If a student sneezes in the middle of class, they don’t need to ask to run to the front of the room to grab a tissue because it’s a basic hygienic right. For years now, students have developed bathroom anxiety due to asking their teachers to go to the bathroom and sometimes receiving a “no” as the answer. Whether a student has a medical reason or happened to drink a lot of water, many feel as though using the restroom is a right and should not be required to ask for permission. It is a natural occurrence and uncontrollable which is why many have an issue with the idea of asking for that right that every human obtains, yet others would disagree.

“I feel like it’s a basic human function and you shouldn’t have to ask someone to use it, especially since it’s not really their business, and it should be up to the student to decide if they can go or not,” said Amani Abusalem, a senior at Argo this year.

In 2012, a survey was conducted to show the main reason students go to the nurse. According to “When Schools Tell Kids They Can’t Use the Bathroom,” “fewer than half of the 600 school nurses who responded suspected that children with frequent urination or bladder and bowel accidents were suffering from an underlying health problem.”

About a decade earlier, in 2003, that number decreased when similar questions were asked of teachers. “Fewer than one in five participants in a survey of Iowa educators suspected that children who demonstrated frequent urination or accidents were suffering from an underlying health problem. A third of them said they’d ordered at least one student requesting bathroom access to wait.”

“I feel like a lot of people have medical issues,” Abusalem said. “It’s something very natural so you shouldn’t have to give an excuse of why you have to go. For me, I drink a lot of water at school so in the middle of lecturing I have to stop him and ask if I could use the bathroom which is embarrassing and at the same time I don’t want to be the reason for disrupting a class.”

This issue has been occurring for years, mostly among high school students and below. College students don’t have to ask for permission to go to the bathroom similar to all grade level students when they leave school. Outside of school, you don’t need the privilege or permission to fulfill a basic human right of using the restroom so why do you need it in school? This is the question most students have regarding this issue. Girls are also more concerned than boys because of their monthly menstrual cycle.

“I think this issue mainly concerns younger grades like kindergarteners because they can be too scared to ask and if the teacher says no they can’t exactly stop it and with high school students when girls are on their periods or people just have issues it can cause discomfort or even pain,” said Abusalem.

However, teachers have a different perspective on why they believe students must ask for permission to go to the restroom. Teachers are concerned that students need a pass so that miscommunication can be avoided. Most teachers will allow students to go to the restroom when needed as long as it is not during a test or quiz.

“I do think they should maybe talk to me beforehand just in case and also they should get a signed hall pass from me just so that way it clears up any miscommunication between myself and any student supervisor that sees them in the hallway,” said Andrew Garcia, an educator at Argo. “They normally ask to go before the period starts and which I allow them to go all the time.”