How do you feel about professors locking the door?

[Amnesty]

Title has the simple version of this: How do you feel about professors who lock the doors to the lecture hall when they begin teaching and will not allow late students to come in?

Why I ask (the TL;DR version that's just personal stuff and unnecessary ): In my first semester of nursing school, this was a standard policy. I never liked it, but I definitely understood it. Punctuality is a big thing for me, but it isn't for a lot of people these days, and the cohort needed an overarching message that nursing wasn't the profession to get into if you couldn't get it together and arrive on time. None of the other professors we had after that have felt that a locked-door policy was necessary.

That was all good and well, but now I'm on my last semester of nursing school and I have a professor with a personal policy of locking the door when the lecture begins. I disagree with it on principle, because I think it's just childish. We all pay a lot of money for the education we receive. Every moment of it is important to us. We've made it to the final stretch, and I think we've shown the faculty that we're dedicated enough and wouldn't be late without a very good reason. Depriving us of lectures we paid for because that professor refuses to cope with someone quietly coming in and sitting down is kind of ridiculous IMO. But I've always figured, hey, whatever, I'm never late to anything so it won't affect me, and I've shrugged it off.

Well, guess what? It happened. Our class is several hours long, so we get released for 5-10 minute breaks every hour or so. We were released for a 10 minute break at 10 til, and I ended up needing a bit longer in the bathroom than I thought. I got back to the classroom 2 minutes before the 10 minutes was up, and I found myself locked out. I was irate. Ten minutes hadn't even passed yet, and I knew I had to have only missed her shutting the doors by less than a minute. It was unfair and I couldn't do jack squat about it. I couldn't even leave because everything, including my purse, was locked inside the classroom that I was locked out of. It was incredibly upsetting to have to sit outside for an hour knowing I was missing the lecture and being completely powerless to do anything about it.

Now I'm not stupid enough to complain to anybody and make waves about it; you pick your battles wisely, and this one would just be stupid. But I'm definitely still angry that it happened, and I'm going to write about it on that professor's evaluation at the end of the course. It's left me wondering how other students feel about/deal with these kinds of policies, or whether they even have them.

[FutureRN101]

I'm a very punctual person and I'm always at least 10 minutes early to anything I'm supposed to be doing. If I got locked out of lecture after a break, after I was already there on time I would be pissed. Sometimes bathroom breaks can take a bit longer than we wish they would, so she should lose that hour of lecture? Locked out without any of her things? And on top of that feels she was actually there 2 minutes before the break was supposed to be over? Sorry but that's BS. I'd understand the beginning of class lockout for people who were actually late to class but after that if you are just taking breaks then leave it open, if someone is always coming in late for every single break then yes it is the professors job to pull them aside and tell them to knock it off, not their job to lock people out who were just using the restroom.

[Medic6758]

Maybe the professor locks the door out of fear due to the rise in school shootings.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

I HATE it when my students are late and disrupt the class. It disrupts my lecture and my train of thought. That being said I don't lock my doors. Life happens. If it becomes a habit then I would address the students who caused the issue. It sounds like the OP doesn't even believe they were late, just the prof. started lecture early since everyone else was present. Now that is unfair. I also allow my students to use the restroom whenever they need to. We are all adults and sometimes you have to go before "break" time. I expect them to not be disruptive to the rest of the class when they return.

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

It is unwise to leave your wallet, or expensive electronics in a lecture hall, even for a 10 minute break, especially if the possibility of being locked out exists if one can not make it back to class in time.

[KatRNStudent]

I love that! I wish my teachers would do the same!! We have one or two girls who make it a point to be at least 15 minutes late. They come in.. start making a bunch of rattling in the bags and then start asking people - mid lecture for what they missed. I think every single teacher to do it. I pay for my education and that's to Ms. late over there I lose focus.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

Speaking of shootings, I wouldn't lock my door to prevent that because one of my students could be a shooter and I'd want the rest of us to be able to get out!

