Where did the idea that if the teacher doesn't turn up within fifteen minutes you're legally allowed to leave come from?

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IntelligentCitron917@reddit

Was this a UK thing as I've heard it too

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Expensive-Draw-6897@reddit

We used this as a rule at university because we are adults and had better things to do. This wouldn't fly at school unless you are over 16.

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JDfuckingVance@reddit

Yeah in 6th form if the teacher was 5 minutes late everyone just left, but before then it wouldn't really have happened (plus there'd be nowhere to go without getting yelled at by a teacher)

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It's a thing in colleges as well but again it falls under over 16s can't just wait for a teacher because they have better things to do and you can't keep a group of rowdy teenage boys there without distracting a class.

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chez2202@reddit

I agree. We did this in University too. And we did it in sixth form at high school. We wouldn’t have dared to do it in GCSE years. Because there was always one c u next Tuesday in the class who would run to the next classroom to tell the teacher there that our teacher hadn’t turned up.

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Aromatic_Pea_4249@reddit

The class I was in was a very noisy class at the best of times. If a teacher didn't turn up, I'd swear every other teacher on that floor knew as the volume in that room would go from 0-60 in milliseconds.

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peppermint_aero@reddit

Yes, although in university there's no need for legal permission to leave the class, because you're not legally mandated to be there (unless you're on a student visa).

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gyroda@reddit

It was the official policy at my uni. After 15 minutes the lecture was cancelled.

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Crookfur@reddit

Yep it was very much uni thing. It seemed to operate as a kind of unwritten rule/agreement. Some lecturers absolutely supported it and some got very snippy but in either case everybody knew that the lecture slot was probably already wasted if the lecturer was that late.

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arashi256@reddit

It certainly was in the 80s and 90s when I was at school.

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FlissFloss4@reddit

Yeah it used to be 16 to buy energy drinks in about 2005ish

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fickle_tartan@reddit

People confidently talk shit about laws all the time, it makes sense kids do it too.

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PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit

Yep.

I had someone confidently telling me it's against the law to sell energy drinks to under 18s yesterday.

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Knight--Of--Ren@reddit

I heard someone genuinely think the price on the label at a shop meant said shop had to honour it. I know people occasionally say it as a shit joke but this lad was property arguing. I felt bad for the shop worker.

While I wouldn’t expect everyone to know Boots v Pharmaceutical Society (1953) and the complexities of invitation to treat one would think it was common sense!

For anyone interested: Lord Justice Birkett said, inter alia, “I am quite satisfied it would be wrong to say the shopkeeper is making an offer to sell every article in the shop to any person who might come in and that he can insist by saying 'I accept your offer'”

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PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit

Ugh this reminded me of when I was working in a wholesalers as a teenager.

Someone misprinted a sign for a case of wine, which we had on a pallet on an aisle end as it was on offer. Guy gets refused sale at that price at the till. He comes back to the sign, finds me, and says I have to sell it at the price, to which I say we don't.

He says if you don't you have to take it off sale for 24 hours and apparently he knows this because he used to work at Dixon's and that's what they had to do. I end up calling a supervisor over, who he then says the same thing to, and my supervisor agrees with him and makes me get a forklift to move this pallet into the back.

I try and explain that he's just describing Dixon's store policy from years ago, not our store policy and not the law. She's having none of it. I move it into the back.

About an hour later she finished her shift so I brought the pallet back out.

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Far-Bug-6985@reddit

I worked at a now defunct department store and was also told that removal from sale for 24h thing! We also actually followed it but I work on fashion accessories so much less laborious…wonder if it was just store policies or was once a thing?

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PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit

I suspect some companies adopted it just so customers can feel like something's been done.

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vipros42@reddit

I'm surprised that you think that is unusual. Shit loads of people believe this.

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Atompunk78@reddit

Is that not true? At least for under 16s? Or is your point that two-year discrepancy?

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glasgowgeg@reddit

No, it's a voluntary scheme where shops choose to restrict sales on age, it's not the law.

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Atompunk78@reddit

Ahhh I never knew, thanks!

To be fair though I’ve never confidently claimed otherwise lmao

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FlaviousTiberius@reddit (OP)

This is actually true though, or at least they were going to put it into law. You at least have to pass challenge 25 to get them (which is dumb as fuck, I'm in my 30s and have gotten carded just to buy what is basically fizzy drinks)

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PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit

The government ran a consultation and said they are going to bring it into law, but it's not happened yet.

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FlaviousTiberius@reddit (OP)

I think most shops do it voluntarily, which is where he likely got confused, but not entirely unfounded.

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tobotic@reddit

Yeah, they basically voluntarily stated age restricting energy drink sales (to 16+ or 18+ depending on the chain) in the hope that would be enough and the government wouldn't pass a law restricting their sale.

