Everyone at school has heard about and experienced the new bathroom protocols by now. If you haven’t, the new protocols basically state that the bathrooms on C and A floor will be locked during the last 10 minutes of class, passing period, and the first five minutes of class. Along with this, the B floor bathrooms are open—but there are administrators and security officers standing as “guards” in front of the bathrooms during said times.
Whether I like the bathroom protocols or not, I do agree with the fact that rules are important to create structure. However, some rules and the way they are implemented are flawed, to say the least. The fact that many teachers are saying they were unaware of these new protocols until a day or two before it went into effect underscores that this protocol was not as thought out as it should have been. No matter your position on these protocols, the implementation of these protocols could have been handled with far more care than it was for this reason alone.
Now into the nitty gritty. Personally, I don’t think that anyone should have control over anyone else’s bathroom usage. In my mind, it is as simple as this: if someone has to pee, let them pee. Imagine if at your job you were in a position of authority, even on a minimal scale. Now imagine that you told someone that they couldn’t use the bathroom, or at least none of the bathrooms closest to their location, because it’s not the proper time. How do you think they would react? Personally, I don’t think it would go over all too well. Why? Let’s face it: no one wants to be told when and where they can perform one of their necessary bodily functions.
Now I do understand that B-floor bathrooms are still usable at any point of the day. But the fact that C floor and A floor bathrooms are being restricted is ridiculous to me, to be frank. However, it’s important to note that some students don’t actually have to use the bathroom when they ask to go—though the same could be said for employees or even college students, neither of whom, typically speaking, have similar bathroom policies.
During an assembly for sophomores and seniors, the assistant principals explained one major reason for implementing the protocol. They said in the first five minutes, you are getting instructions for the rest of class, and the last 10 you are wrapping up the class. I don’t know about you, but my teachers have always told me to use the bathrooms during passing periods, the first five minutes, or the last 10 minutes of class, since at this point we aren’t doing anything yet or have finished everything.
Though it is important to note that there was also lots of chaos with the bathrooms, such as fighting and vaping, to name the top issues. This also impacted the administration’s decision to implement these protocols.
On top of this, at the assembly we were told that teachers and students alike wanted these protocols. To this date, however, I have heard no positive feedback on this protocol whatsoever. Along with this, the teachers I have heard talk about these protocols have said the same general thing: they may not support the protocols, but they will follow it since it’s their job.
Maybe I am just not hearing from the right voices, and if this is the case, I take full accountability for the fact that I may be ignorant to many people’s views on the subject. That being said, the number of students and teachers I’ve heard disagree with these protocols leads me to believe that the majority of them do not like the protocols—or at least they think the administration could have gone about implementing them differently.
I honestly would not have as big an issue with the protocols if the administration just said that they themselves believe these protocols will fix many issues in the bathrooms, such as vaping and fights. Instead, at least during the assembly, they mainly said students and teachers wanted something to be done. Though based on what the protocols entailed—and maybe this is a reach—I would say that teacher and student input and opinions were paid little mind.
Had their input been taken into consideration, maybe the protocols could have take into account that the times in which the bathrooms are being restricted are the times teachers tell students to go to the bathroom; that fights, more often than not, happen during the period, not in those pesky 20 collective minutes from the last 10 minutes of one class to the first five of the next; that vaping and fighting happen anywhere anytime, sometimes even during the middle of the class time; and that, all and all, the majority of people didn’t support implementing these rules.
My issue with the protocols does not fall solely on the protocols itself, but does fall heavily on the administration’s lack of accountability that they wanted these protocols, not just teachers or students. I find it hard to respect people in power who push blame onto the little guy instead of taking the accountability themselves.
Even if you believe that this protocol was necessary due to fights, vaping, etc., it’s important to note that these activities haven’t stopped and never will. Where there is a will there’s a way. If two students are in a massive fight in the middle of the hall, I highly doubt that they are going to stop and make their way to the bathroom to continue their fight. But honestly, I don’t care if someone is vaping in the bathroom or if there is a fight; I am going to walk in, use the bathroom, and walk out. That may sound harsh to people but it’s the truth. None of the issues with bathrooms have ever prevented me from going to the bathroom. Whether I walk in on a fight or see people vaping we ignore each other, do what we need to do, and go our separate ways.
What has stopped me from using the bathroom, however, is this new bathroom protocol.
Maybe this wasn’t the intent, but why would I go to the bathroom in the midst of class, when we are taking notes or in the middle of a lecture or maybe even just doing a basic assignment, when I could go in the 20 minutes where nothing is happening? I am well aware that I can still use the bathrooms on B floor. But with the time it takes to walk to the B floor bathrooms from C or A floor, use the bathroom, and walk back to class, those five minutes have passed and I have missed out on something. Why? Because rather than being able to quickly pop into the bathroom, I had to walk to Narnia just to find the nearest one open.
In addition to everything that I have said so far, many students—me being one of them—are taking this protocol to mean that even if they follow all the rules, they’re still going to be punished just because of 10, maybe even 20 people’s actions. It’s things like this that exacerbate issues. When people feel as though their good actions aren’t rewarded or even respected, they start to believe that there is no need to follow the rules. Yes, bad behavior has to be punished, but this shouldn’t take away from good behavior being respected. When people demonstrate good behavior but are given the same treatment as people who exhibit bad behavior, the people with the good behavior do not believe that there is any point to being “good” and start to act out themselves.
All extreme rules have consequences. To look at a small scale, take the phone protocols or the PASE protocols. Both were the result of a minority of people acting out, and the policies did not take into account any of the good behavior that the majority of students were demonstrating. When you tell someone no, they want to do the thing even more. Is it right? No, but it’s human nature. So if you tighten your grip and nitpick things that not everyone is even doing, not only does it make the kids would were doing the “bad” thing want to be even more extreme about their behavior, it motivates stuents who were doing the “good” thing to start acting out.
Rules are necessary. We can’t condone vaping or fighting or abuse of bathrooms, I get it. I really do. But the protocols could have been worded differently and taken into account other people’s opinions, not just the ones cherry picked to align with the administration’s beliefs on what’s best for the school.
