This fall, as students returned to campus, they were met with cafeteria renovations and the loss of a century. Once full of warmth and lovely memories of performances past, our foyer to the auditorium was reduced to a minimalist gray millennial purgatory. When asked about their opinions on the new space, the community’s response was all the same:
“It looks like a mental asylum”- WT Parent
“Feels liminal, why did they do this again?” – Class of ‘21 alumni
“Where smart meets heart goes to die”- Anonymous Student
When I first laid eyes on the claustrophobic maze, the first thing that came to my mind was the unit on ethical cattle slaughter devices we did in 4th grade. The focus of the lesson was Temple Grandin’s developments and improvements to slaughterhouse systems. One of her devices included a curved chute. Created as a way to leverage the tendency of livestock to circle back to familiar areas to force them down an optimized path, similarities can be drawn. Pictured below is a comparison:
No surprise that WT is employing the same humane livestock systems that are used in slaughterhouses, but could they at least be more subtle?
So what is my suggestion for improvement? After a recent trip to Alcatraz this summer, I was reminded of an exhibit they have as you exit the main cell block. On the walls of the hallway hang a series of mirrors, each with a question underneath. Questions included, “Have you jaywalked?” and “Have you fudged your taxes?” The point of the exhibit is to have visitors reflect on how simple evasions of the law can still have consequences, that maybe you too could end up in a place like this if further defiance is exercised. So, what I propose is a series of mirrors on the walls of our unfortunate hallway, each with questions like the following beneath, “Do you leave during h-block?” “When was the last time you skipped a morning meeting?” “Do you steal from bake sales?” This way, now every time we are forced into this dreaded den, the school can use the time productively to have students reflect on how the consequence of their actions can force them to stay in the hallway longer. Infractions are forecasted to drop 67%.
