r/todayilearned • u/Sandstorm400 • 7h ago
TIL that in 2014, an elementary school in Oregon nixed its pay-to-pee policy for students after parents complained that students who had to pay "Super Pro" bucks to use the bathroom outside of scheduled breaks were incentivized to 'hold it in' so they could buy trinkets at the school store.
https://abcnews.com/blogs/headlines/2014/01/oregon-elementary-school-nixes-pay-to-pee-policy532
u/CasinoKnightZone 6h ago
In 6th grade, I had a math teacher that refused to let any kid go to the bathroom for their class. He told them "you can hold it for the rest of the hour"
Predictably as anyone can imagine, some poor girl got her period in class and after asking and being rudely told no, ran out of the class in tears with clear evidence on her seat and pants.
That policy changed real damn fast after that, if I were her father I'd have sued the fucking district.
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u/SAINTnumberFIVE 5h ago
I wish teenage girls had the nerves of middle aged women. Teenage me would’ve been mortified, but middle-aged me is going stand right up in front of everybody and very loudly announce that I have my period and then start talking about how heavy it is and how the blood just gushing out and I have to go change my pad before I leak all over the seat.
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u/coopermoe 2h ago
Lol my friend in middle school actually did this, she got a suspension for “making the teacher feel uncomfortable”
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u/ProbioticOnARobotic 1h ago
I hope her parents raised hell. I'd show up with a whole menstruation slide deck.
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u/Whole_Mongoose1854 4h ago
Very brave. My nephew did a similar speech with poop when he was 2. Maybe you guys could compare notes.
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u/Sure_Fly_5332 4h ago
Well, in middle school you are trying to fit in. Causing trouble with the teacher in that manner is not how you fit in with the rest of your class.
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u/kindnesskangaroo 5h ago edited 4h ago
I actually developed bed wetting at 9 years old randomly and after seeing a urologist who told my mom that it was because teachers were forcing me to “hold it” or “rush” by only telling me i had 30 seconds to go or I’d get into trouble, she went down to the school and raised hell.
After that, every year I had a special doctors note that explicitly told teachers they weren’t allowed to tell me when or how long I could be gone to the bathroom. Every fucking year one or two teachers always tried to fight it and lost and ended up pissed and punished me for it by locking me out of the classroom or refusing to answer any questions about material i missed while gone. I never abused it, by the way, and I was one of those “gifted kids” who was an overachiever and pretty quiet so it always made me feel bad for having to have a need accommodated.
I had a problem in 2nd grade where I needed a 10 am snack or I’d get so nauseous I’d throw up. My teacher used to make me go stand outside even if it was raining or snowing to eat it every day because it was “unfair to the other students” that I got to eat. It’s not like I wanted to.
For as many amazing teachers I had in school, I had some seriously shitty ones when I was just a child with undiagnosed health problems. But forcing kids to rush to the bathroom or hold it can seriously cause health problems for them.
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u/SAINTnumberFIVE 3h ago
If I were locked out of the classroom as a kid, I would not have perceived that as a bad thing!
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u/kindnesskangaroo 3h ago
it is when the teacher refused to let you make up anything you missed while being gone or refused fo answer questions “because you should have been in class.” The bathroom for some of my classrooms was down at the other end of the hall so it was a walk when you’re like 11. I liked learning, I enjoyed school, so it was incredibly hurtful to me as a kid to be deprived of that just for needing to take a piss or shit.
I had teachers refuse to let me join the group work people were doing because I was gone when the groups were being split up so they’d make me sit and watch everyone else or would give me extra busy work.
Like I’m glad you didn’t see it as a bad thing but it taught me that having needs when around other people or in the workplace was a something that meant I would miss out on important stuff or be indirectly punished for having them.
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u/MrSonicOSG 5h ago
in my 6th grade the english teacher everyone hated instituted a similar policy and bullied (out of pure fucking fear of the woman) the other teachers into enforcing a blanket ban on bathroom breaks during class. 2 weeks in a kid who had some sort of like, medically noted bladder/bowel issue ended up pissing himself in class. i had the class after him so i walked up to the teacher's desk mid test, asked to go to the bathroom, was told no, so i walked behind her desk, angrily pissed myself and was sent to the principal's office. the policy was dropped before the end of the day and i wouldnt be surprised if the kid's parents sued the school district
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u/dan-theman 5h ago
I had problems with authority, I might have stood up and peed my pants in protest.
