Jan 26 2008
Broken windows theory
A new semester is starting, and along with it I get a new classroom to call home for 3 periods each day. Not surprisingly, it is a fairly run-down room, with a lost blind, missing window screens, gouged plaster where students are carving it away, a broken projection screen, and ripped out wires in the PA system. I learned from a colleague that this list of things to fix has existed for several years, yet requests for replacement or repair have not been answered because of budget constraints.
It got me thinking of an idea I read in The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell), which the author calls “The Power of Context” or the broken window theory. In brief, the idea is that epidemics can be reversed by tinkering with the smallest details. For example, crime can be slowed by cleaning up grafitti and fixing broken windows. So I’m wondering what might happen if we were to actually fix what’s wrong in this classroom. They’re all small things when compared to the need for class texts … BUT together they add up to an atmosphere that suggests apathy.
So I’m going to try to fix what I can and give the room a good cleaning. And hope that this year the budget allows us to do more about my to-fix list.
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