At the beginning of the semester or six-weeks, teachers often pass out a syllabus, maybe a phone or tardy contract; some teachers issue bathroom passes. These little colorful slips are possibly one of the most ridiculous policies that a teacher can have. Almost always, students are limited to two per six weeks or semester, and if they use them both before the end of the grading period, it’s just tough luck.

You better hold it.

I’m a junior at McCallum and have been in many classes that have used bathroom passes. Every time the teacher has offered points on a final in exchange for unused passes. What? How can that be allowed? In return for not using your right to go to the bathroom, teachers reward you with points on the biggest test of the year. With the stress that kids in high school are faced with, people will take all the points they can get without effort. The right to go to the bathroom more than twice a semester, however, should not be used to determine whether or not you get a good grade on a final exam.

And yes, I am aware high schoolers are not the most trustworthy people when it comes to leaving the classroom. I have no doubt that many people who ask to go the bathroom aren’t actually going to the bathroom, but that doesn’t mean that just because of those few students the rest of us shouldn’t able to leave to go to the restroom whenever we need to.

I understand that teachers prefer having a way to control the amount a student can go to the restroom if there is obviously an issue, but I feel that this should be handled on more of a case-to-case basis. I do think that history teacher, Greg Anderson, has a good policy when it comes to this. He makes anyone who wants to go to the restroom leave their phone with him until they get back. I feel that this eliminates most of the possibility of people going somewhere different than they say they will, because if they are like most teenagers, they don’t want to leave their phone with a teacher for any longer than they have to.

Unfortunately, until all teachers switch to a fair policy that doesn’t limit student’s right to go to the restroom, I’ll be holding … onto my passes.