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 am at nursing school in australia, we also have this policy in the first semester. and one educator in our first semester of our second year. As much as I hated it, I agree with it. It always seems to be the same people coming in late. It dose not matter, wether it is morning, middle of the day or in the afternoon, they are always late. I just cannot believe that we are entering our final semester and they are still always late. The same goes when we are on placement.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
As part of one of my MSN education classes, I spent time observing an evening class. All I can say is that the behavior of some of the students was incredibly shocking, and never would have been allowed when I was a student.
Students walked in and out pretty much whenever they felt like it, despite generous breaks and a 5 minute grace period during the beginning of class while assignments were collected. There was no attempt to be quiet and unobtrusive about it, such as using the rear door instead of the front door where they had to walk in front of the projector.
Students had noisy, smelly food. I understood that it was an evening class in a program of mostly working students and that many didn't have the opportunity to eat between work and class. However, what happened to common courtesy of staying quiet and not having offensive smelling stuff?
Phones! Students were not only playing games and texting each other, but actually taking phone calls!
So for any instructor who enforces rules such as no phones, no noisy/smelly food, and show up on time or wait until break, I applaud you. If that means locking the door (all of those at this school I was observing at can be opened from the inside whether locked or not- fire code) and having to wait outside until an appropriate time, so be it. Yes, students will probably find things to do that distract others, but these are easily controlled and easily prevented.
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.)
My microbio professor who used to lock the door went by the wall clock, which was the only one there.
Agree, doors should be shut, but not locked. Everyone will run late here or there, and those that are chronic about it should be talked too!
Ben, RN
Not to sound like a goody-two-shoes, but I recall that I was late only once for a class during my year-long LPN program. The door was locked, as it always was once lecture began, so I sat in the computer lab and studied for a couple hours. I wasn't angry, nor did I find it unfair. We all know the rules, this wasn't sprung on us unexpectedly.
i disagree with the comment "everyone will run late here and there". No, everyone doesn't. I didn't. I can think of other students who didn't. It is perfectly possible to make being on time a commitment. Why do you think some students are a few minutes late on a regular basis, and others are not?
And, honestly, I don't want to hear other students whine about how they have lives, jobs, kids, dogs, whatever that makes running late every now and then inevitable. As though those of us who were consistently on time did so only because we lived in a box next to the school, without family, jobs and issues of our own.
I disagree with the comment "everyone will run late here and there". No, everyone doesn't. I didn't. I can think of other students who didn't. It is perfectly possible to make being on time a commitment. Why do you think some students are a few minutes late on a regular basis, and others are not?
I agree...with Brandon, that is. I was late only once during my program. It was a 40 minute commute one way, and knowing that there was potential for traffic and I had to drop a toddler off at childcare on the way, I would leave more than an hour before I had to be there. Yes, more days that not I got there early and had to kill 15-20 minutes, but better that than being late.
The one time I was late: it was a blizzard, I was late by 5 mintues (I left extra early knowing the weather), and the school ended up closing the campus an hour after I got there.
It is demeaning and inappropriate to deny anyone the freedom to excuse themselves should they become ill or need to use the restroom.
Likewise, it is incredibly rude to show up late, be texting, having side conversations, or eating and drinking during a lecture. I am not a professor, but if I were, I would set strict expectations and enforce them for the benefit of those who are there to learn.
Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.
I'm thinking of how this translates into the workplace. People who are late to class are probably going to be late to class, whether it's a habit or a now-and-then thing. Those who do whatever they have to do to be on time will continue to do that. Those who are on time shouldn't have to wait for the others.
I worked in a large metropolitan hospital for most of my nursing career. We had to have those yearly inservices everyone has (infection control, yadda yadda), and we had them in the hospital auditorium. Doors were locked when it was time for the inservices to start...
It is demeaning and inappropriate to deny anyone the freedom to excuse themselves should they become ill or need to use the restroom.
It is incredibly rude to how up late, be texting, having side conversations, or eating and drinking during a lecture. I am not a professor, but if I were, I would set strict expectations and enforce them for the benefit of those who are there to learn.
Absolutely agree. I had the unfortunate experience just last week of getting violently sick just before class started. I ran to the bathroom and made it back about 2 minutes into lecture. My materials were already in place, so it was obvious that I had already been there. I did apologize to the professor later. It was clearly an urgent situation. Thankfully, I have a reasonable professor.
Habitual tardiness and disruptiveness in class is very different than the rare GI issue.
Specializes in Early Intervention, Nsg. Education.
In my RN program, doors were only locked during exams. As soon as the first test booklet hit the first desk, every student had to stay put until they handed in the completed answer sheet. I don't remember if the instructors would allow anyone to leave the room in an emergency and them be allowed to resume the test...I doubt it.
Lectures were a different story, however. The building was quite old and the women's restroom was a two-seater. Each class had 30-40 students, so a 10 minute restroom break would definitely pose a problem. We were allowed to quietly slip out of class, do what we had to do, and return to our seats as unobtrusively as possible.
I worked in a large metropolitan hospital for most of my nursing career. We had to have those yearly inservices everyone has (infection control, yadda yadda), and we had them in the hospital auditorium. Doors were locked when it was time for the inservices to start...
I recently had to attend a mandatory inservice. Despite the class itself starting late, people were wandering in even as late as half-hour after the class started (which means in reality they were 45 minutes late). It was very annoying because it was a small room, so it's not as though they could slip in unnoticed. Plus the instructor stopped every time someone came in. The inservice ended up running over by 30 minutes, which meant some people were late for their shifts.
What really annoyed me even more than the interruptions, is that the latecomers received full credit for completing the inservice.
Our professor used to make us write our name on the board when we arrived late, whether it be by seconds or minutes. And not the tiny scribble in the corner type, it had to be visual enough for a glaucoma patient in the back row - 30 feet away type - to read. Some say it was a fate worse than a lock out. Kept us in line knowing your peers would be staring at your name for the next 3 hour lecture, plus we learned about how blind glaucoma patients really can be when each letter of your name is 3+ feet tall. Two birds with one stone. Brilliant professor really.
I am also a college instructor (not in nursing; I'm a nursing student), and I admit that the chronically late students are annoying. Indeed, those students rarely make it through the class, let alone the semester. No, I don't lock the door, but I do deduct the 5 points for lateness as laid out in the syllabus. I am also annoyed by chronically late classmates - seriously, leave earlier. However, the OP wasn't late to class. She spent a little more time in the bathroom than she intended, and found herself locked out of class, away from her personal belongings, which includes medication. I think it's important to remember that the syllabus *isn't* a legal contract; it's pretty much just our defense against a student who is mad that they earned a zero on a late assignment. Had the OP needed her medication, and suffered some type of medical emergency because she did not have the medication, that syllabus wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on. Lateness should be dealt with individually, and with penalty, just like it is in the workplace.
): 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. 
katloui2471
2 Posts
I am at nursing school in australia, we also have this policy in the first semester. and one educator in our first semester of our second year. As much as I hated it, I agree with it. It always seems to be the same people coming in late. It dose not matter, wether it is morning, middle of the day or in the afternoon, they are always late. I just cannot believe that we are entering our final semester and they are still always late. The same goes when we are on placement.