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 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)
This...
My musing is alway WHY o people crow about "paying tuition" is an automatic "I have a say in all things" when in reality, it's not a service like going to a restaurant, it's in actuality an investment in education-one where you have to make return in dividends by adhering to the rules and passing.
I'm a boomer and I find nothing wrong with following the rules and being held accountable.
I don't like negotiating rules.
I had a professor who did exactly what is described in the OP.
That was a long time ago and the argument was the same as what we're having here.
Maybe it's not a generational thing, but an entitlement thing. "I pay my tuition so I'm entitled to break the rules". "I pay your wage, so you have to let me do what I want".
"If I weren't here, you wouldn't have a job, so I don't have to do what you want".
Does any of that sound familiar to my fellow nurses?
It's definitely an entitlement thing.
I fall into the millennial group and like to be super early in order to prepare; I like rules as a way to promote order-everything has it's place is my motto.
I will say as long as a rule has a reason and a rationale, then I have no issues with it-rather if it makes sense then so be it; if it doesn't make sense, there are options, but that only works in situations where an ongoing problem and the solution isn't feasible-I don't see it for this type of situation for it to be questioned IMHO, due to my value on being on time to be prepared for what's to occur.
A lot of my instructors would lock the class doors during my pre-req's, and it wasn't a sudden issue, it was explained at the beginning of the semester; if people were late; they were welcome in at the break.
My only question is if one knocks, would anyone answer the door? Would they be compelled to?
I thought this might be a generational thing too, but the other way around. I am a Boomer and would not put up with such dictatorial and immature behavior on the part of a professor. If I got locked out because the professor decided to start two minutes early after break… I would raise hell. End of discussion. I assumed it was younger people who are more likely to be in the classroom that are defending this conduct.
I did an Internet search and this classroom locking thing is uncommon but certainly not unheard of. Until reading this post yesterday, I never knew that such a practice existed.
there has to be fairness and balance and reasonableness in everything. The professor arbitrarily deciding to start class early (or miss counting the length of the break) and locking out student still in the bathroom is none of the above.
I understand it can be disruptive to come in late but you should be allowed to attend classes you've paid for. Rather than locking doors at the beginning of class I've had professors who mark you absent if you aren't there at the beginning of lecture which I think is more appropriate. It allows for mistakes or unusual circumstances by allowing everyone to attend the lecture and punishes those who are ritually late (my school allowed professors to fail students if they had a certain number of "absences").
And in all honesty most the professors I've had with locked door policies seemed to be more childish about it (smiling or acting annoyed when they saw students discovering they were locked out) than professional.
I'm not sure where you're going to school but based on what the professors I've had in the past drive I'd say they make out very well.
The school I attended was 50,000 a year before the added tuition for the upper division. I don't have the slightest idea how my classmates without loans or scholarships managed to pull that off, let alone those who had to add a fifth year.
You have a right to what you have paid for. With that said, you're not paying for a degree, a grade, or whatnot. You're paying for the courses, the lectures, the professors time. It is their right to remove you from a course, ask you to leave, or fail you, but being petty and locking people out is inappropriate. Address those who are a disturbance, or are habitually late. Don't punish dutiful students who may have had something come up.
I thought this might be a generational thing too, but the other way around. I am a Boomer and would not put up with such dictatorial and immature behavior on the part of a professor. If I got locked out because the professor decided to start two minutes early after break… I would raise hell. End of discussion. I assumed it was younger people who are more likely to be in the classroom that are defending this conduct.
I did an Internet search and this classroom locking thing is uncommon but certainly not unheard of. Until reading this post yesterday, I never knew that such a practice existed.
there has to be fairness and balance and reasonableness in everything. The professor arbitrarily deciding to start class early (or miss counting the length of the break) and locking out student still in the bathroom is none of the above.
I, too, assumed it was an age thing. I'm not an 18-20 year old like the rest of my classmates. I don't live at home. I pay every single one of my own bills and have for a long time. I don't think that the "kids" whose parents are helping them (who live at home and don't pay most of their own bills) have any less dedication, but it's a fact that a larger sacrifice is going to make you feel it more and really sharpen how serious you are about your goal. At one point last year I didn't have money for my entire semester and was distraught, thinking I'd have to take a semester off and work two jobs to save up enough in advance. I don't have a husband or parents supporting me.
So yeah, when I get locked out, it's a huge deal to me. Especially when I feel I've been treated unfairly. I make every effort to always be on time/doing the right thing, and I got burned by a policy made for irresponsible people. The tuition thing isn't meant to say, "I pay my tuition so you have to let me do what I want", but rather, I sacrifice a lot for this, and I don't appreciate it when what I see as silly rules are imposed on me. The same would go for anything else. Keep it real with me -- sit down and show me how it's reasonable to put such restrictions on an entire cohort instead of just policing the abusers. Instead, nursing school is very autocratic and tends to be, "This is what we're doing and you don't get to argue it at all so please don't bother." and it's one of the biggest problems I have with it as a whole.
