25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them

Mistake 13: Inappropriate Toileting Practices
that was kicked out of class. It
worked; his ridiculous policy terrorized
the author of this scenario so
much that not only did she never ask
to use the restroom in his class, but
she never used the restroom in other
college classes. Her fear of failing a
class outweighed any sense of outrage
that her rights as an adult student
and human being were being
violated. In this case, the student
would never even request to use the
restroom. This teacher accomplished
his mission to the hefty price of his
students’ loss of freedom.
One easily overlooked fact in
this scenario is that the teacher was a
biology teacher which suggests that
he should have been aware of the
consequences of suppressing bodily
urges. I believe this toilet tyrant’s
deep-seated need to sit on his tissue
paper throne and rule his class may
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be deeply rooted in his low perception
of himself as a capable adult
instructor. It appears that he felt that
his students would not take him
seriously and recognize his legitimacy
as a teacher unless he took a
punitive stance in establishing classroom
policy. This teacher would bene -
fit from some professional development
that focused on enhancing
feelings of self-efficacy (Bandura,
1986) or feelings that he could
handle the tasks inherent in being
an effective teacher. Such training
should alleviate possible fears of
inadequacy and diminish his need to
effect punitive policies. This scenario
provides some evidence that abuse
in education also occurs at the
adult level, validating the need to
enlighten teachers in higher education
about establishing reasonable
policies.