Environment for Education (1973)

[Music] oh look what they have done what a mess children stay back until the broken glass is cleaned up honestly this B have done it again it's make the third time this week I'm getting Mighty tired coming up this glass you all have your homework for today all right Mr Bill I think I have it all now thank you very much Mr whims yes ma'am children you may be seated now children up to this point we've talked about the colonist and why they left England everybody's eyes this way children up to this point we've talked about the colonies and how they left England and why they left England today we're going to talk about some of the things they did when they came to America we're ready now to come together and share information with each other we are ready to share information with each other we are ready to share inform with each other well you've just seen and heard you've just seen and heard the problem is that any way to have to teach a class A obviously know but let me give you some facts on the scope of the problem schools all over the nation are wrestling with the problems of vandalism and noise pollution let's discuss the problems one at a time and then consider Solutions let's take the problem of vandalism first over 80% of the nation's School administrators list vandalism as a top priority Problem 80% Broken Glass Broken equipment fired here are some astounding figures in one recent year the city of Chicago spent over $2 million replacing broken glass in schools that's right over $2 million skipping around the country Los Angeles California $653,000 Washington DC $477,000 Baltimore Maryland 3 $314,000 New York City over $1 million to illustrate the escalation of the costs of vandalism over a little more than a decade let's take one city as an example let's take Washington around the end of the 50s Washington spent $40,000 per year for glass breakage in 1969 Washington budgeted a quarter of a million dollars for that purpose and ran out of money before the year ended and now the latest figure we mentioned for Washington was $477,000 can anything be done about this well someone came up with the idea of using unbreakable plastic in Le of glass for example Washington DC spent $2.5 million for new plastic panes other cities such as Boston Los Angeles St Louis Baltimore also spent huge sums of money on on plastic panes on the theory that while initially expensive in the long run it would save money since it would relieve the necessity of constant replacement of glass but the trouble is the vandals discovered that plastic panes could be damaged also like this with a number of panes looking like this you might as well not have any window at all in vulnerable locations another method of harassment is using cigarette lighters to write obscene words on the plastic which cannot be erased the only other alternative solution to the window problem is removing the Sash and bricking up the window openings this is even more costly than using plastic panes besides this expense building codes will require the installation of air conditioning since ventilation has been cut off not only are school systems paying huge amounts for window damage they are also experiencing tremendous increases in the cost of insurance due to vandalism one school board was refused insurance by a pool of insurance companies because of its claims due to vandalism Insurance could only be obtained by a huge premium raise an estimated $200 million a year throughout the nation is going down the drain in glass breakage in schools for that amount of money we could build 250 new elementary schools or 50 new high schools this doesn't mean that glass must be eliminated from school construction there are many less vulnerable places where it can be used effectively with much less likelihood of damage let's discuss that second problem the one we just heard noise the intrusion of unwanted sound that's what noise is any kind of unwanted sound it can be any sound that is unexpected or interfering like that plane it can be an inappropriate sound like a candy rapper at a music concert or it can be a disturbing intermittent sound which is hard to locate and identify like vandalism noris pollution is a major problem affecting the schools today our modern environment is getting noisier all the time scientists tell us that noise in most of America is twice as loud as it was 15 years ago 15 years from now it may be twice as loud again the unit of measurement for sound is the deciel or DB Z decb represents the beginning of audible sound for a healthy young set of ears human hearing ability can range from zero to 130 DB average busy street noise is about 60 to 70 CV a truck produces around 80 to 90 [Music] CV 85 DB of sound can cause hearing loss if constant and prolonged 120 DB is at the threshold of pain since we cannot close our ears to shut out sudden noise we must reduce the noise is reaching them a blender used in a kitchen or a Pneumatic Jackhammer in the street both produced around 82 to 92 a power lawn more or an outboard [Music] [Applause] motor those produce around 92 to2 DV the noise of a motorcycle is from about 102 to 112 BV a jet aircraft taking off produces around 135 to 150 as time goes by and more attention is paid to the problem of noise in our environment we're discovering phenomena which were not readily apparent a few years [Music] ago this popular loud rock music has a doubly bad effect upon its listeners it has both a physical and a mental effect the decibal output of the average Hard Rock Band runs from around 102 to 112 prolonged exposure can cause hearing loss according to psychologists if the music reaches about 130 DB it blats out mental processes and provides a means of escape this is Mr Robert Newman of Cambridge Massachusetts an acoustical consultant and professor of architecture at Harvard and MIT he has advised many Architects both here and abroad on noise problems in the design of their buildings Mr Newman would you tell us about the effects of noise pollution on our everyday lives we think of noise pollution as something that's new something characteristic of modern civilization but actually it's been around for a long time the philosopher schopenhauer wrote an essay on noise more than hundred years ago and I'd like to read you just a little excerpt from that essay he says the truly infernal cracking of whips in the narrow resounding streets of the Town must be denounced as the most unwarrantable and disgraceful of all noises it deprives life of all peace and Sensibility nothing gives me so clear a grasp of the stupidity and thoughtlessness of mankind as the tolerance of the cracking of whips and it's rather interesting to note that the cracking of a whip is merely a small scale Sonic Boom now there is a lot of unnecessary noise in our environment I hardly think that it's the leading cause of mental illness or that it's the slow agent of death as it's been described but there's a lot of noise that we don't have to put up with we must understand also that there's no need for an enormous