Should teacher give a reason for refusal?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around whether teachers should provide reasons for refusing students' requests to go to the bathroom during class. Participants explore various scenarios and implications of such refusals, touching on issues of authority, student rights, and classroom management.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants argue that teachers should not be required to explain their refusal if it disrupts the class, suggesting that a simple "no" suffices during instructional time.
  • Others propose that understanding the context of the refusal is important, indicating that repeated requests without valid reasons may lead teachers to deny permission without explanation.
  • A few participants emphasize the student's right to use the restroom, suggesting that if a student is in urgent need, they should go regardless of the teacher's refusal.
  • Some contributions highlight the variability in school policies, with references to personal experiences regarding bathroom access and authority figures in schools.
  • There are mentions of the potential for teachers to abuse their authority, with calls for students to assert their needs if they feel their rights are being infringed upon.
  • Several participants reflect on their own school experiences, noting differences in how bathroom requests were handled, which influences their views on the current topic.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally do not reach a consensus, with multiple competing views on whether teachers should explain refusals and the appropriateness of students leaving class without permission. The discussion remains unresolved, with various perspectives on authority and student rights presented.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention specific conditions under which a refusal might be justified, such as repeated requests or classroom disruptions, while others highlight the importance of individual circumstances, such as medical needs. There is no resolution on how these factors should be weighed.

Should a teacher explain the reason of not letting a student go to the bathroom

  • Total voters
    35
  • #31
Anyone with a condition such as Danger has, it would be known by the teacher. I have had many diabetics in my classroom, and I have never had anyone with a persistent problem of needing to relieve themselves without warning.

Usually, if a student blurts out that they need to go, I'll have them wait just a few minutes until we are at a convenient stopping point. It has never been a problem, and no one has complained except for my worst students who want to wander the halls with their buddies for 15 minutes.

Re the OP, it is a balance between aknowledging the FACT that the teacher is the authority in the classroom (and every decision does not need to be explained), and the FACT that any rule must have a logical reason behind it.

These days, the only reason that a student needs to suddenly and immediately go to the bathroom, is because their cell phone just vibrated in their pocket.
 
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  • #32
Chi Meson said:
Anyone with a condition such as Danger has, it would be known by the teacher.
It wasn't even known to me. Or my family, for that matter. There were some pretty useless doctors in that area.
 
  • #33
Danger said:
It wasn't even known to me. Or my family, for that matter. There were some pretty useless doctors in that area.

By the time you got to high school, surely someone had noticed that you had to ... eh ... evacuate with higher than normal frequency and urgency? Did you encounter problems with some teachers, or were your classes "open" enough so that there just wasn't any such situation?
 
  • #34
I avoided the issue by not drinking anything other than a sip or two of water until I got home. Also, when at school I primarily had real food without sweets for lunch. That tremendously cut down the need to purge my bloodstream of excess glucose. (And even with those clues, my doctor never dreamed of testing my pancreatic functions. I'm sure that he got his diploma out of a cereal box.) I just went by the cause/effect relationship between intake and consequences.
 
  • #35
<< necropost rant deleted by berkeman >>
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #36
Yep. I don't know of schools without a nurse.
Really? I've never been to a school (excluding university) that had a nurse.
 
  • #37
What the hell? This thread is over three years old.
 
  • #38
Why would anyone refuse a request to use the toilet in the first place?

When my son was about 8 he had a fascination with bathrooms and bathroom fixtures. Anytime we went to a public place, he had to visit the bathroom and see how it was layed out and what equipment was there. Once, I went to visit my father in the hospital. I was the only one allowed into see him so my wife and kids waited in the lobby. My son naturally took a tour of the facilities and when I came down to leave, that's where he was. After we left the hospital and started driving home, my wife asked me to stop at a fast food joint for a cup of coffee. As I drove up to the drive-through window my son says "I want to go to the bathroom." I turned to him and said no, and then turned to the clerk who, along with the coffee, gave me the most astonished look I have ever seen.
 
  • #39
Well in all seriousness I have witnessed a shy girl urinating in class. This could have been avoided simply by asking to go to the toilet, and in actual fact, nobody would have had to ask the teacher "why did you let her go?". So I answered "potato" because it ammused upon opening the thread.

Grief! It was the funniest thing ever! She was rocking back and forth like some desperate hyena for a good 5 minutes in the row in front, my friend made a joke of it, then all of a sudden she burst and then a cloud of steam (piss) was released onto the seat. Then, once she had "subtley" released the pressure (piss), she asked one of the guys if she could borrow his coat. I don't think I ever laughed so hard. She used his coat to soak up the evidence and nobody ever mentioned it again.
 

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