Reply To: Exercise 2: 5 Unsolved Problems
Exercise 2: Five Problems and Remedial Solutions
Problem 1: Student social workers feel limited by the social work curriculum as outlined
Solution 1: Sustainable leadership coursework is added to social work curriculum
Problem 2: School-age children in the U.S. feel anxious that the grownups do not, in fact, have everything under control
Solution 2: Sustainable leadership activities are offered to school-age kids through after-school programs or workshops
Problem 3: People using social media feel dissatisfied with the amount of time they spend online
Solution 3: Sustainability leadership workshop (or other offering) is designed specifically for social media “addicts”
Problem 4: Singles looking for connection feel conflicted about or resistant to using dating apps
Solution 4: Sustainability leadership workshop (or other offering) is designed specifically for singles
Problem 5: Small business owners (in La Grande, anyway) feel overworked and view sustainability as an important thing they can’t afford or don’t have time for
Solution 5: Sustainability leadership workshop (or other offering) is designed specifically for small business owners
Reflections:
• How hard was it to identify problems?
• Was it easy or hard to see them from a perspective of the people they affect?
• Did it get easier with practice?
• Do you think your problems and solutions have much chance to become viable projects?
At first I found myself feeling somewhat frustrated… with Josh specifically. Like “why do you always put all these silly constraints on things, JOSH??? Why can’t I just explain like a normal person what a problem is? Or better yet, why do I even have to name a problem? Why can’t I just do the thing I want to do?” All these thoughts happen within the first second of response time, by the way, because by the second second, I’d already come around. “Oh, right, I’m in this class to learn new things. Also, I’ve done this very same class before and I know why this is laid out the way it’s laid out.”
I noticed that groups of people experiencing the problems I identified at first were groups that I was a part of. I also discovered that the more I expanded into groups I wasn’t a part of, the more I found myself recalling past conversations that justified my assumptions that group X felt emotion Y. (In other words, I found myself trying not to guess, but still kind of guessing.) Finally, I noticed that there was a clear pattern to my solutions. This part made me feel like I was unconsciously working backwards, where I was starting with the solution and manufacturing a problem to fit. On a conscious level, however, I was definitely working in the proper sequential direction, which makes me think that sustainability leadership really is the solution to most (like, really MOST) of our (human) problems.