I, too, assumed it was an age thing. I'm not an 18-20 year old like the rest of my classmates. I don't live at home. I pay every single one of my own bills and have for a long time. I don't think that the "kids" whose parents are helping them (who live at home and don't pay most of their own bills) have any less dedication, but it's a fact that a larger sacrifice is going to make you feel it more and really sharpen how serious you are about your goal. At one point last year I didn't have money for my entire semester and was distraught, thinking I'd have to take a semester off and work two jobs to save up enough in advance. I don't have a husband or parents supporting me.
So yeah, when I get locked out, it's a huge deal to me. Especially when I feel I've been treated unfairly. I make every effort to always be on time/doing the right thing, and I got burned by a policy made for irresponsible people. The tuition thing isn't meant to say, "I pay my tuition so you have to let me do what I want", but rather, I sacrifice a lot for this, and I don't appreciate it when what I see as silly rules are imposed on me. The same would go for anything else. Keep it real with me -- sit down and show me how it's reasonable to put such restrictions on an entire cohort instead of just policing the abusers. Instead, nursing school is very autocratic and tends to be, "This is what we're doing and you don't get to argue it at all so please don't bother." and it's one of the biggest problems I have with it as a whole.
EXACTLY. Mentioning tuition isn't about buying entitlement to break rules. It's about holding professors and the school, who I'm paying to provide me a service, accountable to deal with this issue in a manner which is professional, consistent and standardized across classes. Just like any employer in the real world. If I was locked out after a break like the OP, not only would I make a fuss with administration, but I would meet with the professor during his or her office hours and ask them to "make up" teaching me what I missed. Ridiculous.
I'm certainly down with locking the doors as a way to prevent disruptions from people coming in late. Of course, all the doors at my school were able to be opened from the inside as a way to prevent people from being stuck in the room in case of emergency. I almost want to say that it's part of the building code for public buildings; the only places that I've seen as the exception were inpatient psychiatric units.
During lecture, it was very distracting to have people coming in late, because they would take a good 5-10 minutes to get fully settled, and they couldn't do it quietly.
Now, as for the OP's situation, I'm going to throw this one out - what clock was being used? Because the OP's watch, phone, or clock that they were looking at might have been different than the one the professor was using. (One would think that all clocks would match up, but they really don't. Three clocks around my unit that are visible from the charge nurse's computer, three different times.)
Now, as for the OP's situation, I'm going to throw this one out - what clock was being used? Because the OP's watch, phone, or clock that they were looking at might have been different than the one the professor was using. (One would think that all clocks would match up, but they really don't. Three clocks around my unit that are visible from the charge nurse's computer, three different times.)
Which clock is used shouldn't matter, only the number of minutes. Whatever the clock may say, ten minutes is still ten minutes unless there's a malfunction with how it keeps time that makes it go faster.
Though I did think on what people did before standardization of clock times. Now everybody gets their times from cell phones and computers, which all ultimately pull from a small pool of sources. But we haven't always had cell phones, and even the computers of old usually didn't have an internet connection or a way to link up with all the other computers and standardize the time. Somehow we survived without chaos ensuing .
I agree completely with the policy. During my pre-req time, I had a professor who locked the doors on exam days. The doors were locked promptly at 0900. If you weren't in your seat, you didn't take the exam. No make-ups. The only problem? I had an 0800 class across a very large campus with professors who could be a bit, shall we say, long-winded? I could not make that walk in 10 minutes, let alone the 5 or less they sometimes gave us. I began walking out of class ON TIME. And, on exam days, I had either my husband or a taxi pick me up in front of the building with the first class and drive me to my second class. We all figure out how to make it work.
When I had professors who did not have this policy, it infuriated me to be in class and have my concentration and attention disrupted by late arrivals.
For the original poster, you were fine with this rule until it affected you. If the time was not up, then I would speak to the professor. Ask that perhaps there be a timer set.
Hard to believe people get so stressed and perturbed, even infuriated about someone walking in a few minutes late. That can't be good for stress levels. The late person is the one missing possibly valuable information, not the person who was there on time. If someone is late on a test day, they get less time for the test (this almost never happens though). Do some people really have such a hard time focusing that they are completely thrown off by someone walking into class quietly?
Just by coincidence, we had 5 people walk in (separately) 1-10 minutes late today (usually we are all on time but it's been a tough week I guess, or maybe traffic was bad). For the first 2 late people, the door indeed was locked, but totally by accident. After the second one, the instructor unlocked the door and playfully harassed the person walking in. Two more people walked in a few minutes later. People are rarely late in my cohort, so it was kin of weird. But even still, no one missed a beat, or got distracted or angry, and the people who were late did not disturb anyone getting up to speed. I can see maybe locking the door AFTER class has started (not early like what happened to OP) in the first quarter to help students set good habits, but not later in the program, that's ridiculous. We are all adults, nearing graduation, and the instructors treat us as such. They know that we make every effort to be there on time, but sometimes life happens.
I kept the front row of seats open for latecomers. You had to come in, sit down in the front row, and be quiet. No asking, "What did I miss? Did you get an extra handout?" and no asking questions on what I already covered and answered questions on. Nobody wanted to sit in those seats and feel people staring at the backs of their heads.
): 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. 
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LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN
8,429 Posts
This...
My musing is alway WHY o people crow about "paying tuition" is an automatic "I have a say in all things" when in reality, it's not a service like going to a restaurant, it's in actuality an investment in education-one where you have to make return in dividends by adhering to the rules and passing.