I don't lock classroom doors. It's fine with me if students come and go as they choose, as long as they do it quietly. If students come in or go out talking, laughing, or otherwise distracting the other students and me, I'm going to do or say something about it then and there. I'd probably stop lecture and stand there silently until the loud one got the message or other students gave them the message. If that didn't work, I'd escalate my behavior. If someone did this more than once, I'd take him or her aside and have a talk.

About valuables left in the classroom....don't do it! Even a couple of minutes is long enough for another student to take your wallet... If you trust the other students enough to leave things in the room for a few minutes of break, then you must trust them enough to leave things there until the next break.

[Everline]

I had an instructor who locked the door like that. There were a couple of instances where people were locked out and they knocked and she let them in, but it put an embarrassing spotlight on them, so they did not want it repeated. In general, I am not against the policy. I would suggest you line your watch up with the one the teacher is using and manage your break time accordingly.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I think it's a little over the top, and somewhat lazy for a prof to do this. The entire class should not be treated like caged reptiles because a few were late. For the INSANE cost of tuition, these professors need to DO THE WORK of dealing with tardy students individually, in private and on their own time. If they're trying to teach students lessons about the real world, they need to deal with lateness like managers deal with it in the real world: individually, in private, and with due process. No nursing unit gets locked when the shift starts.

No ... if you are going to disrupt my class ... and waste my time and the time of my students by coming in late, be prepared for me to deal with it right then and there in class, in full view of the class. Your classmates are entitled to know that you have been properly punished for having disrupted THEIR class and wasted THEIR precious time.

Now ... it sounds to me as if the OP was neither late to class, nor late coming back from break. It sounds to me as if the instructor locked the door a little early on her. Also, I sympathize with her because in reality, bathroom breaks can take a little longer than anticipated. That's why I always give a little leeway in the announced break time and make sure the break is sufficiently long for students to accomplish what they may need to accomplish. For example, I'll announce a 10-15 minute break and not start class until the 15 minute mark and use the first 2 or 3 minutes to refocus the class, allowing a straggler or two to come in without disrupting the presentation of new material.

(I don't actually lock the door, but I do give late-comers a dirty look and may say something out loud about their tardiness. But as I said, I'll give a little leeway to allow for the unexpected.)

[Boog'sCRRN246, RN]

What do cost/paying of tuition and following a school/professor's policy have to do with each other? You paid tuition to attend the school. That's it. You didn't pay tuition in order to have some say in what policies (a.k.a. rules) you will or will not follow. In the case of a professor locking the door to prevent late arrivals, you either adhere to the policy and arrive on time or you're not allowed in the class. Paying tuition has no bearing on that.

*I do understand the OP was not late to class, and I feel that is a separate issue the OP should speak with the professor about.

[kgoode0919]

Honestly, in your situation, I would have pecked on the door. I would gradually excelled to a knock. It would have become very distracting to hear someone knocking every 30 seconds. I would have gotten my stuff and left when they got tired of their door being banged on.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, people arriving late to class are extremely annoying and a distraction for those who are learning. OTOH, the OP's story illustrates the downside to a "lock the door" policy. Therefore, I really don't have a definitive answer for whether or not I support the policy.

To the OP, I would discuss the situation with the professor and see if he/she will change the policy.

(and I too agree that the amount of tuition one pays should have nothing to do with the policy/rules of the school)

[TammyG]

I have never heard of such a thing as classroom-door locking by a professor, and I have been a student and a teacher in a lot of programs. But, apparently it is commonly done. I think that any professor that gets distracted by a student walking in late is not a very good professor. If a student is disturbed by a classmate coming in late, they will be a lot more distracted trying to insert a foley into a home health patient with dogs jumping on the bed, six family members watching, the TV and phone going, and someone yelling at you in a foreign language.

No student has a right to disrupt a class, but I don't think walking in late rises to that level. If I was the OP, I'd complain to the professor and to the administration. At the private school that I went to, my tuition was so high that I would really have been upset to have been physically barred from the room. The professor might want to have a row near the door reserved for late-comers rather than bar these students all together.

And these programs that throw people out after two absences? I never knew they existed either.