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Should schools ban water bottles?
YES
There are better alternatives
By Lucille Hollander
There has been a huge lapse of logic concerning the use of water bottles by students in classrooms—even when school after school and parent after parent, voice valid safety concerns about the practice.
No one denies that good hydration, like good nutrition, helps students do their best. But just as you wouldn’t allow a third-grader to call and order in pizza in the middle of math under the guise of nutrition, there is no need to permit water bottles in the classroom when they present hazards and liability concerns. For younger students, the bottles can represent an opportunity for water play, creating a slippery possibility of falls. For older students, the problems are more ominous: Schools have expressed concerns because some students have used their water bottles to smuggle alcohol into classrooms. And for all students, there are health hazards associated with misuse of water bottles. Some students will reuse the one-use bottles, and other students will neglect cleanliness in multiple-use bottles. This sets up the possibility of illness because bacteria from saliva and handling can get into the bottle and multiply. In a recent Sacramento News article, the reused water bottles of the news staff were lab tested by a microbiologist and found to be contaminated with strep-related and other pathogens.
And a growing number of parents have expressed concerns about water bottles' effect on the environment. An estimated 50 million gallons of oil are used annually in the manufacture of the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles nationwide, and it is estimated that 80 percent of these bottles are not recycled, creating further demands on a dwindling and expensive oil supply and creating mountains of trash.
Good hydration helps achievement. There are many alternatives allowing students to be hydrated: coolers in the classroom and cafeteria, encouraging water intake at breakfast and lunch, and a commitment to spend a little money to revamp the tepid, germy hall water fountains of the past into clean, safe modern fixtures. But thoughtful attention to alternatives can mean a safer way to hydrate. The hazards and misuses of water bottles in the classroom can seriously sicken and injure students and eat into a teacher’s already overburdened workday. Ban them.
Lucille Hollander, a school nurse and member of the Houston Federation of Teachers, serves on the HFT nurse task force.
NO
It's a healthy accommodation
By Jane Bluestein
Talk to any of the athletic coaches in my teacher training seminars and they all seem to have one thing in common: None would think of sending students out on the court, track, mat or playing field without adequate hydration. If we want our players hydrated to increase their levels of concentration and performance, wouldn't we want our students hydrated in their academic classes to help them out in, say, math, biology or reading? Authors and educators most familiar with the relationship between students' physiological needs and their behavior and performance (notably Carla Hannaford, Martha Kaufeldt and Eric Jensen, among others) advise that adequate hydration improves brain functioning and academic skills.
Water can account for a significant reduction in hyperactivity and inattention. Water also helps counteract the effects of caffeine, sugar, stress and low-frequency electromagnetic fields. Additionally, learning is better served by small and frequent water intake rather than making kids wait until breaks or lunchtime. In this regard, water bottles offer the perfect solution.
Chief among complaints against water bottles in classrooms is the fact that kids will have to go to the bathroom, at least until the kidneys adjust to the change. Still, many teachers report that after the initial fascination wears off, the students actually ask for the pass less frequently—especially those kids who were asking to leave just to get a drink. Clearly the potential for self-management exists.
Many teachers have averted potential negative behaviors involving water bottles (including a few reports of kids having vodka in their bottles), by providing water for the kids, by having clear boundaries and instructions for using this accommodation appropriately and, better still, by creating emotionally safe, win-win learning environments in which students can get their needs met for attention, success, structure, belonging and autonomy, for example, without abusing this privilege. In fact, the number of teachers who allow, and in fact encourage, water bottles and frequent hydration without incident may make the strongest argument for bringing this brain-friendly support for kids into as many classrooms as possible.
Jane Bluestein (www.janebluestein.com) currently heads Instructional Support Services, a consulting and resource firm in Albuquerque, N.M.
