The bus stop where we waited for public transportation back to the campus was much closer to my home than the school and I asked for permission to take the bus that would get me home in approximately ten minutes instead of returning all the way back to school with my class on a different bus and then take the school bus home from school. That route represented an additional hour or more to my trip home, so I tried to explain to my teacher that I just wanted to take the same bus that I routinely used to get around town. My teacher refused to allow me to go home directly because he said that the school would be responsible if anything happened to me on the way home and I had to return all the way to the school before going home.
Exceptions to the Teacher's Authority Justified by Student Rights:
There are situations where students have a right...
In emergency situations, a student has the right to ignore bad decisions such as to remain inside a building if the student honestly believes that is less safe than leaving. The inadvisable instructions issued to workers in the second World Trade Center building after the first plane hit is a perfect example.
A student also has the right to use a cell phone in violation of school policy in emergency situations and even in non-emergency exigent situations, such as to communicate with parents over a problem in school.
In principle, students have an obligation to follow the rules of their educational institutions in ordinary situations but they have a right to ignore them (especially if they are wiling to suffer the administrative or disciplinary action) where circumstances reasonably justify doing so.