For the supermarkets, it's better for it to be a voluntary restriction because then if they make a mistake and sell to someone younger, they don't face fines or criminal charges.

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PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit

Yes the chain supermarkets typically operate it under their Challenge 25 policy.

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Nelingus@reddit

From Wikipedia: In Polish the phrase kwadrans akademicki refers to an unspoken rule^([4]) allowing students and lecturers to arrive up to 15 minutes late to a lecture; the students can skip the lecture without repercussions should the lecturer not arrive within that time.^([5]) Similarly, the Greek phrase ακαδημαϊκό τέταρτο also refers to an unspoken rule that allows both lecturers and students to join the class with a delay of up to 15 minutes;^([6]) no law is currently in place to formalize this practice which extends to the school system as well as many workplaces. In some institutions it is traditional for the lecturer to always arrive in class 15 minutes late to accommodate the students' potential delay. ^([7])

So it is not british thing only and might actually have some historical meaning.

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Dark_Akarin@reddit

This only worked in university for me. Only had to do it like twice in 3 years.

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U9365@reddit

I went to boarding school - a long time ago! This was the exact rule. after 15 mins you could back to your house or do anything you wanted for the remainder of that teaching period.

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taflad@reddit

It was our generations version of Brawndo!

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Spottyjamie@reddit

“Five minute rule” when i was in college and uni

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AshaNyx@reddit

That's just harsh. Especially if you have a big campus where it literally takes 5 minutes to get anywhere.

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WhatYouLeaveBehind@reddit

By the same people who believe if it gets too hot you're allowed to go home.

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AshaNyx@reddit

We only had this once and it was more the 6th formers have lost their minds over snow (we didn't get snow often) so we aren't going to bother keeping them in.

Turns out the rest of the country had shut down due to a blizzard.

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UnacceptableUse@reddit

I think it came from university rules. I once said it as a joke to my boss whilst waiting for him to turn up with keys to the building and 30 minutes later his boss told him to inform me that the lawyers want to make it clear that that isn't the law

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AshaNyx@reddit

Tbh this highly depends on where you work, for my job if the chef (owner) isn't in we can't open because we only have one other cook.

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Turbulent_Ad_880@reddit

It is, as you suspect, total bullshit. Probably started by some pupil along the lines of "I think we should be legally allowed to leave if the teacher is more than 25 minutes late." and then got transmuted into "We are legally allowed etc..."

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Extra_Actuary8244@reddit

In my school it went even further than that

People said it was in the Geneva convention

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Turbulent_Ad_880@reddit

If only they could apply that sort of creativity in their language classes...

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Petcai@reddit

I did! I made up my own french words because I couldn't be bothered learning french.

I'm glad you appreciate my creativity, but my teacher didn't.

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Turbulent_Ad_880@reddit

Hmm. Je ne suis pas sûr qu'inventer des mots sans signification et créer une histoire cohérente et crédible soient la même chose.

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Petcai@reddit

They're not, I did that in English Literature, which is more a study of writing and poems than being a language class. That was English Language.

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Turbulent_Ad_880@reddit

I knew that...I got an A in Eng Lang but only a C in Eng Lit...probably because our set book was "The Member Of The Wedding"...which has about as much relevance to a boy in a deprived UK town in 1982 as a raven has to a writing desk.

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Prasiatko@reddit

So it only applies during wartime?

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Extra_Actuary8244@reddit

Yes it course, it was one of the worst atrocities that happened during the war so we need to make sure no student is left waiting for a teacher ever again even if they have just been blown up

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FlaviousTiberius@reddit (OP)

It was what they got Saddam Hussein on

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buy_me_a_pint@reddit

I remember the form group I was in (year 7) we had a double English lesson (2 periods) first period no teacher showed up we quietly got on with the work set , even though at times the form group I was in some of us were loud

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MLMSE@reddit

Never heard of it with teachers. But if the bus didn't turn up within 15 minutes, we all went home. Even if on 15 minutes you could see the bus arriving, you pretended you didn't see it and wait home anyway.

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cateml@reddit

So obviously this is bullshit. But….

If you’re Y11 or lower, you’re not allowed to leave the school anyway. So I mean, you could leave and doss around the corridors/toilets/etc, but someone would likely notice there were a load of kids not in lesson hanging around. Then you’d get a lecture on how you should have gone and told your head of year or whatever, because you know you’re not supposed to be hanging round the corridors in lesson time. But while they might make it seem like your responsibility, they’d be unlikely to punish you for it (unless you were getting up to disruptive/damaging stuff with your freedom).
They’d be more interested in what was going on with your teacher not showing up, and also pissed at your teacher that someone has to come in and sit with you. I don’t think they’d be that horrified a group of unattended teenagers eventually wandered off.

