Applying the Broken Windows Theory to Schools

May 5, 2008

In a decades-old social experiment, Stanford University psychologist Philip Zimbardo arranged for two cars to be abandoned – one on the mean streets of the Bronx, New York, the other in an affluent neighborhood near Stanford in Palo Alto, California. The license plates had been removed, and the hoods were left open. Professor Zimbardo wanted to see what would happen to the cars.

In the Bronx, ten minutes after the car was abandoned people began stealing parts from it. Within three days the car was stripped. When there was nothing useful left to take, people smashed windows and ripped out upholstery until the car was completely trashed.

In Palo Alto, for more than a week the car sat unmolested. Zimbardo was puzzled, but he had a hunch about human nature. To test this hunch, he went out and in full view of everyone, took a sledgehammer and smashed part of the car. Soon, passersby were taking turns with the hammer, delivering blow after satisfying blow. Within a few hours, the vehicle was resting on its roof, demolished.

After much discussion and analysis of this experiment, the general conclusion has been “When a broken window in a building is left unrepaired, the rest of the windows are soon broken by vandals.”

Police in big cities have dramatically cut crime rates by applying the “broken windows” theory. Rather than concentrate on felonies such as robbery and assault, they aggressively enforce laws against relatively minor offenses – graffiti, public drinking, panhandling, littering.

When order is visibly restored at that level a signal is sent out: This is a place where behavior does have consequences. If you can’t get away with ignoring the “small stuff”, you surely better pay attention to the rules for the “big stuff”.

The Broken Window Theory has become a proven strategy. It has worked in a variety of settings over nearly forty years. Shouldn’t we be applying this knowledge in our schools?

The words to that old song, “Little Things Mean a Lot” makes a lot of sense here! The Broken Window Theory tells us if we address the “little” infractions, there is a good chance the “big” problems will occur with much less frequency.

Are we tending to the “little problems” on our campuses?

How can the Broken Window Theory (now reality) be applied to the management of our own classrooms?

The simple answer is by modeling and articulating appropriate behavior in every activity of the school day, and reinforcing students when they exhibit “character”!

CHARACTER EDUCATION WORKS!

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