The Restroom Laws Movement

Cognitive dissonance is commonly defined as an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. That uncomfortable feeling has been used throughout history to control people. The requirement for students to ask permission to use the restroom at a school in the compulsory education system is full of contradictions.

Compulsory education means education required by law. The vast majority of students who participate in the compulsory education system are given little or no options regarding who will educate them. Most end up getting sent to schools where they are told by authority figures to do as told or else receive punishment which is likely to cause more punishment at home. Students are trained through fear tactics to put the well-being of their minds and bodies aside for the sake of the authority figure’s ability to maintain order. As useful as that ability can be in situations where you truly want to follow the authority figure because you chose to (job, military, etc.) or you need to (emergency), it simply has no place in an education environment where students are forced to attend and be held under rules.

Contradiction #1

Students are asking permission to do unquestionably necessary, unavoidable tasks shared by all humans, yet compulsory schooling is not voluntary.

Contradiction #2

In front of their peers, students ask permission to perform certain actions and interact with certain parts of their bodies that their culture often considers embarrassing and joke-worthy to the point of torment.

Contradiction #3

At some schools, and/or in some classrooms, students are always given permission when they ask for it, but to ask for permission presumes that it could be denied.

Contradiction #4

OSHA, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration has regulations requiring employers to provide their employees with toilet facilities so that they will not suffer the adverse health effects that can result if toilets are not available.” DHHS, the Department of Health and Human Services, which has the authority to make regulations to address people outside the workplace, such as at school, does not provide any similar regulation to that of OSHA’s. (see note)

Contradiction #5

Education is empowerment, but students are being trained to be subservient down to a very basic level.

How many more contradictions can you think of? Leave a comment below.

*note: I learned about Contradiction #4 from the ‘Federal Public Restroom Requirements Initiative,’ which is asking DHHS to provide regulations similar to or better than those provided by OSHA. The contradictions run even deeper here because the data that was used to help create the regulations for OSHA was from research conducted by the National Institutes of Health, a DHHS agency. The initiative is from about three years ago, but I corresponded with one of the people involved in it and he told me that DHHS still hasn’t done anything in response.