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u/Tricky-Gemstone 5h ago
I had a class right after lunch. Timing of timing, I needed to change my tampons, but didn't have any with me and needed to go to my locker.
I'll never forget the female teacher who interrogated me on why I had to go to my locker, in front of the class, and asking what I didn't go prior.
I refused to tell her and just kept repeating that I needed to go to my locker.
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u/ButtonGullible5958 6h ago edited 6h ago
Not the same but my father told me if it was a choice between pissing my pants and pissing on the teacher choose the teacher
I did policy changed fast the teacher got relocated to a middle school this was 4th grade
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u/YouAndMeToo 6h ago
Kid in my grade chose the trash can right next to the teachers desk. Same response
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u/hateboss 6h ago
I absolutely do not believe you.
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u/Polkadot1017 4h ago
"I pissed on my teacher in 4th grade and they lost their job because of it and the school enacted policy changes in our favor"
Who the fuck is upvoting that? Have people never seen real life?
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u/OldManLarrry 4h ago
More like the teacher left because of getting urinated on. I’m not sticking around for a class that pisses on me.
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u/OLacAlmost 7h ago
Why do elementary schools always produce such buttfuck stupid ideas like this?
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u/zbeezle 6h ago
The US has close to 90,000 elementary schools. If you have 90,000 of any sort of institution able to, within some boundaries, each make more or less their own decisions, youre eventually gonna end up with a bunch of shitty ones.
Now, most people dont give a fuck when, like, a manager at a particular fast food franchise location makes a dumb rule, but elementary schools deal with children, pretty young ones, and we care quite a bit when someone fucks with our kids, so all those dumb decisions eventually get heavily publicized because "principal decides six year olds need to pay to use the bathroom" is a fuckin story.
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u/AccordingIy 7h ago
thinking back school is a massive micro managed institution. arrive this time, sit here, wear this, eat this time, leave this time, bring this home.
so this ill advised policies created by some power tripping administrator was to further micro manage more of the student's life and it back fired.
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u/DltaDFoxtrot 7h ago
Yeah young children need to be micro managed to insure they get a proper education.
Though micro managing their potty breaks is too far
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u/majinspy 6h ago
I'm a former teacher. I still don't know what the answer is to student who abuse bathroom breaks - which they absolutely will do. Like...what do you do when 5 people say they need to use the restroom?
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u/Opinzeseme 6h ago
Make them fight to the death until one remains. Only the strongest can go potty.
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u/reilwin 5h ago
Schools I went to used a (physical) hall pass. There'd be teachers/custodians walking through the halls in between class and students caught without a hall pass outside of class would get detention.
Not ideal if multiple kids needed to go to the bathroom at a time since teachers only had one hall pass for their class, and of course there's still the problem of knowingly giving a hall pass to a kid you know is going to take their time...
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u/jmlswiftie420 3h ago
A lot of schools I know and have worked for did away with detentions. Not sure if it’s like that everywhere else, but their reasonings were that they wanted to promote positive reinforcement instead of punishments. I personally think it’s stupid and kids need to learn that there’s consequences for their actions
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u/AccordingIy 7h ago edited 7h ago
Yea i remember we couldnt wear clothes with logos as it made poorer students feel left out? So bizarre.
edit: I was a poor lol
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u/wristdirect 7h ago
I mean, that one is at least coming from a place of empathy. The potty costing "money" is whack.
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u/HomeAliveIn45 6h ago
Is that really the reason for those policies? I was once sent home for wearing a college football t-shirt. Totally inoffensive. My parents bought it from the co-op. Nobody ever explained why
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u/imaguitarhero24 5h ago
That's a big reason uniforms are nationally mandated in a lot of countries worldwide, and an argument for uniforms in general. It helps equalize different economic backgrounds. Focus on learning instead of who's got the newest fashion.
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u/wilbyr 7h ago
i dont disagree but isnt that also most jobs as well?
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u/AccordingIy 6h ago
yea i was just noting how lot of school is managed and potty breaks being managed this way fits that structure lol.
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u/IGolfMyBalls 6h ago
I was a good student but came in late, left school when nothing was going on and basically knew I hated to be micromanaged so I bucked the trend. Now I have a job where I manage my own schedule and have little oversight and do it really well. Basically knew when I was 16 there’s way I’m putting up with idiots who want to control my life.
