Following the rules

German rules force man to urinate in bottle in exam
Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:04PM GMT

BERLIN (Reuters) - Exam supervisors at a German university stuck to rules so rigidly that a man with a bladder dysfunction had to urinate in a bottle in front of 120 fellow students because they would not let him go to the toilet.

Overseers at the University of Freiburg in southwestern Germany told the 27-year-old, whose bladder control was impaired in an accident that left him on crutches, that he would be failed if he left the room during the exam.

None of the three supervisors would accompany the man to the toilet despite other students' protests.

Eventually one female student emptied her water bottle so the man could go to a corner of the room and relieve himself.

In a letter written on Wednesday and seen by Reuters, university deputy head Karl-Reinhard Volz apologised to the student, saying the supervisors' behaviour was completely unjustified and "lacking in any normal human sensitivity."

© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKL2815380820070228

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Why are some people so unable to deal with rules in unusual situations? This is a perfect example of the need for educating and training people to develop and use their higher intellectual function to interpret the purpose and intention of rules in the face of unforeseen events.

Inability intelligently to interpret rules is one of the great problems I have with religious fundamentalists from the Abramaic traditions. Jewish fundamentalists want to take rules written in literature from 3,000 years ago, Christian fundamentalists pick and choose what they like from the old Jewish stuff and take their own rules written in literature 2,000 years ago, and Muslim fundamentalists take rules from literature written 1,500 years ago, and all apply them strictly and literally to modern day culture. While they claim to eschew interpretation viewed through cultural lenses (especially the culture at the time of writing), they all have their own traditions, background, and history with which they interpret archaic rules.

All situations dealing with rules—even religious ones—demand a certain degree of discretion and interpretation, especially when the original rulemakers did not have the foresight to anticipate every potential alternative scenario. Failure to do so can lead to inhumane results, just like the German examination. Intelligent society understands this. What is sad today, though, is that there is so much unintelligent society out there attempting to be in positions of authority. There ought to be a rule excluding them.