Lessons from the Dishwasher

"Dad!  Something's wrong with the dishwasher."

"What's wrong?"

"The little wheelie thing falls off each time the big rack slides out."

"You mean one of the wheels that guides the top rack is broken?"

"I guess so.  It doesn't look right, and the rack keeps falling down on the floor.  How are we going to wash the dishes?"


You guessed it.  Our family's dishwasher broke about three weeks ago.  Our daughter discovered that one of the wheels that guides the top rack was cracked and falling off.  This resulted in the top rack not sliding in or out.  After reminding our girls that humans have washed dishes by hand for generations prior to the invention of the dishwasher, I decided to take a look.

First, I noticed the plastic clip that held the wheel was broken off.  It wasn't something I could fix, but I could order a replacement piece and repair everything myself.

Once the replacement parts arrived, I was quick to open the package and get started.  Now, I'm a relativley handy person.  My father and grandfather were both mechanics.  They taught me how to handle tools and pay attention to details whenever considering taking something apart.  In fact, my father is still fond of saying, "Anyone can take something apart.  It takes someone with some know-how and determination to put it back together." 

Fixing the dishwasher got me thinking about school.  I don't come to work to "fix" things.  Rather, much of my job is about allocating, acquiring and aligning resources to help teachers and students be successful.  Sometimes, however, things go a little less than perfect.

• Sometimes students or teachers are balacning difficult personal situations.
• Sometimes students don't always learn what was taught the first or even second time a lesson was taught.
• Sometimes the proper resources to help are not always available.
• Sometimes giving up seems easier than persevering, but we know this is not what is best.

I suppose the list of what can possibly go wrong in a school is endless.  I choose to focus on what is going right, and think of my Dad and grandfather when they are not.  At our school we work together to overcome obstacles, and we don't give up.  It's not always perfect, but our students learn valuable lessons about determination and the real road to success.


PS--I had the dishwasher repaired after 20 minutes; ten minutes to "fix" it incorreclty, and an additional ten minutes to actually read the directions to make sure all of the clips aligned to each other--correctly!  As my wife says, "Some things never change."