Cruel punishment? Oy vey.
It’s possible but not being able to go to the bathroom is also BS.
So now we have kids have to declare a disability to use the bathroom which is utter nonsense. Its such a waste of money and time to have to go through such nonsense to do normal human functions. So if you are pregnant, have a UTI, or any number of other issues you have to get a doctor’s note. These are adults, and they needed to be treated as such.
And “adults” at universities have proven over and over again that they will cheat if given the opportunity. These policies are in place because of that, not in order that profs may get delight from student “suffering.”
I believe that anyone who truly has trouble going three hours without a bathroom break could receive accommodations if discussed rationally, in advance, with the professor.
@scubadive exactly my sentiments
I guess even Secretary Clinton is allowed bathroom breaks in the middle of prime time
Agree, in the future, OP will know to ask before. Not much to be done now.
OP, it is not surprising the prof won’t let you leave, but I get how it never entered your mind bc it hadn’t been a problem before. As an adult, all you can do now is learn from it and move on. Accept responsibility and ask next time beforehand. You say it didn’t harm your gpa much, which is lucky. Live and learn. Someday, if you become a lawyer, you will find that mistakes of knowledge/rule ignorance will cost you dearly, either in $ or a job. Even if the rule is stupid.
Why have any rules at all? These are adults, so they shouldn’t have to be under the watchful eyes of a proctor as that is insulting. Taking the cell phones into custody? Demeaning. Having an ending time? Having to start the exam at 8 am? Barbaric. A test with 50 students and the proctor is supposed to take 50 phones into his possession, take care of them and make sure everyone gets the right phone back? I’ll take the Galaxy 6, please, even though I turned in an old track phone.
A coworker did take the bar exam while pregnant and it was give to her in a hotel room with another test taker who needed accommodations and they had a proctor. Many bathroom breaks. Arranged in advanced. Planned ahead. One is not suddenly pregnant during a final.
OP should have planned in advance. Was it an emergency? Maybe, and that’s the case he needs to plead, that he didn’t know, just a freak of nature that day that he couldn’t wait. No different than waking up with a migraine or the flu on that day. Not a disability, not a medical problem requiring hospitalization, just a plain old need to pee. Maybe the department head will take pity.
No, that is not what anyone is saying.
They are saying that if you have a disability that makes it impossible to sit through a 3 hour test, then you should have accommodations. In every other instance, one is allowed to leave the room to go to the bathroom as needed.
Most young adults can sit through a 3 hour test or take steps to make sure they can. No liquids, go before, etc.
This is because so many students cheat. The professors can’t take the chance that someone has an unfair advantage by going to the bathroom and looking up answers. Sorry, but that’s the way it is.
I would never make it through a 3 hour test (however, I am not a young adult anymore either!). I remember stressing about these situations in college. I imagine a fair number of students end up rushing at the end for this reason, and are fairly stressed about it beforehand. It would seem to me that it would be considerate to schedule a break if it is expected to be longer than 2 hours, with a separate section afterwards.
Since all schools are required to have an internal grievance procedure I would file one and see what happens. At least it puts the spotlight on the professors behavior. I am not sure how some one can cheat on a philosophy exam on a three minute bathroom break
Initiating a grievance would NOT put the spotlight on the professors behavior, because the professor was following university policy. It might, however, put a spotlight on the policy.
Like cheating didn’t happen when we were growing up? Come on people. And we wonder why our children are acting out on campuses around this nation. We haven’t allowed them to make decisions. We are still babying them over their bathroom habits like a toddler. And who the hell’s business is it divulging personal information to go in front of a board of strangers to make a decision about whether or not you can use a restroom in a three hour span? Could you imagine? What happens to the girl who gets her period in the middle of the exam? They I guess get to sit there mortified.
I agree that going through with the grievance is a good idea. Might as well.
Some people, for anatomical reasons (and I am one of them, it has a fancy medical name but would not be a disability) cannot go as long as others. Many older women, those who have had children, and pregnant women would have a problem with this 3 hours so this might even be discriminatory. As I contemplate taking classes again in my mid-60’s, I would be concerned about this kind of policy!
I cannot believe the number of posts this thread has generated.
@scubadive, computers and cell phones have made the scale of what is possible with cheating much greater. Students would not have been able to take a pile of textbooks into a bathroom stall in the old days, and even if they could, it would have taken time to actually find the information they wanted. Now it’s available on their phones instantly.
We know that a sizeable minority of students will cheat given the opportunity. I have to think that if 3 hour exams were a hardship, that students on campus would be demanding (as is now the fashion) that exams be done differently. But Halloween costumes and the naming of cafeteria foods seem to be far more pressing issues.
I think most people would be happy with an exam schedule that mandated one bathroom break for exams over 2 hours. Most exams can be given in sections. And I think such a policy would be achievable if the situation were presented respectfully to administration.
Just to be clear, I have said many times that I don’t approve of a 3 hour exam without a break. I just don’t think that’s reasonable.
However, I also don’t think the prof should be fired or any of the other extremes presented here.
My uni has a policy that all 3 hour classes must have a break in the middle. I’d assume that applies to exams as well but our exams are never more than 2 hours.
I spent some time googling how long it takes for the average bladder (which typically can hold 1-2 cups of liquid) to fill up given average liquid intake and average activity for a healthy adult. 5-8 hours is average time between needing to go pee.
So, OP, if you went right before you took the test, didn’t drink liquids during the test (this will substantially accelerate fill time), and you can’t make it through the test, I’d say there’s something going on with you that warrants further investigation.
Your bladder should not have filled up to the point where you would have “messed yourself”-it may have been mentally uncomfortable due to stress, but if it’s filling up that fast and you’re voiding yourself uncontrollably, there’s a medical issue.
And that’s about an hour of my life that I’m not getting back, and more than I ever wanted to know about bladders.
Wondering how common this policy is at various colleges. D is home for break and just finished her exams. All of them were 3 hours long. She said she was free to get up at any time and use the bathroom - students do not even have to ask permission - they just go. And the exams are given in large spaces with 200+ students sitting for the exams.
She said the same thing applies during the administration of regular tests during the semester. One teacher did ask that only one student use the restroom at a time. Other than that there are no restrictions. So policies must vary considerably from school to school.
Like many on cc with kids who need accommodations, its best to check with the college upfront. Not all are that accommodating. But the key is to ask/request accomodations first, not in the middle of a test.
For example, a college student with diabetes might have to urinate frequently. All it should take is a doctor’s note to the disability office to obtain accommodation. But that is the not the professor’s job or even skill set to make an on-the-spot decision on whether frequent urination is real (and nota request to go cheat), and thus, worthy of accommodation.
^^ or after the exam has ended.
I think we should also remember the impact of the disruption if one kid gets up and goes out and comes back in (let alone more kids in and out), or frankly, if this student got into some kind of argument with the professor during the silent exam time where everyone else is trying to focus.
A significant advantage to everyone of advance planning is that a person who will have to be disruptive (whether due to Tourette’s, getting up to go to the bathroom, pumping breastmilk, having an oral exam interpreter, etc.) - can be isolated from those who just want to do their work in peace.
Regarding if someone gets her period or otherwise has an emergency - I suppose that would work the way any medical emergency would work during a final exam (my guess is, call the nurse/dr/etc. and cancel that person’s exam to be made up later with confirmation of the emergency’s legitimacy from the health center). I actually had a medical reason to postpone a final in college, woke up with a GI bug and couldn’t make it, had to call the TA and reschedule. So this happens. But you can’t just start a final and decide you suddenly have a situation that is “nobody’s business” but needs everyone’s accommodation. (And yes it is everyone’s in terms of fairness.)