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STORY OF THE MONTH
"Guns at School: A Systems Perspective"
Katherine Richmond
Hanover, New Hampshire
The regular Story of the Month column will not run
this time. Instead, isee systems is previewing a new Story of the Month series
that was originally created by our founder, Barry Richmond. We are revitalizing
the learning environments that Barry wrote and publishing them in print, as
well as CD. "Guns at School" will be available in the Fall.
Preface
The Story of the Month series of books is based on the work of my late husband,
Barry Richmond. Barry was a great teacher and a Systems Thinker. He could take
complex issues and make them understandable to anyone. In Story of the Month,
Barry analyzes current issues from the headlines, using Systems Thinking and
his award-winning software, STELLA®
Story of the Month was originally published electronically on our website. That
meant you already had to be a fan of Systems Thinking and be aware of our
website to gain access to these dynamic learning environments. We have
re-worked Barry's original stories so they can be consumed by anyone interested
in the topic at hand. You don't have to be a systems thinker or a modeler to
understand the presentations. When you understand and appreciate the logic of
the stories, you will be thinking systemically! Therefore, the stories can be
used to learn about Systems Thinking in general. Since the models are revealed
"step-by-step," you can learn how a systems thinker structures an issue and
uses STELLA icons to map out the logic of the story. It is my hope that with
the addition of the printed versions, Story of the Month will reach a wider
audience, and more and more people will come to use Systems Thinking everyday!
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Introduction to Guns at School
Barry Richmond
One of the most frightening trends to appear over the last decade has been the
rise of gun-related violence at schools. A myriad of reasons have been cited
for the emergence of this chilling phenomenon. These include: escalating levels
of violence in video games, TV and movies; media coverage; declining parental
involvement, erosion of moral standards and values; the widespread availability
of guns; and rising levels of alienation and rage.
Until we have a solid grip on the relationships responsible for producing and
maintaining this scary phenomenon, we have scant hope of doing much to
effectively address it. The multitude of diverse factors cited as causes for
gun-violence at school suggest that it is a "systems" problem. Our STELLA-based
interactive "Learning Environment" offers a systems perspective on the problem.
The intent is to provide thought and stimulate discussion, as well as to
underwrite a qualitative exploration of some of the possible initiatives that
might be implemented to address this critical issue. The model is not about
providing answers. It's about stimulating good conversation by surfacing
implicit assumptions in mental models. Please use it in that way.
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A multitude of factors have been put forth to account
for the phenomenon of gun violence in schools. Most mental models on any topic
(including school violence) consist of a list of such factors. Indeed, the
thinking process that gives rise to this list-based way of structuring mental
models is so pervasive, Systems Thinkers have given it a name. We call it,
"Laundry List Thinking," or sometimes, "Critical Success Factors Thinking." It
stands in stark contrast to the operational and closed loop viewpoint
that characterizes Systems Thinking-based mental models. Systems Thinkers do
not ask: "What are all the factors that influence gun-related school violence?"
Instead, they are concerned with developing an operational specification of
what causes it!
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Preview from Guns at School
First, you will be given the opportunity to implement any combination of policy
initiatives you choose in order to control violence at school. Choose from
Screening, Disarming, Restricting Access, Anti-Copycat, Rage Management,
Alienation Management and Humiliation Management.
Then simulate your initiatives and see the results on
a graph and on a message board.
And see the debrief message to help you understand
the effectiveness of the policy initiative.
Next, you will experiment with the iniatives in a
more controlled fashion to learn how each initiative alone impacts the system.
The last step is to "Understand the System" by unfurling the logic of the model
one step at a time. The storytelling feature is used here to reveal the model
one piece at a time, with an explanation of why each piece is necessary and how
it relates to the whole model. You will see one System Thinker's mental model
of what causes gun-related violence in schools.
The entire model is shown below:
If you'd like us to e-mail you when Guns at School is ready for sale, please
e-mail krichmond@iseesystems.com.
Price: $99, includes book and CD
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