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u/the_original_kermit 5h ago
No.
Not defending the idea, but it’s really common for schools to do some face “School Bucks” to try to incentivize kids to participate in class and do better in school. They were trying to use that to get the kids to use the bathroom at break time.
They did away with the School Bucks idea, but they still dock the kids 2 minutes of recess. Which if I was a kid, I would rather have the 1st one.
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u/Syric13 7h ago
It isn't just in elementary school. I teach in HS and some teachers only allow their kids 3 bathroom passes per semester. Like its gross that you are tracking how many times you are allowing teenagers using the bathroom, but is also gross you only allow them 3 times in 20 weeks?
Yeah I know teens go to the bathroom to get out of class and vape or whatever. But why are you punishing every kid for the actions of a few.
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u/big_trike 7h ago
I had IBS but didn’t know it yet in HS. Teachers were stingy with bathroom breaks, so I’d just stay home sick and miss the entire day if I was having issues.
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u/_Burning_Star_IV_ 6h ago
I remember pissing myself a few times in middle school. I had this teacher that absolutely did not allow any bathroom breaks in her class because it followed lunch and if you had to go “You should have gone during your lunch!”.
Fuck that bitch.
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u/big_trike 4h ago
I had a few of those types in high school. Our lunch lines were long and lunch was only 25 minutes. The school was also large, so it might take 10 minutes to walk to or from the cafeteria.
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u/SirPseudonymous 6h ago
I had a professor in college who opened the very first day with "if anyone leaves the room during class for any reason they will immediately be dropped from the class", and his rambling bullshit eventually reached a rant about the Duke lacrosse case being a conspiracy against white people (it wasn't even recent news, he was just a fucking psychotic dipshit).
I dropped his class and took chemistry instead.
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u/PartyPorpoise 6h ago
Because if some stupid kid skips every class to vape in the restroom, the teacher and the school get the blame for not making sure they were in class. If it were up to me, high school students would be held accountable for their own damn grades and behavior.
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u/FantasticJacket7 7h ago
Because it's super frustrating as a teacher when it's clear that kids are using bathroom breaks just to avoid work. There's not really a good solution for it but that's what leads to dumb ideas like this.
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u/loki2002 7h ago
Then target the kids you know are abusing it. Collective punishment is never the answer.
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u/FantasticJacket7 7h ago
Then target the kids you know are abusing it.
You can't do that. You can't single out a kid and say he can't go to the bathroom.
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u/kelcamer 7h ago
They don't do that nowadays?
I very distinctly remember teachers telling specific students they were not allowed to go to the restroom. Did they finally ban this?
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u/zbeezle 6h ago
The issue is that if youre wrong about whether or not the shitty kid actually has to pee, then you end up being the asshole teacher who made a kid pee their pants, and thats a pretty bad look.
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u/brickmaster32000 6h ago
If you don't let any kids use the bathroom you are guaranteed to be the asshole teacher.
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u/Ready_Demand4325 7h ago edited 5h ago
You most definitely can. Get a paraprofessional or admin to escort them to the restroom if they’re abusing it that bad 🤦🏻♀️ they will quickly stop abusing it and find other ways to skip
I let my middle schoolers go to the bathroom whenever for however long they want. If they skip my class everyday for the whole period they get a paraprofessional/admin escort to walk them to the bathroom and wait outside the bathroom as they go. Stop policing bodily functions and abusing the little authority educators have.
Edit: there’s also cameras monitored all day in every inch of U.S. schools. It's not like when we grew up at all anymore. When students skip they are caught within ten minutes 99% of the time. If you wanna actually discuss issues in the U.S. education system we can start there. Dozens of admin members paid 100k/yr+ at each public school that do nothing but watch cameras.
Also not responding to pedants. I'll discuss U.S. ed. policies all day but if you think I'm gonna split hairs over anecdotal experiences or that you think some kids are just shit or you think I'm emphasizing the word you wouldn’t have…well, go comment somewhere else. Maybe r/teachers, they’re quite find of complaining on that sub.
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u/majinspy 6h ago
I'm a former teacher in Mississippi. We didn't have an army of paraprofessionals. I had zero at my disposal. We had cameras but, so what? They could just spend time in the bathroom on their phones or doing whatever.
