We all know the terrible feeling of waiting for an icebreaker to reach you on the first day of school. Should you say something interesting about your summer, or copy something generic? Is it best to mumble rather than enunciate? These complications lead me to think that we should do away with icebreakers.
Icebreakers don’t accomplish their goal. The goal of an icebreaker has two main points: to make people know each other better and to make people feel comfortable. The first point gets nullified easily. I would not know Jane better after I learned that she has two dogs or if she says she likes New York City the best of all the North American cities. Icebreakers do not do anything to get to know someone.
Alse, they don’t make people feel comfortable. Everyone reading this can relate to the scary feeling of trying to pick a good answer that people will not remember later, for both good and bad reasons. As an example, an icebreaker I once had to participate in was to say something interesting over my summer vacation. My response was that I went on vacation. I had, in fact, not been on vacation that summer. I just thought that no one would think twice about that generic answer.
So, icebreakers accomplish nothing, but also somehow hurt students. Considering how people view your response is a hardship comparable to the feeling that you will never achieve your dreams. Every student knows what I’m talking about.
The purpose of an Icebreaker is to help people in new places, but icebreakers are especially bad for people who don’t know anyone else.
Everyone reading this is in agreement with me here. I don’t want to know if you have seen a ghost or when you would go back in time. I do not want to deal with thinking of the perfect answer. Instead, let us socialize with a dedicated lunch period. All I ask is to please stop giving icebreakers. They suck.
