Limited bathroom opportunities are unfair

Restricting bathroom opportunities hurts students when they legitimately need to use it

Junior+Bryce+Rausch+walks+to+the+bathroom+from+Mr.+Shelby%E2%80%99s+class.

Photo by Aditya Sampath

Junior Bryce Rausch walks to the bathroom from Mr. Shelby’s class.

A common and counterproductive occurrence in school is the restriction that exists on bathroom time in class. These restrictions come in many forms: from the usage of bathroom quotas throughout the semester to students being forbidden to use the bathroom during lectures.

Though well-intentioned, these measures are simply counterproductive, and end up hurting students and their learning overall. When students have to go to the bathroom, they remain distracted from the class, and restricting them from going to the bathroom does not solve the problem.  

However, students going back and forth between the bathroom and class is disruptive not only to the learning of that student, but to the class as a whole.

When students truly need to use the restroom, they cannot focus. Paying attention and taking notes during lectures is only made harder by students who need to use the restroom, and that helps nobody in the end.

Students should be allowed to go to the bathroom whenever they want, but there should be a log of how often they go. Teachers will then be able to deal with excessive bathroom usage on a case-by-case basis, rather than limiting the whole class’ bathroom usage time.