Daily, the average person comes in contact with at least 60,000 different germs, according to ABC News. Schools are one of the most common places for germs to spread. An example of this frequent issue is bathroom passes.

Almost all students can say they come in contact with a school bathroom pass at least once each school year. There is a very high possibility these passes have never been cleaned. I don’t even want to think about the number of people who have taken a pass into the bathroom with them and then not washed their hands afterward. Some students even take the pass into the stall and set it on the floor. All their disgusting germs got transferred onto that pass.

For me personally, I avoid using the bathroom during class because of the pass, or I’ll “forget” the pass in the classroom. My answer to this problem is pretty simple: no bathroom passes. Why do students need to carry a laminated piece of paper with them when they are going to use the bathroom? Quite literally, the only purpose the bathroom pass currently serves is to transfer germs.

While it is a way to tell if a student is out of the classroom, there are so many other solutions than a bathroom pass. An example is signout sheets, where the student can just sign out when they have left the room and sign back in when they have returned.

In conclusion, bathroom passes are among the grossest and most germ-ridden items in the school. The spread of these said germs can be prevented by omitting these passes and coming up with new ways that are much more sanitary.