Thinking Inside The Box

By Brian Sweeney

I spent two years in Germany with the U.S. Army, providing bomb disposal support to highly classified missions.  I would get a call telling me to get to an airfield within usually 6 hours, without being told where I was going or how long I would be gone.  I kept a box next to the front door.  It had $100 in Dutch Guilder, $100 in German Marks, $100 in French Francs, $100 in British Pounds, a clean t-shirt, socks, drawers, a bar of hotel soap, and three individual serving boxes of cereal.  That was my box, and it was ready when I was told to go.

I recently went on-line, and found a “Class In A Box,” a set of fiber optics expendables and tools to teach a class in fiber optic installation and repair.  Someone has thought inside a box, and provided the necessary tools required to teach a class without having to scramble at the last minute to find the proper resources.

I had a boss that was fond of using clichés as a substitute for independent thought.  He often said that we needed to think outside the box.  How is that done, or how do you even know if you are thinking outside the box, if you have no idea of what is in the box already?

It is frustrating to the learners in the classroom to be told to think outside the box, when they enrolled in a course to learn what is in the box.  Until they learn the basics of the topic at hand, they will not be able to expand that learning to more abstract concepts.

I focused on, and knew without a doubt, what was in my box in Germany.  I know exactly what is in my fiber optics Class In A Box.  The question now is whether the learners in my classroom have reached the same level of understanding regarding the box they have been challenged to learn in my course.  Sometimes you have to stay in the box, as uncomfortable as that may be, and as difficult as the subject may be, before climbing out and exploring what is on the other side of the box.