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u/Wise-News1666 6h ago
Yes you can. Every student hated it when one student ruined it for the rest of them, and it wasn't the student that we blamed, it was the teacher for making that active choice.
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u/loki2002 7h ago
You can 100% single out a kid. They give individual kids detention, suspensions, expulsions, after school work, etc. all the time.
Also, you don't have to tell them they can't go but you can talk to them, talk to their parents, and give them subsequence for continued abuse.
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u/Ready_Demand4325 6h ago
lol not as frustrating as when my students come to me and say Mr./Ms. ____ wont let us go the bathroom in their class. That is what actually frustrates me.
Stop abusing your authority and be a supporter of your kids. Build them up or find another job.
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u/BroForceOne 6h ago
School administration is like bottom of the barrel talent. They don’t have the passion and skill to deal with kids like teachers, and they couldn’t hack it in the business world where they have to deal with other adults, instead just lording their power over kids who have no other choice.
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u/VaporCarpet 5h ago
Because the only real way to make sure kids aren't destroying the bathroom or otherwise using it as an excuse to skip class are like, super illegal. Cameras would solve this, but again, super illegal.
I remember in my grade school, someone took a shit in the urinal. I don't remember what the fallout was, but I assume it wasn't draconian since I can't remember it.
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u/ImLaunchpadMcQuack 7h ago
In my elementary school K/1st/2nd all had bathrooms in classrooms to avoid this.
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u/Sunset-onthe-Horizon 7h ago
Mine was in Kindergarten and the teacher still had issues letting us use it until my Mom ripped her a new one.
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u/ImLaunchpadMcQuack 6h ago
My parents told me that nobody in school could ever tell me I’m not allowed to go to the bathroom if I really had to go.
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u/Sunset-onthe-Horizon 6h ago
My mother did too, but as a kindergartener I was terrified that I would get lost out in the halls. She would lock the bathroom door in the classroom. She was a super old lady and was actually a good teacher except for the bathroom thing. Once my Mom complained she stopped the restrictions.
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u/Horror-Macaron8287 2h ago
Yeah, I have told mine that if they need to and are not allowed - get up and go. But i did also tell them not to abuse my willingness to go to bat for them, and to choose their battles. 5 minutes before class ends? It can probably wait, but if it as absolute cannot hold it in and they still are not letting them go then absolutely.
Look, I get that it is rough for teachers and do not want to make their jobs harder, but I am well aware that some abuse their authority over kids and are on weird power trips.
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u/PercyDiAngelo 5h ago
Also if an elementary school kid is peeing "too much", it's a health issue that should be brought up with the parents/guardians, not something that should be punished ffs.
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u/BLT_Trade_r 6h ago
Its funny how dumb schools are they are spending obscene amount of money, they see the value in bathrooms in the classrooms for the smallest kids but dont see how easy this would solve so many problems for high schoolers.
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u/NemesisOfLevia 6h ago
I remember in high school, they were very seriously considering banning access to all bathrooms during classes. Under the rule, you could only go in passing time (when 10 or so kids all quickly tried to go in 3 toilets and be in their seats within 5 minutes). The reason why was because someone threw up just outside the bathroom, into the drinking fountain during class. I guess they preferred the student just to puke on the carpet in the middle of the classroom 🤷♀️
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u/The_Moustache 6h ago
My HS locked all bathrooms but one during classes and had someone sitting outside it and you had to sign in to the bathroom.
This was to stop smokers...and it did not work at all
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u/debaser64 6h ago
When I was in maybe 3rd grade I started feel sick at lunch. I got up and made a b-line for the bathroom but the nurse was the lunch monitor and yelled “where do you think you’re going?!” I turned to tell her I was about to be sick, but words didn’t come out. Vomit did. The change in her expression from anger to shock is a core memory! She quickly said “Go! Go! Go!” and I left a trial of puke all the way to the bathroom.
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u/JijiSpitz 6h ago
Maybe they tried to make it to the bathroom but just couldn’t get there in time? I swear some people running some of these schools just hate children
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u/NemesisOfLevia 5h ago
That’s what I had assumed.
The bathroom wasnt near any classrooms, but it was the nearest bathroom for a handful of classes. Meaning, they probably had to run pretty far to get that close to the bathroom. (At the time, I think I was mildly impressed that they had even made it that far.)
