The student body gets involved...
Here is a summarized version of the student body involvement in the recent closing of the Bench room and current shop policy. These activities go hand-in-hand with this project:About two weeks ago (Feb 14), the ID Bench room hours were reduced from 24 hours down to only during the Model shop hours (12-16 hours per day). The three ID classrooms were also restricted from 24 hours, and began to close at 5:30 pm. These restrictions occurred because some students blatantly ignored the policies in place to ensure the health and safety of everyone that uses the facilities. Specifically, there was a problem with some Intro to ID students working irresponsibly with fiberglass, and well as students in other classes doing shop work in the classrooms. There was not enough self-regulation (from upper-classmen and other students) to prevent this from happening.
Max Younger, one of our most involved ID students, called a meeting with Victor, Jon, me, and a few other faculty, staff, and students to discuss this action. We met two days later, and tossed around some possible causes of the problem, including lack of information, lack of respect, and even just a predominance of apathy throughout the student body.
Victor requested that the students come together and create a plan to reinstate 24-hour access. Max initiated a student meeting the next Friday afternoon, and I assisted him in creating list of possible solutions to discuss at the meeting.
17 (!) students attended this meeting, and we spent a great deal of time considering the causes of, and possible solutions for, the problem. At the end, we agreed that a volunteer program would be most effective in motivating the students to take responsibility for themselves and those around them (also known as peer pressure!)
Over the weekend, some student work was locked in one of the classrooms, and as a result another pair of students wrote a letter to Victor in response to the closings.
I wrote a proposal of what the students agreed to, with Max’, James’, and Jon’s help, to present to Victor and Dave. This proposal included a specific plan to institute the volunteer program.
When we meet to discuss it, both Victor and Dave were responsive to the plan, and seemed to greatly appreciate the involvement of the students and all of the work that we put into the proposal. However, there was concern that the plan would not be successful because of the work habits of many of the students – in other words, some felt that in this case we need to cater to the lowest common denominator of responsibility (which is, sadly, Low).
So … Victor and Dave proposed that Max and I create signs to post in the classrooms outlining what is and is not allowed to occur there, along with a document for all of the students to sign explaining the importance of being responsible for ourselves and others, among other things. Also, they committed to looking for a Work-Study student for the Bench room. The student will work for the first 4 hours of each evening after the Shop closes in the Bench room to extend the hours the room is available.
Max and I created both, tailoring the content of each to Victor’s specifications. The signs were posted, reopening the classrooms 24-hours, and the handout was distributed and signed by students in classes on Wednesday and Thursday. Based upon our agreement, the Bench room was to open for extended hours beginning this Thursday night.
I arrived at Gulfstream this evening at 12am. You’ll just love what I discovered – the Bench room had been closed since 10pm, when the Shop closed for the evening. Does that sound like extended hours to you? Me neither…
I will report more on this soon.
UPDATE
The early Bench room closing was caused by a mis-communication... hopefully solved now.
2/26/2005
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