If you were given a box with holes cut on opposite ends and told that you need to build something within the box that gets the marble from one end to the other in exactly 3 minutes and 27 seconds, what would you build?

My coworker was given this challenge as a student in grade school and he came up with what I believe is an ingenious solution. However, the judges told him that his solution was wrong and that he had cheated. I believe that his solution was perfect, but it disrupted the challenge and would force all future challenges to be changed. And the judges didn't want to change, they were offended by the disruption and called it cheating because otherwise their challenge would never be able to be the same again.

In life, when we find solutions that disrupt the norms around us, people get offended. But the most disruptive solutions, are usually the most impactful. Take a look at ChatGPT and think about how many educators are approaching it's use in school they forbid it, they punish students who use it because it is an immense disruption to the current school system. What if instead they saw the disruption as a good thing, as a way to progress and build a school system that better fits with our world.

Let me know what you think about the marble in the box problem, and let me know what solutions you came up with in the comments! I would love to hear an even more ingenious answer.