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u/hugeyakmen 5h ago edited 2h ago
I was just talking this afternoon with a couple friends who work in schools, and they were sharing stories about kids purposely destroying toilets and flooding bathrooms, setting off alarms, tagging, etc. It sounds like it takes a lot of creative solutions from admins to counter this without it being harsh to everyone. I can totally see how dealing with that too much for too long could make some people who went in to their education career liking kids to end up jaded and harsh, and thoughtful solutions won't come from people like that
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u/SAINTnumberFIVE 5h ago
This morning, the cat puked on the carpet, just an inch away from a plastic tray that was on the floor. School administrators must have cat logic.
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u/madmax04 5h ago
As soon as I read this I thought to myself "I bet it's Lebanon" and it fucking is. The middle school my daughter went to here had a policy that if you had any missed days (even excused sick days) you wouldn't be able to attend a school wide party day. So surprise surprise when colds and flus rip through the school like wildfire because kids are incintivised to go to school sick. This place is a joke.
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u/blackjackgabbiani 5h ago
Why would they think a party would make it worth it, and why is any parent stupid enough to prioritize a party over their kids' well being?
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u/madmax04 2h ago
Clearly you've never been to Lebanon. It's major exports are poverty and stupidity
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u/Mirtai12345 1h ago
I legitimately have a hard time figuring out why there's a town there. All the other towns in the area, I figure grew up around logging, the college, river junctions, whatever.
And then there's just Lebanon, a surprisingly large town in the middle of fields, not close to the interstate, at the end of a not very popular pass (but not actually near the end of it).
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u/Whole_Mongoose1854 4h ago
I’m surprised that worked. It wouldn’t have worked on me as a kid. Home in bed playing video games>lame ass school party.
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u/KSHMisc 6h ago
I remember in 4th grade, using the bathroom during lecture warranted a detention.
When parents got pissed (no pun intended) at that, the teachers dropped the rule and resorted to denying you in going to the restroom
Parents also got pissed at that rule, so they dropped any infractions for it entirely.
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u/RyMc47 7h ago
Who the fuck thought it would be a good idea to make students pay (even it is fake money) to go pee?
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u/metalgtr84 7h ago
Yeah but you can trade your piss bucks for poop tokens at the end of the week. That’s where the real money is.
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u/ryebread91 7h ago
In school we had two hall passes per quarter to use the bathroom or locker. Looking back that's really fucked up. Needing to use the bathroom shouldn't be managed like that. I can't help my internal clock says "you have to go now" right in the middle of science class. And it's much more distracting trying to hold it in all lesson instead of just going and coming back a few minutes later.
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u/Zacchhh 7h ago
An objectively bad idea (especially at that age) but students using the bathroom to avoid work is a legitimate problem, at least at the high school level. There are kids will leave for 10-15 minutes every single period, 6 periods a day, every single week of every month for the entire year.
It becomes a joke because students know that teachers can't really say no and everyone is aware that they're not actually using the bathroom.
It becomes a real battle and sometimes even reaches the point that parents will provide specific documentation that says their child is allowed to go to the bathroom as much as they want. Some will even tie it into their IEPs and make it a special education issue.
As silly as it sounds, kids missing that much class adds up to hours a week that they are missing instruction.
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u/SmartWonderWoman 6h ago
Can confirm. When I taught 5th grade English, every time it was time to do work I had students suddenly need to use the bathroom. Some kids missed entire lessons because they would go to the bathroom during instruction. I couldn’t deny them access to the bathroom. When they earned zeroes, I explained to their parents that they spent most of their time in the bathroom. Sometimes I would call home and ask if everything was okay due to their students frequent bathroom breaks.
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u/ccaccus 2h ago
It’s like dominos. I once had a queue of 13 students wanting to go, since we can only send one at a time. Then we got to something more engaging and, wouldn’t you know it, no one had to go anymore.
For anyone wondering, we have a bathroom break just about every hour of the day and every student is told to go.
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u/Akilestar 2h ago
When I was in highschool (over 25 years ago) we had to carry an agenda that had a log book in it every teacher signed if you asked to use the bathroom. That way the next period teacher would know if you were trying to abuse it. If you flat out demanded it they'd make you go to school nurse afterwards to get checked out. I'm sure a few people abused it but it was absolutely a deterrent. Maybe it wouldnt work anymore but it seems like it would be worth trying.
