Chicagoist: Water Breaks for Jesus

guest

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:58:42 -0600

Diapers would solve this dilemna.

guest

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:41:50 -0600

And of course, we have all these people demanding that kids have rights and all that crap. Kids have the same rights adults have, which is to look at the situation and plan accordingly. You know your only opportunity to use the bathroom is lunch time, so plan accordingly and go at lunch. It's as easy as that.

guest

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:15:20 -0600

Would children with Crohn's Disease be exempt from this rule?

A

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 08:11:01 -0600

guest 5- While I do think that children have the basic right to use the potty whenever they want, I also think you've (luckily) been out of the schools for a long time. First, if you're a teacher, then yeah, you kind of do have to get permission to use the washroom, b/c if some kid gets hurt in your room while you're peeing, you will most definitely be held liable. And while I do think there are some teachers that have this insane need to control all the aspects of all the students' lives, but that's not usually the case. Many times, administration comes down on the teachers if kids are "floating" the halls. So what's a teacher to do? A kid asks to go to the bathroom. Teach says yes. Kid takes a very long time to return. Does teach drop what she's doing and look for the kid? Call security? Or abide by the ridiculous rule the school created in the first place and go with a "just following orders" defense? It's all ridiculous and of course NOT indicative of all of CPS, yet somehow this case will be held as representative of how schools operates under the might control of big, bad teachers conveniently during this time of contract negotiation.

Ward Up

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 20:26:36 -0600

Guest5, for you to think my post might be sarcasm suggests that you do not know what school is like for a lot of kids on the South Side. My guess is that you did not attend a public school with same challenges as the one mentioned in the story. I applaud your accomplishments with your public school education. Kids in the heart of the South Side need a school where learning can happen as it did in your case. Then they can succeed like you. And no, I am not being sarcastic with this post either.

guest

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 17:42:55 -0600

Ward Up, Is your comment meant as sarcasm? I agree with you that in the "real world" adults can't always do everything we want - I can't drive 95 on Lake Shore Drive even though I want to, for example (but wouldn't it be fun?). But to use a bathroom break as a lesson for that? Come on. At no time in my professional career have I EVER had to ask anyone for permission to use the ladies room. And most certainly, if I've had to interrupt a meeting that ran unduly long with a bathroom break, I was never denied it. Have you been denied bathroom rights as an adult? I just simply cannot believe your reasoning that this bathroom break needed to be a lesson for not doing whatever you want, whenever you want. When I first heard about this whole thing, I wondered if these kids were chronic requesters of a bathroom break? Did they have a medical need for this bathroom break? Had they eaten something at lunch or breakfast that didn't agree with them? I seem to remember them being boys, but if they were girls, were they experiencing a heavy menstural cycle and needed to be excused for a moment? I attended public schools myself (thank God not CPS!) and despite bathroom breaks whenever I needed them, I still graduated in the top 25 of my class of almost 500, attended a very selective, competetive college and am now a well-paid, tax paying citizen. I don't believe my bathroom breaks (or those of others) in hindered my education in any way.

guest

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 14:26:28 -0600

It's all No Child Left Behind's fault.

Ward Up

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:28:17 -0600

This bathroom scam, with kids going multiple times during the day, hurts all the other kids who might be trying to learn something. Kids are also give the harmful lesson that "I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. I'm going to the bathroom." Well, life in the real world doesn't work like that. On a related note, in the Chicago Public School system, it is not uncommon for students to get medical forms filled out to stay out of school for injuries as minor as a stubbed toe. I have seen that with my own eyes. Learning in school? Many kids don't care about that. Parents are complicit in this behavior. And when the kid gets in trouble at school, it's never the kid's fault. It's always the school. And who suffers? Their own kid plus all of the kids in the class that gets disrupted. I support the rule, provided the Local School Council (LSC), along with its parental representation, supports it.

chels

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:17:21 -0600

My high school was alright about bathroom breaks, most teachers would allow them without much suspicion, but we definitely had a lot of other rules and regulations. It was one of the things I hated most about high school, even though it sounds like a total over-reaction now!! These rules just reinforce an attitude that students aren't real people who can be trusted with decisions like going to the bathroom. So much of the rules in high school just seem like arbitrary power trips just cause the administration doesn't offer any explanation. Working with kids now I see a lot of the reasons for them, but I will never understand any of the rules of the Freshman cafeteria. Anyone else go to ETHS?

guest

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:04:02 -0600

instead of 'bathroom passes', let's call them for what they are: 'smoke breaks'.