amount of research or investigation into how to control noise we have the technology at hand all we have to do is apply it and then we'll solve the problems now transportation is one of our principal sources of noise transportation and the internal combustion engine the internal combustion engine as we see it on construction sites as we see it in trucks motorcycles and buses and cars and so forth we hear a lot about the increase in noise level in our cities today actually it isn't increasing so much in a given point in the city as it is spreading out further and further into the suburbs in other words larger and larger areas are now subjected to noise let's remember that buildings and cities are for people and it's people that establish the criteria towards which we design today in the United States we're experiencing a change in our concept of schools how a school should be designed what teaching methods should be used the teaching method dictate to some extent the design of a school we are gradually reverting to something on the order of the one room School used in the last century only today's schools are large and spacious the analogy lies in the fact that fewer and fewer partitions are being used to separate classes and different types of learning activity the newer schools also show considerable change in exterior construction good design can provide schools with protection against vandalism noise pollution natural disaster hazards and against radioactive fallout in the event of a nuclear disaster in a school design study conducted at California state poly Technic College School of Architecture under the aices of the defense civil preparedness agency students were invited to work with well-known Architects on designs for schools protected against various environmental hazards the group produced models and drawings of five School designs which combine Fallout protection with protection against man pollution and the elements the total design concept was used to solve these real problems they were considered before design began as important factors in each school project they were kept in Mind by the design teams from the very beginning of the design process as a result important protective features were included imaginatively without impairing function or appearance and with little or no increase in estimated construction costs for those interested protective School design information is available from the defense civil preparedness agency Washington DC now let's look at some actual examples of schools in use today which have been designed and built with environmental hazards in mind this is a new school in Swanton Vermont it's the Miss squ Valley Union High School basically it's a group of round structures or pods connected the various pods contain space for different school activities one is an academic complex the perimeter constitutes an open hallway joining 11 classrooms the open concept allows for teen teaching and other educational techniques notice the absence of Windows in vulnerable locations and the massive design of the walls glass damage in this school would not be the problem it is in older type schools with large expanses of Windows near the ground in addition to reducing the potential for vandalism these solid walls combat noise pollution the Department of Housing and Urban Development and its guide to Architects and Engineers on the control of noise states that for any given type of construction the heavier or more massive the wall or floor structure the better its sound insulation this is East Central High School in Tulsa Oklahoma the building was designed with curved double exterior walls to develop strength and provide for better climate control and sound control this is important because the high school is near the Tulsa International Airport the masonry exterior walls are supported on a steel frame Mass used to attenuate sound and reduce vandalism also produces a bonus by by increasing the school's ability to provide fallout shelter spaces at no extra cost the building is air conditioned and virtually windowless windows are located over the four major entrances the same designs and materials which give protection against vandalism noise pollution and natural disasters also provide excellent protection from radioactive fallout If Ever Needed school children represent more than a quarter of the total population of the United States their safety is naturally a vital concern to all of us in the face of natural and nuclear hazards children are relatively defenseless Fallout protection is an added safety feature that can be incorporated into school buildings which house our youngsters for a good portion of the day and provide additional emergency shelter for the community in time of disaster the Nathan halil Intermediate School School of Crestwood illinois is located in an area which occasionally experiences tornadoes the gymnasium was therefore designed to Shield against the force of a tornado a folded plate roof of concrete and brick-faced concrete walls provide the desired protection the design for tornado protection needed only minor additional considerations to meet Faller protection requirements as well this is Lamar High School Lamar Colorado here we see strong masonry and brick construction this facility can double as a fallout shelter if necessary notice the minimal window area at vulnerable locations no vandalism potential here at Conway Arkansas they were running out of open space on the campus of Hendrick's College when the college built a new library it was put below ground to preserve a quadrangle the results the added bonus of no vandalism noise pollution or natural disaster problems and of course plenty of Fallout protection this is a new wallbrook High School in Baltimore Maryland the massive type of construction shown here affords ample protection against noise pollution vandalism the natural element and would provide excellent protection against Fallout radiation yet it contains Pleasant glassed in Vistas to an open court the Dr Charles R Drew Junior High School in Detroit Michigan was purposely designed to minimize the effects of vandalism in potential civil disturbances a disturbance occurred at the school shortly after it was opened this is leis Goldstein staff architect for the Detroit Board of Education would you please tell us about the disturbance the incident occurred when an emergency substitute teacher was released from the school approximately 100 students took part in the demonstration the damage occurred principally at the entrance to the school to the plexiglass windows and to the lockers inside the school do you feel that damage was limited by the architect's design of the school definitely in a conventionally designed School the damage would have exceeded $100,000 in this case it was less than one10 of [Music] that with vision judgment and Common Sense today's architect can solve for the educator the problems created by environmental hazards we can give for our children a pleasant and protective environment for [Music] education