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u/BTTLC 6h ago
Even if the kid stays in class, they could zone out and not pay attention, or fall asleep. There has to be incentive for the kid to want to do well in this course, and this should come from both familial pressures/expectations and for schools to be less forgiving about doing poorly. Too many kids are given second chances when they cheat their assignments or get pushed to the next grade when realistically they failed.
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u/RoarOfTheWorlds 3h ago
We used to have pressure for the kid to fail the grade but that went out the window in the stupidest way possible
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u/Baseblgabe 6h ago
The right fix is probably to play really, really obnoxious music in the bathroom or aomething.
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u/Theletterkay 7h ago
Oh good. When those students end up incontinent because they burned their urinary tract and nerves down there, at least they will have that penny eraser!
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u/ChellesTrees 2h ago
Wait, what?
"Pay-to-pee" sounds like a dystopian horror story, and the elementary school having an on-campus store is f-ing weird.
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u/nemofbaby2014 6h ago
That sounds illegal asf as well lol too poor to pay you hold it
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u/vegasnative 6h ago
The article doesn’t explain, but I think the “bucks” they pay are like a behavioral reward system, not actual money. It’s still abhorrent. “Bad” kids (as defined by their teachers) have to experience discomfort and potential actual medical issues.
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u/Commentator-X 6h ago
Sad thing is, the above was likely the goal all along, to get kids to hold it in during lessons and rewarding them for doing so.
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u/Swollen_Beef 7h ago
I know a few people who would've purposefully pissed themselves to draw attention to such a draconian rule. And for the inevitable 5 figure hush money.
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u/JimDemintRecession 7h ago
When i was in like 1st grade, age 6-7, my teacher announced after lunch nobody was allowed to use the bathroom for the rest of the day because somebody didn't clean up after themselves.
A 6 year old peed their pants like an hour later, the teacher had to explain to the school nurse or whomever why they were tasked with cleaning up kids pee pants, and the policy was rescinded.
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u/s0ciety_a5under 6h ago
No one would save the teacher from being absolutely drug through the mud if that happened to any of my nieces or nephews. That teacher would have to find a new job and a new identity.
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u/Few_Examination_9687 7h ago
You must’ve known some pretty sophisticated elementary school kids..
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u/Syric13 6h ago
When I worked at a summer camp, a group of 1st graders "kidnapped" a kindergartener to sacrifice him on the seesaw. They were using pool noodles.
I don't know where they got the idea but apparently it was a very popular game.
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u/Few_Examination_9687 6h ago
lol I believe it. I don’t think that’s the same as self-sacrifice in pissing themselves as a form of social protest for their beliefs against a draconian school system.
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u/BicFleetwood 3h ago edited 3h ago
Sometimes I imagine what I'd do if I got isekai'd into my own life and relived childhood with full adult awareness.
I can tell you "drop trou and shit on the school desk" is something I now realize I could have very easily gotten away with after little more than a scolding and suspension and it is something I actively try to keep in mind if I ever get hit by a magical truck.
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u/BicFleetwood 3h ago edited 3h ago
"Mr. and Mrs. Fleetwood, this is the third time he's aggressively shit in the middle of class and we're worried this is a pattern indicative of issues at home."
"No, ma'am, it's not an accident. He's doing in on purpose. We know because he's plainly and loudly announcing his intentions, narrating the events in the style of a sports commentary as he does it. We think it may be premeditated, as he seems to be intentionally eating specific foods the nights before."
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u/lostbutnotgone 7h ago
I got a horrible bladder infection as a kid bc my teacher was racist and wouldn't let any of the kids of color go to the bathroom during the day. Don't try to hold it all day or you may be in for a world of hurt.
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u/Relevant_Primary658 5h ago
I posted most of this as a reply to another comment, but I'm putting it in the main thread:
Not letting kids go to the bathroom is a denial of basic human rights. Some people simply can't hold it until a more "appropriate" time. I was one of those kids. I had (and still have) an overactive bladder. I have maybe 5-10 minutes from the first hint to "OMG I can't even stand up now". I eventually wet my pants in class because a teacher would not let me go. I had to go to the office and change into ugly donated pants and carry my wet ones back to class in a paper grocery bag. I was called names and ridiculed for years. YEARS. I am 55 and still remember the embarrassment and shame like it was yesterday. I eventually learned to hold it longer and was rewarded with frequent UTIs.
