English H 9
3 December 2014
Children Rights: The Lack and Disregard of Children's’ Rights in Educational Institutions.
Imagine sitting in a room, surrounded with thirty other judging eyes, when someone who has a near limitless am power over everyone says not to use the restroom and abases by asking for the answer to questions where the answer is unknown because someone else was disobeying that persons rule. Unfortunately, this is a reality that millions of students face every day. Every group has had their chance to obtain rights: immigrants, AfricanAmericans, women, and even animals. Yet the group that seems to have their rights frequently disregarded is children.
Teachers undermine the rights of children, especially in educational institutions; children cannot go to the bathroom freely, children have civil rights violated on a day to day basis, and the US in particular is not in support of children’s rights.
Going to the bathroom is a fundamental right that applies to all people, and animals!
People do not stop animals from using the bathroom, so they should not say no to children. This became a huge issue in Oregon when a child’s daughter was kept from going to the bathroom a little too often. The girl developed anxiety when she thought should would need to use the restroom; Katu said "She was crying one morning, because she felt her tummy to be a little sour," says Sarah Palkki, "so she was thinking that she might have to use the restroom at school." (Bailey) This is an atrocity that is commited day to day in classrooms. Some defend that if children can go the bathroom they will miss instruction time, when in actuality this leads to
serious health problems and people can ignore the feeling that reminds them that they need to go the bathroom as they get older. A popular website that challenges modern parenting techniques tells the dangers of “holding it”, “The most common health risk [of holding in urine] is that you could develop a urinary tract infection. Infections are serious business. If not treated properly, they can cause damage to your body. Urinary tract infections develop when bacteria collects in urine that has been sitting around in the bladder for extended periods of time. If you are forced repeatedly to “hold it“, it may put you at risk for other serious problems, including overstretching of the bladder muscles and kidney failure from the bladder pressure” (Couture).
It is barbaric, animalistic, and inhumane to restrict a child’s use of the bathroom. It is a natural occurrence in their body and teaching them to hold it in develops bad habits. Restricting the use of the bathroom no matter what the reason, whether it be grafitti, them messing around, or not using the proper grammar to ask the teacher is wrong and would never be tolerated in the working world. In fact, there are examples of workers suing their employer for restricting their use of the bathroom. Just this March, a woman in Minnesota shared her story with The Blaze, in which she was told by her employer she could not use a restroom. She went on to sue her employer and win. (Klimas) An adult in the workforce can easily win, but it is not the same for a child. Many children are shy when they are young and the frequent disregard of their needs does not help this issue. So many teachers, such as 9th grade english teacher Theresa Taylor, feel that the student’s right to use the restroom should be restricted if abused. (Taylor) While this is accurate some teachers take this to extremely high levels, leaving the kids to feel ashamed, rejected, and that their needs are demeaned compared to their fellow peers. The excuse used is that it distracts the student and students around them. Unfortunately it is true, whenever there is a
right there will be someone who abuses it, but that’s why it is a right and not a…