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"To create a safe and fun outdoor space at the Murrell School: for the students to play and learn, to create educational opportunities, and to create a sense of ownership and pride of the school and community."
Inspiration
The Murrell School serves students certified as seriously emotionally disturbed and learning disabled. It is our fear that beyond the injustice that these students do not have a safe place to play and the right equipment for their teachers to schedule productive daily physical education lessons, that they feel inferior to their Metro school counterparts: they have nothing to be proud of, take ownership over, or send the message that they are valued, important and deserving of the same opportunities given to all students in the Metro school district.
We were intrigued by the “Broken Window Effect” theory which suggests that one broken window communicates “freedom for delinquency in this space” and the message that “destructive actions are not punished here”. According to this theory, one broken window inherently causes another, encouraging substantial community-wide problems with violence, theft, vandalism etc. and consequentially diminishing the neighborhoods “sense of community”. The Murrell School playground, in its current state, is not only insufficient and unsafe, but also communicates to the students that this place is forgotten, abandoned and undeserving: that there is “freedom for delinquency in this space”.
This is not the message that we should be sending our youth- and the purpose of this project is to change it to one of hope, kindness and ownership by creating a space these children deserve and are proud to call theirs.
We were intrigued by the “Broken Window Effect” theory which suggests that one broken window communicates “freedom for delinquency in this space” and the message that “destructive actions are not punished here”. According to this theory, one broken window inherently causes another, encouraging substantial community-wide problems with violence, theft, vandalism etc. and consequentially diminishing the neighborhoods “sense of community”. The Murrell School playground, in its current state, is not only insufficient and unsafe, but also communicates to the students that this place is forgotten, abandoned and undeserving: that there is “freedom for delinquency in this space”.
This is not the message that we should be sending our youth- and the purpose of this project is to change it to one of hope, kindness and ownership by creating a space these children deserve and are proud to call theirs.
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