Some things are more important than a teacher being annoyed, like kids physical health, mental health, and self esteem.
And we wonder why people don't drink enough water? I think the answer is pretty clear. We're unconsciously conditioned to avoid it for fear of needing to use the bathroom.
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u/Big_Excitement_3551 4h ago
Exactly. I also have a hyperactive bladder so I almost never drank water when I was little because I didn’t want to risk not being allowed to go to the bathroom and wetting my pants. And even then I still had to do a lot of pleading with teachers to let me go to the bathroom when I did need to. Fortunately when I was about 10 I developed IBS and my doctor gave me a note saying teachers needed to let me use the bathroom
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u/ProjectKurtz 6h ago
In middle school I had a teacher try to tell me I couldn't use the bathroom. I told him "I wasn't asking for permission, I was informing you." And walked out. Didn't get in trouble either.
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u/SAINTnumberFIVE 5h ago
When I was in kindergarten, and part of first grade, I went to a private school that only allowed children to use restrooms during breaks. I wet my pants twice and had UTI, kidney, and bladder infections frequently. That ended when my mom pulled me out of that school and enrolled me in a school that let kids use the restroom whenever they needed to.
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u/Smasher3825 5h ago
Weird seeing a school I was attending at the time on the front page. I was actually part of the reason why this was nixed. I was at the computer lab in 2nd grade and needed to use the bathroom extremely badly. I ended up peeing myself because my teacher wouldn't let me use it. My dad brought a change of clothes to school and my mom reported it to a news station. I remember watching the story on the news with my parents shortly after.
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u/arnethyst 3h ago
reminds me of how my elementary school basically taught us that food is a privilege you earn & not a basic necessity
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u/human-kibble 6h ago
Kids may not have the boundaries or language like adults do to directly state things like “I’m having a medical issue- I’m not being a problem.”
Systems like the one implemented in that school force kids to suffer or defend themselves as adults.
They aren’t looking to help kids with problems, they’re looking to help themselves and label kids as problems so they don’t have to be responsible/accountable for anything.
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u/quietude38 7h ago
Just another example of how our schools are designed to teach kids from an early age that they don’t deserve bodily autonomy and that we all have to live in a system where we’re subject to authority’s whims.
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u/Hollys_Stand 6h ago
I got my first UTI in 3rd grade because I was forced to wait to use the bathroom at school.
This is NOT okay.
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u/Mahaloth 5h ago
I'm in my 21st year teaching Middle School(ages 12-14). We have rules in place for bathroom use, but anyone having a critical emergency can go any time. We would notice if someone was having massive bathroom emergencies daily. Most obviously don't.
I had one "I had an accident" situation. It was over 10 years ago. The boy did not ask to use the restroom and only after the other students left, he told me.
Thank god for plastic chairs. Custodians were able to clean up quick.
Thank god next period was lunch so no kids were coming in as others left.
I just told him to go to the office and call his parents for new clothes or to be picked up.
Whew. It can, of course, happen but any regular teacher would find it quite rare.
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u/mikemaca 5h ago
It is really obvious that if you need to go pee and are not allowed to you are going to be thinking about that instead of whatever the teacher is talking about. Likewise if you have to hold a poo and maybe you pee or poo your pants then your whole day is ruined as you are embarrassed.
Letting kids go pee when they need to is obviously going to improve their focus in class. Punishing them by denying them recess or charging them a fee is so very obviously anti-learning and anti-pedagogical and no competent teacher or school district would have this policy.
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u/MissionArt41 3h ago
I worked in a few High Schools in Oregon, there was a 10 minute rule. Students were not allowed to go to the restroom the first 10 minutes and last 10 minutes of class unless it was an emergency. Every student I asked if it was an emergency, said yes, and they were allowed to go to restroom. After about a month the posters were removed!
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u/TeaBurntMyTongue 7h ago
I know a lot of people here are saying what a stupid idea and they are right.
But I like to think what was the logic behind the original idea. I imagine that some percentage of students use bathroom brakes just to get out of class, fuck around etc. And perhaps this was an effort to disincentivize that.
