Teacher sparks outrage by offering extra credit for not using restroom during class

Parents and educators are divided after one teacher offered extra credit to students who refrain from using the restroom during lessons

A teacher sparked backlash from parents by offering students extra credit if they didn’t use a bathroom pass (Getty Images)

A teacher has sparked outrage from parents after they offered extra credit to students who don’t use the restroom during class.

In a viral post on X (formerly Twitter), a mother named Sita Zarcufsky expressed her frustration over her daughter’s math teacher allegedly offering extra credit to students who refrained from using the restroom during class. Zarcufsky - a pool programs coordinator in Eureka, California - explained the situation: “If they don’t use it, they get academic extra credit. I am livid. But my daughter is mad that I want to email the teacher and CC the principal. Am I wrong here?”

The post divided X users, sparking a debate on whether it’s okay for teachers to incentivize students not to use the bathroom, especially when it could lead to accidents or potentially harm the children’s health. Some people sided with Zarcufsky, noting that the policy wasn’t mindful of those with health conditions.

“Some kids may have a medical condition, seems like this policy would be unfair to them,” one user wrote.

“Absolutely not wrong,” another added. “It’s inhumane.”

“Needing to ask permission to use the bathroom is barbaric,” a third commented.

“There are going to be kids who feel the need to perform to the rules to prove that they have worth and in doing so, they might be unintentionally harming themselves (UTIs, dehydration, etc),” someone else noted. “Your daughter might not understand but this is horrid on so many levels.”

Others told Zarcufsky that extra credit is a tactic often used by teachers to manage the classroom.

“They have breaks between classes so this is not outlandish,” one user wrote.

“I can see both sides having worked in a pre-school,” one former educator noted. “We had kids who loved the bathroom. In Jr. high it’s a way to meet your friends during class time.”

“This was the norm in my school,” another educator explained. “It aims to prevent students from using bathroom breaks to socialize. Teachers who didn’t enforce this had more class disruptions. This is a classroom management tool.”

Zarcufsky later updated the thread with messages she’d received from teachers telling her that extra credit was optional, so it wasn’t as if the students didn’t have a choice. In one of the messages, someone stressed to her that the extra credit incentive was just a way to maintain order.

“Extra credit is exactly that: extra,” someone messaged Zarcufsky, according to a screenshot. “That bathroom rule isn’t harming anyone’s grade because nobody should be reliant on a few points just to make up a grade. Try being a teacher for a day and come up [with] a better solution for managing chronic bathroom visit abusers.”

The mother addressed the message, saying that if students are chronically abusing their bathroom privileges, the blame should be placed squarely on the educator’s shoulders.

“It’s YOUR TEACHING, YOUR ATTITUDE,” she wrote. “Be a kinder person, find new ways to connect and engage, and kids will want to stay.”

According to Medical News Today, regularly holding in your urine for extended periods can result in a urinary tract infection (UTI), pain, or something worse. It can also cause the bladder to stretch in the long term.

The Independent has contacted Zarcufsky for comment.