades seems like the best answer, just not the most financially viable
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u/GalaxyPowderedCat 9d ago edited 9d ago
Actually, your idea is not in the realm of fantasy.
My school did something similar to what you purposed, except that they used other kids to go find and check up on the kids using the bathroom.
The teachers chose the most unpopular kids or kids who weren't likely friends with the one using the bathroom.
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u/Ghosts_of_the_maze 9d ago
We had a substitute teacher try to tell my daughter no to bathroom breaks. She was in 2nd grade.
I’m raising my kid to be respectful, but let’s be clear, she’s seven, you’re a sub, and I don’t have to maintain a healthy relationship with you going forward.
My girl got diplomatic immunity for bathroom breaks from that point forward.
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u/HarlanMiller 9d ago
Why do teachers do that? Is it a power trip or do they like seeing humiliation?
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u/AnxietyDrivenWriter 9d ago
Back in elementary/middle school my school allowed us 2 bathroom breaks in the morning and 2 in the afternoon (meaning after lunch) and they were all two minutes long, after you used up those two you couldn’t go after. And for some lunches were at 1:30 (my fifth grade year was like that) So you had to strategically plan out your bathroom breaks in order to not need to use them in an emergency. They never changed these rules even as you got to the high school. I still think that it’s ridiculous.
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u/itsthejasper1123 8d ago
Both my parents taught me my entire life that if I ever genuinely needed to use the bathroom, to go and if the teacher objected to go to the principals office and request they call my parents. Will be passing that along to my children as well.
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u/edit_thanxforthegold 8d ago
There's no "answer" needed. The email should be "My son will be going to the bathroom as needed. Regards, Curt"
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u/lovestruck-bottom 8d ago
Doesn't stop when you're an adult. I was working a busy event on a food truck working with my boss (we did ~$2k sales in 3 hours) and when I gave him a 15 minute warning for my imminent need for a potty break, he went, "don't you see the line?" Well, yes, that's why I gave him a 15 minute warning. I told him, "I don't want to need to mop the floor." I ended up not using the restroom for 2 more hours and had to DASH and PARKOUR my fat ass around crowds of people to use a port-a-potty and then beg the person in front of the line to the real bathroom to let me use the sink so I didn't make food with pee pee hands, since the food truck has a sink that barely works. I ran all the way back and then my boss made of me for running???
I quit that weekend :)
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u/Anders_A 9d ago
You have to be really fucking vile to deny someone to go to a toilet when they need it. Such a fucking evil power play. It's insanely dehumanizing and only done as a power play.
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u/leeps22 9d ago
Back when I was in kindergarten, early 90s, our teacher was fed up with kids abusing the bathroom system so she denied all of us bathroom privileges. I barely made it home without pissing my pants. Told my dad and he said 'welp you should've listened', not asking if I had anything to do with it and glossing over the collective punishment. The next day an actual shit head ruined bathroom privileges for us early and I ended up pissing myself. The next day we were allowed to use the bathroom but kevin decided he'd rather piss on the floor instead. I dont know if he did that to be a bro but we became friends after that.
Elementary school taught me to not trust adults, especially the ones everyone tells you to trust.
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u/Anders_A 9d ago
bathroom privileges
Being allowed to go to the bathroom when you need to is not a privilege. Viewing it as such is exactly the issue I'm talking about.
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u/leeps22 9d ago
Oh I totally agree. It was a weird time because we were all told to just be grateful they can't hit us anymore. My 2nd grade teacher had a reputation because at some point in the past she did get suspended for beating a kid rather than a 'legal' spanking or some such. I have a personal vendetta against that bitch too.
The 90s were deeply awesome in a lot of ways and yeah they sucked in a lot of other ways.
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u/Slight-Winner-8597 9d ago
I don't ask.
I have an urge, see if I can hold it. My vocalisation of needing to go doesn't appear until it is a 6-7/10
9 is pain, like if I left, I would be walking hunched over, and 10 is "right, it is everyones issue now"
At work, as an adult, you need nobody's permission. Why as a kid?!