The originator just didn't think of all the really big downsides like legitimate. Need for peeing being unattended to because of malincentive
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u/mah131 7h ago
Yeah, and I think it’s pretty easy to sus this out on an individual basis. It’s like when a workplace tries to implement a bathroom policy because one person is abusing. Just talk to that person.
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u/tiffanysugarbush 6h ago
It seems so simple, but having worked in an office, they never do that. EVERYONE has to sit through retraining and be penalized for some schmuck who should get disciplined, but that doesn't happen. It used to make me nuts when I saw what people got away with, while the rest of us got privileges or even complimentary beverages in the breakroom taken away. It's also why there was a return to office policy instead of getting rid of the dead weight who need constant supervision.
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u/rabidstoat 7h ago
Yeah, I get the feeling it wasn't malicious so much as dumb because they didn't think things through.
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u/tuftonia 6h ago
Bathroom access should be a human right. (Someone should tell Europe)
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u/blackjackgabbiani 6h ago
Ugh I tell ya, the US has a lot of problems but pay toilets aren't one of them.
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u/Auctoritate 5h ago
A lot of people will tell you that pay toilets are so the facilities are more well maintained, but then the paid toilets are in TERRIBLE CONDITION ANYWAYS
Like, a source of revenue can be a valid enabler or motivator to improve a product or service. But when that product or service is something that people need, they will flock towards it whether it's high quality or not. If I need to take a killer piss I don't necessarily have the option to be a picky pisser.
It's the same with things like housing, where landlords price gouge and skimp on things like basic maintenance. People need places to live so someone will end up having no other choice.
Pay toilets being closed to malcontents and having more revenue to dedicate towards their upkeep is the ideal. The reality is that you can make a pay toilet and then just let it go into disrepair anyways because people will pay a quarter to shit even if it's a gross restroom.
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u/el_smurfo 5h ago
Pretty much every government program that seeks to control people's behavior has unintended consequences that are not planned and make the program worse overall. Government should stick to providing basic services.
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u/lucky_ducker 6h ago
What kind of a SOCIOPATH thinks it's a good idea to make grade schoolers PAY TO PEE?
I can recall two incidents from my childhood where a classmate peed themselves sitting at their desk - because a power tripping teacher forbade them to go to the bathroom. I always felt so bad for the kid.
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u/BasicReputations 5h ago
Some day parents will tell us what they want us to do about the bathroom.
Let them go when they need to but don't let them go to avoid class.
Make sure they are supervised but give them their privacy.
Give them designated bathroom times but don't spend the money to install sufficient infrastructure for 700 kids to all go tinkle in the same 5 minutes.
And all the while ship them off with gallon-sized metal water bottles that sound like an explosion going off every time they tip them with cheap plastic caps that pop off and flood the classroom at an impact any greater than a fly's fart because somebody sold them the idea that maximum hydration was paramount to living a healthy adolescent life.
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u/DulcetTone 6h ago
So we're just going to let children exercise basic bodily functions? I THINK NOT!
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u/SmartAleckComedian 5h ago
People being stupid in Lebanon Oregon? I have family that lives there, and yeah that checks out.
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u/ionbear1 5h ago
My school had a "blue pass" which had 30 signature spots for each teacher/admin. Once those 30 spots were filled up with signatures you had to BUY another one for $15. It was a fucking farce.
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u/swingingparty 5h ago
My high school had bathroom monitors. They were disabled women hired through a program that sat at classroom-sized desk outside each bathroom. Those ladies had no problem following you into the bathroom if they thought you were up to no good. Sometimes I just wanted to take a piss without having to sign in and out and make small talk with a 50 year old
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u/queeriosn_milk 3h ago
In 8th grade, we got punch cards once a month that would give 11 passes to use the bathroom outside of designated times. There were one or two times in the morning or afternoon where you could go freely. Lunch time, they did bathroom runs table by table.
The punch cards also worked as a currency. You could trade 10 punches to skip 2 homework assignments in any class. If you missed 0 assignments for the week, you could attend “Fun Friday” where you got to play games, listen to music, and hang out for the last hour of school. Punch cards could be saved and used as a “Get Out of Jail” card.
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u/ohheyisayokay 3h ago
My 3rd grade teacher did this shit. My parents moved me TF out of that school.
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u/TSAOutreachTeam 7h ago
What an absolutely terrible idea.
Like, that’s not even “we have a good reason behind this decision and expect to see tangible improvements because of it” level of reasoning.