by Drew Price

Created on: March 21, 2010   Last Updated: March 22, 2010

As a teacher, I know that I am responsible for not only the learning of all thirty or so students in my classroom, but the safety as well.  Because I am entrusted with the well being of my students, I need to have an unquestioned authority as to when those students leave my classroom.  I teach 14-15 year old students for an hour at a time. Like most, there is always someplace students would rather be than in a classroom. Therefore, ft is often that whenever a student loses attention or becomes disinterested in what is going on in the classroom, their ticket out is the bathroom. Once out of my classroom, I have no control over what happens to them, or what they do during their "bathroom break." Don't get me wrong, I do realize that most of these requests are legitimate, but to take the control of when students can leave the classroom away from the teacher is not in the best interests of students. 

Of course, there will be some circumstances where teachers misuse thierauthority, but if we trust teachers to educate our young people, can we not trust them to make classroom management decisions? A teacher knows at what point in his/her lesson there will be a "better" time for students to go.  Before thinking any teacher who says "no" to this request consider why a teacher might restrict of post-pone a students bathroom venture.  When a student leaves the room (for any reason) it affects a lesson in several ways.  Firstly,If the request is made during academic time like a lecture, discussion, activity the initial off topic request affects the flow of the lesson. The student getting up and leaving, than re-entering the room (sometimes having to knock on the door) causes several more interruptions.  When a teacher grants one of these requests in front of a class, it makes other students also feel entitled to venture out of the classroom as well. Now a teacher has to deal with several request and feels pressured to grant them all out of fairness. Allowing students to leave the class during a lesson can create several interuptions to the learning process. A teacher knows at what points during the period breaks can be tolerated; if students were given control to come and go as they pleased planning an effective lesson would be nearly impossible for teachers.

Now, I will say the teacher has responsibilty as well.  They need to design lessons that aim to keep all kids

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