Cartoon by Josh Thepsouvahn

You watch the clock tick as your palms begin to sweat. Each beat of the clock matches with the rhythm of your rapid heart rate. You’re starting to feel light headed after just having PE the period before. Glancing at the gatorade in your backpack, you resist the temptation. The only drink being allowed in class is water in a clear water bottle.
Classroom policies continue to get stricter and stricter: No drinks besides water in a clear water bottle, no food whatsoever, no using the bathroom within the first ten minutes of class, so on and so forth. Failure to follow these absurd rules causes discipline.
According to edtrust.org, “School discipline policies are broadly intended to foster a high-quality learning environment by maintaining safety in the classroom; however, far too often, schools adopt measures that harm a student’s social, emotional, academic, and in some cases, physical health and well-being.”
The fear of being disciplined causes major anxiety in some students. If a student needs a drink with some electrolytes to avoid passing out or a student needs a mint to help calm their nausea due to anxiety, they feel they can’t do so. This anxiety even extends so far as anxiety over using the bathroom.
“The Society for Women’s Health Research found that schools often disregard kids’ restroom rights, often by failing to provide staff with education on bladder health,” according to theatlantic.com.
The current policies in our school like not using the bathroom during the first ten minutes of class and not interrupting the teacher to use the restroom while they’re teaching, is causing damage to students’ bodies. No one can control when they need to go, and teachers shouldn’t be able to either.
Some rules in the classroom are meant to protect students, but many of them do more harm than good. Students should be allowed electrolyte drinks after PE and to use the bathroom as necessesary.