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.
I think that any professor that gets distracted by a student walking in late is not a very good professor.
Now it is true that I am not a professor/teacher and my job usually does not require me to speak in front of groups. However, I have given many presentations both in school and at work to a group of students, nurses, techs, etc. I know from that experience it is incredible distracting when people trickle when I am speaking.
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.
Locking the door isn't all about who is/isn't being distracted. It's about accountability and maturity. While you may not be locked out of your job if you show up late, there will still be repercussions. Also, a learning environment and a home health situation are apples and oranges. A learning environment needs to be as free of distractions as possible if there is going to be an expectation of retention. Students coming in late NEVER just sit down quietly and get to work. There's fumbling for a seat, shuffling of papers, questions about "what page are we on?", etc. And, again, how much tuition you paid has nothing to do with being on time and following policies.
Sure, it can be distracting, but not to the point where you can't be effective in your job. It is a fact of life that people trickle in. It is also distracting when students sneeze, when cell phones go off, when students talk, drop things on the floor, move their chairs, drop a book . . . the professor needs to just keep going. When people tickled in to your presentation, you just kept going, didn't you?
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.
Maybe the school should just arrange for the fire sprinklers to go off during and exam. After all, once they become a nurse, if the sprinklers go off during CPR, they have to continue without missing a beat (or a compression as the case may be).
My issue in school was not with students that came in late. Heck, life happens--cars break down, kids get sick, etc. etc. The issue for me was students that came it late, gave a good cough or sneeze as the walked in, asked a student who arrived on time to move from "their" seat, rustled through their back pack, got their food out and made noise with all the wrappers, sighed loudly, talked with their neighbors, and then, 10 minutes later, settled down for the lecture. My school never resorted to locking the door, but I can't say I would be heartbroken if they had.
Locking the door isn't all about who is/isn't being distracted. It's about accountability and maturity. While you may not be locked out of your job if you show up late there will still be repercussions. Also, a learning environment and a home health situation are apples and oranges. A learning environment needs to be as free of distractions as possible if there is going to be an expectation of retention. Students coming in late NEVER just sit down quietly and get to work. There's fumbling for a seat, shuffling of papers, questions about "what page are we on?", etc. And, again, how much tuition you paid has nothing to do with being on time and following policies.[/quote']
Do you think a school teaches students accountability and maturity by locking them out of class?
And these programs that throw people out after two absences? I never knew they existed either.
The policy is on the School of Nursing Handbook for my institution. I have also talked to other students in which their schools have implemented similar policies. The rationale behind this is because you need a certain amounts of clinical hours to be able to sit for the board exam. Most likely the first time you do miss 2 clinicals they will just drop you from the course and had you retake it again in a later semester, but probably a second offense will get you dismissed from the program. Is on the handbook so no student can say they did not know.
This makes a lot of sense since missing almost 15 to 20% based on a 16 week semester of clinicals, is a big chunk. During orientation for the school they specifies that you need to plan your life around the clinical days, and not the other way around. Missing lecture is more like whatever for most faculty if you have an excuse, even though they do have ansence policies in place.
Do you think a school teaches students accountability and maturity by locking them out of class?
Is not about locking them out of classes, is about the punctuality and the ability to follow directions. A nurse that does not follows proper directions and protocols, can eventually end up killing a patient.
So should you be able to walk into work 2 hours late? They are not caged IN. They are not allowed to enter once class has begun. If your purse is so valuable then you can take it with you. No one is forcing you to hand something over. If leave your purse behind in a store they are not forced to reopen in the middle of the night so you can retrieve it.
Are you suggesting because tuition cost is "insane" that you get to make the rules?
The point is not about the individual..it is about the group. You walking in late affects the people who attended on time. In nursing thinking of others is vital. I have been a nurse for 8 years and there is nothing..NOTHING more annoying than late coworkers. You cannot abandon your patients and unless there is coverage you are staying. I think it is a WAY more valuable lesson than learning something in class you will forget a week later. Not every lesson comes from a book.
I agree with professors locking the door at the beginning of lecture, but in your situation, that was ridiculous. We actually had an incident the other day where our instructor released us on break and told us to be back at a certain time. A friend and I were chatting with a former professor of ours in her office when we got a text from a friend saying, "Where are y'all?" We looked at our phones and noted that we still had 15 minutes left of the break. Sure enough, when we walked in the room, the teacher was already starting. So I believe you when you say she started early, because I've experienced teachers doing this as well.
If the instructor locked the door and began lecturing sooner than she had stated she would, that is completely on her and she should keep her own word. Punctuality is important in nursing but so is accountability.
I would suggest that someone get a class egg timer and set it at the start of each break for the exact amount of time the instructor gives for the break. Place this timer on the podium or on the front desk, then the instructor could be held to the break time as well as the students. Nothing wrong with this little ritual, makes for clear understanding and no hurt feelings.
So should you be able to walk into work 2 hours late? They are not caged IN. They are not allowed to enter once class has begun. If your purse is so valuable then you can take it with you. No one is forcing you to hand something over. If leave your purse behind in a store they are not forced to reopen in the middle of the night so you can retrieve it.
Are you suggesting because tuition cost is "insane" that you get to make the rules?
The point is not about the individual..it is about the group. You walking in late affects the people who attended on time. In nursing thinking of others is vital. I have been a nurse for 8 years and there is nothing..NOTHING more annoying than late coworkers. You cannot abandon your patients and unless there is coverage you are staying. I think it is a WAY more valuable lesson than learning something in class you will forget a week later. Not every lesson comes from a book.
I have an hour commute to work. I always leave about 15 minutes early to account for traffic. If there happened to be a major accident on the way to work and I called to say I would be late I would not be told "don't bother coming, If you clock in after 7:01 the clock wont accept your punch". Life happens. Even the most responsible person can not plan for every random occurrence (including random diarrhea) Not sure why school should be any different. Just because a person is late once does not make them irresponsible.
): 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. .thumb.jpg.1a244cedeaa5f9fabd6836ced9c0b3f7.jpg){kind=small}
psu_213, BSN, RN
3,878 Posts
Now it is true that I am not a professor/teacher and my job usually does not require me to speak in front of groups. However, I have given many presentations both in school and at work to a group of students, nurses, techs, etc. I know from that experience it is incredible distracting when people trickle when I am speaking.