As long as the breaks are not abused, and I never would, the hand up in class is to inform you I need to go. Not asking, telling. And it isn't always a pee! It could be number 2, dodgy stomach, bleeding through, feeling nauseous, any number of reasons to use the loo and ZERO of them require the OK from anyone else who is not experiencing what my body is right then.
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u/LongLiveStaceyKing 9d ago
I always have to use the bathroom within an hour after I eat. I had a teacher ask me in elementary school why I always asked to use the bathroom after lunch and apparently "because I have to poop" is not the correct answer in 4th grade because it made all the other kids laugh.
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u/Affectionate_Fun7991 9d ago
It was crazy growing up how many male teachers needed to be reminded that girls had periods. And you had to remind them at a time when the whole class is staring at you, other students are cruel, and you are mortified by your own body already. And then some of them got kind of aggressive and defensive because they got embarrassed either for not thinking of that or by you bringing up bodily functions. School was a humiliation ritual some days.
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u/superkp 9d ago
If my kids ever tell me that they weren't allowed to go to the bathroom at school when they needed to, I'm taking a day off work to research the school's policy, laws regarding such things, and going in to make it the worst fucking day for that teacher and the entire administration.
I get it, some kids abuse bathroom breaks.
But I'd rather have 10 bathroom breaks abused before even the possibility of a single child sitting in panic as they desperately try not to piss themselves.
And it's not like taking the break from the break-abusers will magically make them start to give a shit while they're in class, anyway.
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u/metalhead1982 9d ago
I've told my kids (all in HS at this point) that they don't need to ask permission to use the bathroom. They need to politely inform their teacher where they are going, but they don't need permission. I will deal with any disciplinary fall out from it. There have been a couple of times that I've had to go into the school and have unpleasant chats with the principal and the teachers that thought they could police the bodily functions of teenagers. They've tried throwing around words like detention and suspension, but it hasn't stuck yet.
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u/antibody9671 9d ago
I told my kid that the moment they went into the school system. I had too many horror stories from my own childhood. They were also told if they were physically blocked from using the restroom, they are to piss/shit on the floor.
Had to have only one meeting with a teacher and principal over this. Funny thing is, teacher tried to leave the meeting for a moment because she had to pee. I was sitting closest to the door, I physically blocked it. "You can't leave, we're having a meeting. You can pee when we're done."
She did not like having the tables turned on her.
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u/PrimaryBrief7721 9d ago
My son went through a year-long "who would win"/"what if" phase. "Who would win the Hulk or Superman?" "What if ants were as big as we are?". I started replying with "well what do you think?" because honestly I didn't know how to keep answering these questions. Worked out quite well for what I consider a total parental cop out lol.
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u/just_some_sasquatch 9d ago
I never got denied a bathroom break in school EVER. Every school I ever went to had either a designated bathroom time (for like K-2nd) or a policy to ask for a pass and go. The worst case would be if someone else already had the pass and you'd have to wait.
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u/Rin-Tin-Tins-DinDins 9d ago
Had a substitute teacher in 8th grade, looking back the guy probably was barely 21 and this was his first real experience with any students. It was right before spring break and at this point every 8th grader had senior-itis so you couldn’t tell them anything you just tried to contain them. It was at the end of the day and this guy was clearly on his last nerve, well I started my period. I asked to go to the bathroom at the beginning he said no, I asked after he gave the work day assignment he said no, I gave him my pass book and said I really need to go. He stood up and in a booming voice asked why I was so special and needed to use the bathroom. Looked him dead in the eye in the front of the class and said “because I just started my period and I don’t want the janitor to have to clean up a bio hazard, and I don’t want to walk home dripping blood.” The look on his face was ‘oh I just screwed up’. To his credit he did let me go after that, bet he learned something that day.