In college or uni, realistically if your teacher is 15 minutes late and you leave - it’s not that you’re allowed to go, it’s that they would be unlikely to hold it against you. Even if you were given a line about how the responsible thing would have been to tell someone (more 6th form college, they wouldn’t do that at uni) if you gave them an explanation about how you assumed the lesson wasn’t on, how were you to know… etc. they would likely take the absence off your record. Because at the end of the day they don’t want to set a precident that they’re an institution where students shouldn’t expect their classes to start on time.

Because again - it would really be your teacher in trouble, not you, if you left. When you’re supposed to be teaching, just not showing up until after the bell (not calling to say you’re running late so someone can go in and tell the class, without legitimate reason like being hit by a bus) - seen as super unprofessional.
And if they were hit by a bus, the school/college/uni is probably more concerned that they’re a teacher down than that the students didn’t hang around that day.

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ARobertNotABob@reddit

A kid.

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acceberbex@reddit

Never heard it as "legally" but it was the unwritten rule at school. Except people left once and got bollocked for it because "if the teacher is 15 mins late, you should go and find another teacher (like next door classroom) and let them know..not just walk out"

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Rasty_lv@reddit

Funnily enough, this was common saying in Latvia in early 2000s.

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Traditional-Treat613@reddit

15 mins? When I was at Uni we scarpered if they were more than 5 minutes late. Probably explains a lot when I look back at my life.

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arenaross@reddit

It's fifteen these days? Inflation I guess. Was definitely the ten minute rule back in the day.

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RetroBoxRoom@reddit

In higher education (Universities), there is an unwritten social contract known as the "Academic Grace Period." • The Logic: Professors are busy, and campuses are large. • The Tradition: Students often wait 10 minutes for an instructor, 15 minutes for a professor, and 20 minutes for a Dean. • The Reality: This isn't a legal right; it's just the point where students collectively decide the lecture isn't happening. Younger siblings or friends heard about this "rule" from university students and applied it to secondary schools where it definitely doesn't apply.

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peppermint_aero@reddit

American nonsense, probably AI.

We don't have "instructors", and Deans don't usually teach. We also don't refer to all teaching staff as Professor; that's a ranked title earned after years in academia.

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peppermint_aero@reddit

Kids don't want to be in class, really. I don't think it's more complex than that.

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hairlikebrianmay@reddit

Sounds like it's come from the Pizza delivery not turning up you get a refund.

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Single-Aardvark9330@reddit

I don't know but it happened to us once and no one left the room

(We had been working though some practice books so some of us got on with those and everyone else chatted)

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zero_sevenn@reddit

Stupid shit kids say and has passed on for generations

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AllThatIHaveDone@reddit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childlore

This is actually a recognised phenomenon. Children spread these things themselves without adult involvement.

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Globalfeminist@reddit

Nobody ever told me 'legally'. I was told it was good manners to wait 15 minutes before walking out, deciding the other person won't show up. (That was before anybody could use the cellphone to let you know if they were just late or had to cancel).

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Therashser@reddit

Not a thing that was ever legal, but it was a rule at our college in the early 90s, if the lecturer hadn't turned up by 15 minutes into the lecture we were allowed to leave, which was often annoying as we'd have to hang around for hours and wait for our next lecture.

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averagejosh@reddit

This was (and I assume, still is?) a common talking point for students in the US, too. 😂

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Derfel60@reddit

We did it once in biology, i can confirm its not true and we did get a bollocking for it.

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DameKumquat@reddit

We said it about 10 minutes at my school. After fifteen we'd generally assume no teacher was coming and some people would sneak out - but we rapidly learned not too many should do that as it would bring attention.

At college and work, it's just your own balance between manners and your time.

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brabrabra222@reddit

Interestingly, I am from a completely different country originally (Czech Republic) and we used to call it academic quarter-hour. It was a uni thing, so nothing about it was legal or illegal. And the term permeated into the common language, meaning a time it is polite to wait for someone before giving up.

Googling it now, it seems it originated from this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_quarter_(class_timing)

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FornyHucker22@reddit

I mean it seems fair enough 😅

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PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit

It's longer than I'd wait for a meeting chair to start!

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mhoulden@reddit

We had one teacher who forgot he was supposed to teach us one day. He turned up 20 minutes late, poked his head round the door (we'd already gone in and sat down) and asked who was teaching us. "You, sir".

RE/RS lessons were strange at school. The main teacher was a lapsed priest, but this was one of the deputy heads who I think was just hanging on until he could retire. We dropped the subject entirely after Y9.

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