My Aha Moment About The ‘Broken Windows Theory’

Chloé Simone Valdary
Nov 5 · 3 min read

I just had a massive aha moment that I’d like to share with you.

As some of you know, my startup Theory of Enchantment is a curriculum that is used to train students in schools, companies and government agencies. One of the places I’m trying to get the curriculum into is what’s called ALC’s or, ‘alternative learning centers’ which is where students who are suspended in NYC are sent for better student-to-teacher ratio, social emotional learning, and other skills that will help them on their way.

Today, I attended an all-day training at one of these ALCs where teachers, principles, social workers, guidance counselors, and other staff support received tips on how to make their classrooms better for the students. One of the presentations was about how to physically organize a classroom space better so that students who often come from troubled home lives can feel safe and welcome.

This approach really is about putting thoughtfulness into the space and incorporating everything from freshening up the classroom to smell amazing to having really cool furniture that engages the students in non-traditional ways, to planning activities that incorporate how students see themselves, (like, for example, for a young man who wants to be a chef, have an activity where food is actually made in the classroom).

At any rate, I recently started (finally) reading Malcom Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, and I’ve gotten to the chapter on “Context,” which is in part about the decline of crime in NYC in the 90s, and ‘Broken Windows’ Theory. While reading, I realized that although many people that I know disagree with the latter for being heavy-handed and disproportionately affecting minorities, the notion that one should arrange the classroom in an inviting way is *actually* an extension of Broken Windows Theory. It takes the same philosophy at the heart of the theory and applies it in a positive way. The crime piece says in order to stop crime, one must repair the little things. The classroom piece says in order to bring about change and growth among underprivileged youth, one must also repair the little things. Both things are fundamentally about *restoration* but are being applied in different contexts. Both approaches need the insights of the other to be softened and strengthened.

This reminds me of the time Jay Z said that its possible for two people to experience the same reality but through two totally different dimensions.

Here’s another analogy that I think works well when thinking about this: The policy maker who wants to deter crime wears glasses whereas the teacher who wants to empower the student wears contacts. Perhaps if both traded eyewear just for a day, they would come to see each other’s perspectives, how they so deeply overlap, and how the lenses through which they see the world are not so different after all.

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Chloé Valdary is the founder of ‘Theory of Enchantment’ a company that trains schools & companies in resiliency, mental health, and social wellbeing.

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