NJSLA Practice Test 15

Fix It, Don’t Toss It: Why Our School Needs a Repair Café

¹Last month, I watched a classmate throw a perfectly good backpack into the trash because one zipper pull had snapped off. A new zipper pull costs less than a dollar. The backpack had years of use left in it. That moment convinced me that Garfield Middle School needs a repair café.

²A repair café is an event where people bring broken items—bikes, clothes, lamps, toys, backpacks—and volunteers help them fix those items for free. The idea started in the Netherlands in 2009, and today there are thousands of repair cafés around the world. Our school could hold one in the cafeteria on the first Friday afternoon of every month.

³A repair café would teach skills that every student can use. When you learn to sew on a button, patch a bike tire, or tighten a loose screw, you are learning to solve problems with your hands. Mr. Fairbanks, who teaches technology, has already offered to show students how to use simple tools safely.

⁴Repairing things also keeps them out of the trash. Every backpack, jacket, or lamp that gets fixed is one less item in a landfill. People who fix their own things are happier than people who buy new ones. Fixing also saves families money, because a repair usually costs far less than a replacement.

⁵A repair café would even bring our school community together. Students could work side by side with parents, grandparents, and neighbors who know how to fix things. When I visited a repair café in a nearby town, volunteers told me that some of the best conversations happen while people wait for a repair to be finished.

⁶Some people worry that a repair café would cost too much. But most repairs need only basic supplies, such as thread, glue, screws, and patches. The parent-teacher association has offered to donate a starter toolbox. A hardware store downtown has also agreed to give us a discount on supplies.

⁷Others say students are too busy for another club. A repair café is not a club, though. It happens one afternoon a month, and you can stop by for ten minutes or stay for two hours.

⁸Throwing something away takes a second. Fixing it takes a little longer, but it teaches us something every time. Let’s give Garfield Middle School a place where broken things—and the people who own them—get a second chance. If you agree, tell your homeroom teacher that you support a repair café.