What is value? A story about a class garden

Imagine your class decides to grow a garden. Everyone wants the same thing: tomatoes, sunflowers and a place to sit in the shade.

Value

Some things help the garden grow. Mia brings seeds. Sam knows how much water plants need. Lena draws a plan so nobody steps on the beds. Each of these helps the class get closer to its goal. At ÆVRI we call this value: anything that helps a group get better at what it wants to do.

Anti-value

Other things make it harder. Two friends argue about who waters first, and nobody waters. Someone is tired of always carrying the heavy can. The plan gets lost. Nothing breaks at once, but little by little the garden gets worse. We call this anti-value. It is sneaky, because it is often hard to see.

Value moves

Value does not stay in one place. Sam teaches Mia about watering, and now two people know. That is a value flow: value moving from one person to another and growing on the way.

Everyone wants something a little different

Mia loves flowers. Sam wants to eat tomatoes. Lena likes making plans. The garden works best when each of them gets something they care about and the whole class still reaches its goal.

Try it

• Think of a team you are in: a class, a sports team or your family. What is its goal?
• Name one thing that brings value to it.
• Name one small thing that creates anti-value. How could you fix it?