World Class Potty Training

Scott' latest post on Dangerously Irrelevant is a great one:

Our middle school - arguably one of the state's finest - issues laminated punch cards to students at the beginning of each trimester. Each time a student needs to leave the classroom to go to the bathroom, visit her locker, etc., it costs one of the 12 punches.
Sorry, student, that it’s week 7 and you’re out of punches. No going to the bathroom for you.
Inhumane? Degrading? Illegal? What are your thoughts regarding this practice? Anyone else’s school doing this?
Oh, and did I mention that unused punches can be used for extra academic credit in some teachers’ classes?

This is, of course, completely ridiculous. These guys need to read Alfie Kohn's Beyond Discipline and then Seth Godin's Tribes.

I tell my students if they need to go somewhere (bathroom, locker, nurse, wherever) during class then they should just go.

If my class is as engaging as it should be nobody will even think about leaving (When is the last time I left a great movie to go to the bathroom?) And if students are leaving then I know there is a problem. 

This is really not that different from the whole laptop issue and students surfing facebook etc. during class.

Comments

[Jake]

You're back to blogging?

We're having a big problem at school these days with kids in the hallways. Most of the blame is being laid on the students, but I like your way of thinking.

[Amy Ouellette]

Doesn't that way of thinking (punch cards) just stem from the purpose of public schooling, or private schools which use the public school model, being to control and indoctrinate, rather than to teach and enlighten?