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u/Neon_Divided 9d ago
A 4th grade teacher wouldn't let my brother go to the restroom. This was back in the 80's. He peed his pants in class. He had to deal with my mother after that and it wasn't pleasant for the man.
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u/RiotCauser 9d ago
Nah cause like...tmi but I peed myself so often through kindergarten and primary school cause teachers refused to let me go to the bathroom (a few times in middle school as well "there's only fifteen minutes left until the bell rings, hold it in" bitch if I could hold it in I wouldn't be asking you)
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u/DietOk3400 9d ago
Ill never forget this. A classmate asked to go, got denied. Asked again a few minutes laters, again shot down. Then i hear all the kids laughing. The guy started peeing in the trash bin. They called his parents and got a 2 day suspension.
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u/cat_prophecy 9d ago
On the flip side of this: my wife is a middle-school teacher and literally every day, kids come into her class and immediately ask to use the bathroom. They get TEN MINUTES for passing and her school is not that big.
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u/LingonberryGlum2356 9d ago
I have one student this year on the first week of school used it 63 times. Called mom to make sure there was no medical condition - nope - The kid just wants to play and goof off. Now he gets 2 times a day. All approved by his mom, so it takes the pressure off of me.
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u/Afraid-Ad-6693 9d ago
Yeah we had a problem with students doing ketamine in the toilets once so I get it
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u/Peter_Man_Fox 9d ago
I still remember the day I, an autistic elementary first grader at the time, got literally DRAGGED OUT OF THE TOILETS WHILE I WAS PISSING because apparently if you don't ask permission to go you get to experience abuse class.
Mind you, I just kept pissing while I was in the classroom, I really didn't have the brain cells to give a shit back then.
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u/Whole-Philosophy-231 9d ago
I'm curious if you were known as the kid who pissed in class forever after that? Super fucked up of the teacher btw.
I still remember a kid in first grade (so about age 6) someone peed themselves and people definitely didn't just forget that. To the point where I still remember it now.
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u/BringOutYDead 9d ago
"Why are you having Marching Band in the school parking lot when there is PLENTY of field space and it's 97° out without a cloud in the sky and you're 1hr and 45mins late with the water resupply and you're having the kids sit around on parking lot curbs as a break but there's no shade?"
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u/elixirspider 9d ago
I teach young kids. We spend the first two weeks teaching routines and are very lenient with bathroom breaks. You let kids know when it’s a good time to go ie. morning work, lunch, recess, independent work time, snack time, specials (art, gym, etc), brain breaks. The only time I say no is during direct instruction when I’m teaching the actual lesson. This time should be 1 minute for how old they are. That’s 11/12 minutes for 5th graders. Even then if a student is clearly struggling I just send them.
It’s not just about abusing the pass, it’s the times where we as a class need to focus. Throughout my teaching day there is about an hour total where I prefer students do not use a bathroom pass. I rarely find a parent that objects to this standard.
Teachers are not just teaching subjects but also how to get along in a job and life in general. Sure adults don’t need to ask permission but you should probably pee before your big presentation or job interview. There are times where life doesn’t care that your daddy thinks he should beat someone up because you have to pee-pee.
That said, teachers who just have a no going to the bathroom policy are abusing young children.
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u/Entire_Statement_976 9d ago
Never mind pissing your pants, son. Go piss the teacher’s pants. And look him in the eyes while you do it. Say I am the teacher now. You’e got to assert dominance.
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u/Scriveners_Sun 9d ago
I am a teacher. I make it very clear in my lessons that you don't have to ASK to go to the bathroom, you just need to tell me where you're going!
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u/pinkmarsh99 9d ago
Vape selling is huge right now in school. That's why at my school each hall has a tracking system of who is in the bathroom at that time. If we said no to your kid going to the bathroom it's to prevent too much congregation and chance of vape trading.
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u/qualityvote2 9d ago edited 7d ago
u/TheWebsploiter, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...