One day, in early October, it was ninety-eight degrees in Yorba Linda, and there was but one way to cool down–drinking lots and lots of water. In fact, that day, a record number of reusable hydro flasks were filled up with the school water station. In addition, ASB was selling pink lemonade in honor of breast cancer awareness month. With those factors combined, everyone was heavily hydrated and kept drinking and drinking. 

The effects of that comfination presented themselves about fifteen minutes into my third period class, when a shockingly high number of students requested to use the restroom. At first, my teacher did not mind, as only two or three students asked to leave class to use the bathroom; however, as time progressed, more and more students begged to use the restroom. By the time the seventh person asked, my teacher decided that too many students had left class, and he announced that no other students would be allowed to leave the classroom to use the restroom for the rest of the period. 

That situation got me thinking. As someone who has received a public education from the past 13 years, I have experienced several different policies regarding bathroom usage during class time. I’ve had teachers with relaxed ideas such as “leave the classroom when you need to, but don’t be a distraction.” On the other hand, I’ve had teachers who take points away from class participation if you ask to use the bathroom. 

Students at Yorba Linda High School are extremely opposed to such strict bathroom policies. Zander Ngo (12) finds the overbearing restroom rules for his classes to be “burdensome and extremely pointless.” He then continued by recalling that “bathrooms are [his] safe space” and he is frustrated by his inability to leave many of his classes to go.