Thus, the dominant group, supported by the authorities, will always have the upper hand. It also documents small-town White America's reflex reaction to the . "The browneyed people are the better people in this room," Elliott began. She told them brown-eyed . ", "I've never forgotten the exercise," Whisenhunt volunteered. Fourteen years later, the students featured in The Eye of the Storm reunited and discussed their experiences with Elliott. That phrase came to my mind when I watched the video, A Class Divided, about education experiment to teach stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination (Frontline, 1985 . And the exercise continued in a similar fashion to how it was executed the day before. ", For years scholars have evaluated Elliott's exercise, seeking to determine if it reduces racial prejudice in participants or poses a psychological risk to them. Elliot's approach to the experiment involved creativity in which the pupils' age and ability to comprehend discrimination was taken into account. ", Steve Harnack, 62, served as the elementary school principal beginning in 1977. They are more civilized than blue-eyed people. They were also relevant in the 1950s when Elliott first began this work. There were more brown-eyed students in the room. As for the criticism that the exercise encourages children to distrust authority figuresthe teacher lies, then recants the lies and maintains they were justified because of a greater goodshe says she worked hard to rebuild her students' trust. Professor Jane Elliott performed a group experiment with her students that they would never forget. All the work should be used in accordance with the appropriate policies and applicable laws. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. She asked them if they would like to experience what it felt like to be in a person of colors shoes. The anti-racism sessions Elliott led were intense. Or alternatively you may decide to keep them in ignorance of what is happening. Now 45, she had been in Elliott's third grade class in 1969. Many educators responded by holding mandatory workshops on institutional racism and implicit bias, reforming teaching methods and lesson plans and searching for ways to amplify undersung voices. Jane Elliott on The Tonight Show on May 31, 1968. 10," Elliott said. Sign up for Politics Weekly.]. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. Order from one of our vetted writers instead. She told her students that she had made a mistake the previous day and that brown-eyed students . In response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, Jane Elliott devised the controversial and startling, "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Exercise." This, now famous, exercise labels participants as inferior or superior based solely upon the color of their eyes and exposes them to the experience of . Children with brown eyes were forced to wear armbands that made it easy for people to see that they had brown eyes. Classroom experiment. Junior high, maybe. "This here is Jane Elliott," I said. She believed that experience was the only way her students could understand how it felt like to be discriminated. Need an original essay on Essay Sample: Ethical Concerns in Jane Elliot's Experiment? Unfortunately, you cant copy samples. The May 25 killing of George Floyd set off weeks of nationwide protests over the police abuse and racism against black people, plunging the U.S. into a reckoning of racial inequality. "She was an excellent school teacher, but she has a way about her," says 90-year-old Riceville native Patricia Bodenham, who has known Elliott since Jane was a baby. The ethical concerns arising from the experiment are consent and deception. I have brown eyes. The students were surprised, but they didnt argue. She has spoken at more than 350 colleges and universities. She had never met me, and she accused me in front of everyone of using my sexuality to get ahead.. Mental Floss, 4. 5/21/2020 Topic: Module 2 Discussion: However, both Mary and Zeke have brown eyes. The blue-eyed girl apologized. Elliott was even brought on The Tonight Show to talk about her experiences. Shermer and Bloom discuss: "Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes" Jane Elliott famous racism experiment reactions to it (in the classroom, locally, nationally, internationally) whether the "experiment" was really more of a demonstration public interest, from Johnny Carson to Oprah Winfrey the questionable ethics of the experiment what it reveals about tribalism, racism . A columnist at a Denver newspaper called it "evil. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Elliott had a talk with her students about diversity and racism. According to role theorist Erving Goffman, emotional and cognitive experiences in such experiments as the Blue-Eyed versus the Brown-Eyed can have a long-term influence on behaviors and attitudes of participants especially when they are made to play the role of a stigmatized group (Biddle, 2013). The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 was also an event that spurred educators to action, motivating one teacher to try out a bold experiment touted to reduce racism. I was stunned. It also shows how arbitrary and subjective things can turn friends, family members, and citizens against each other. Let's just move on. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 prompted educator Jane Elliott to create the now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise.". one girl asked. In Jane Elliott's experiment she made the third graders believe that the blue eyed people were better,than the brown eyed people. "Let me look at you," Elliott said. A difference as simple as eye color, defined and established by the authority figure, created a rift between the students. "It would be hard to know, wouldn't it, unless we actually experienced discrimination ourselves. They wouldnt be allowed second helpings for lunch. Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? View Module 2 Discussion_ Are We Still Divided_ Blue Eyes_Brown Eyes_ A 3rd Grade Lesson for Us All.pdf from HUMN 330 at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She continued to conduct the exercise with her third graders. Withdrawn brown-eyed kids were suddenly outgoing, some beaming with the widest smiles she had ever seen on them. Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes offers an intimate portrait of the insular community where Elliott grew up and conducted the experiment on the town's children for more than a decade. Nobodys standing here. But not Elliott. Throughout the day, Elliott continued to give the children with blue eyes special treatment. On the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in April 1968, Jane Elliott's third graders from the small, all-white town of Riceville, Iowa, came to class . Elliott created the blue-eyes/brown-eyes classroom exercise in 1968 to teach students about racism. "How dare you try this cruel experiment out on white children," one said. Despite the adaptation of the experiment in psychological studies, Jane has been widely criticized for her unethical conduct and promotion of discrimination among children. Why was the Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment considered unethical in psychology? Elliott was shocked by the results and decided to switch the roles the following day. "He's a bluey! I felt mad. Consequently, the brown-eyed children started using blue-eyes as an insult. We dont have to learn about those who are other than white. "Why?" Some guidelines for avoiding or reducing this effect are: In conclusion, Jane Elliotts experiment demonstrates the fragility of coexistence and cooperation. Normally, blue-eyes isnt an insult. Mental Sandboxes and Their Usefulness in Today's World, The Law of Reversed Effort: When Taking Action Isn't the Best Option. As the morning wore on, brown-eyed kids berated their blue-eyed classmates. To this day, at the age of 86, Jane Elliott continues this work. Elliott went after Ken and Barbie all day long, drilling, accusing, ridiculing them, to make the point that whites make baseless judgments about Blacks all the time, Pasicznyk said. If you had a good German name, but you had brown eyes, they threw you into the gas chamber because they thought you might be a Jewish person who was trying to pass. They embraced the experiments reductive message, as well as its promised potential, thereby keeping the implausible rationale of Elliotts crusade alive and well for decades, however flawed and racist it really was. The goal of the minimal group paradigm is to establish subjective differences and create a climate of favoritism. One even wrote a lipstick message with racial slurs. They are steeped in centuries of economic deprivation and cultural appropriation. The first day of the experiment she convinced the children that blue-eyed people were smarter, better and would have more priorities. In Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues That Teach Kids to Do the Right Things, educational psychologist Michele Borda says it "teaches our children to counter stereotypes before they become full-fledged, lasting prejudices and to recognize that every human being has the right to be treated with respect." One student answers, since the day I was born. Throughout the entire experiment, Elliott leads frank conversations about race and discrimination. Elliott was featured on nearly every national news show in America for decades. On the "Tonight Show" Carson broke the ice by spoofing Elliott's rural roots. A smart blue-eyed girl who had never had problems with multiplication tables started making mistakes. She began this work in [online] Today I Found Out. Jane Elliots work and experiences have made her an authority on education and anti-racism. They don't replace the diagnosis, advice, or treatment of a professional. On April 4 1968, King was killed by the single . In fact, most of the initial response was negative. . Elliott shared the essays with her mother, who showed them to the editor of the weekly Riceville Recorder. Jane Elliott, an educator and anti-racism activist, first conducted her blue eyes/brown eyes exercise in her third-grade classroom in Iowa in 1968. In the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Elliott developed a simple exercise that explored the nature of racism and prejudice.. Elliott's method for exploring racism in the context of an all-white classroom consisted of dividing her students into two groups on the basis of eye color, blue or brown (those with other eye colors were assigned to the group . The students initially involved wished that everyone could participate in an exercise like this. Not everyone appreciated Elliotts exercise. Things even got violent at recess. You've still got that same sweet smile. We walked into the principal's office at RicevilleElementary School, Elliott's old haunt. ", Others have praised Elliott's exercise. When she separated the class by eye color and announced that blue-eyed children were superior, Paul Bodensteiner objected at every turn. In 1968 after Martin Luther King was assassinated the United States was in turmoil. Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue-eyed kids to wear one. We use them to divide and destroy people., White peoples number one freedom, in the United States of America, is the freedom to be totally ignorant of those who are other than white. Would you? The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves - those with blue eyes and those with brown. In 1970, she demonstrated it for educators at a White House Conference on Children and Youth. The roots of racism and why it continues unabated in America and other nations are complicated and gnarled. "They shot that King yesterday. See Page 1. She says its because racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and ethnocentrism are mean and nasty. In the documentary, she said that she conducted the original blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment to make a positive change. Terms of Use After the exercise white college students in . She told the kids that blue-eyed children weren't as good as brown-eyed or green-eyed ones. One example that has been in place for many years is the blue-eyed/brown-eyed experiment. Stephen G. Bloom does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Not a day goes by without me thinking about it, Ms. Elliott. The latter felt discriminated against by the other brown-eyed children. One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle . Given the long-term results of the experiment, the controversial study could not have taken place in today's society despite its significant insights on matters racism. The subjects were 164 students enrolled in eight sections of an introductory elementary education course at a state university. One teacher ended up displaying the same bigotry Elliott had spent the morning trying to fight. She repeated the abuse with subsequent classes, and finally turned it into a fully commercial enterprise. ", The two hugged, and Whisenhunt had tears streaming down her cheeks. She was a local girl and the other teachers were intimidated by her success. Carson asked, grinning. How can we teach kids to be more like him? On the first day, she told the children with blue eyes they were superior: smarter and more well-behaved than the children with brown eyes. Hire a professional with VAST experience! The killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, was a seismic event, a turning point that compelled many Americans to do something and do it with urgency. It is quite powerful to watch. Elliott championed the experiment as an inoculation against racism., [The Conversations Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories. "I think these children walked in a colored child's moccasins for a day," she was quoted as saying. Before she could answer, another boy piped up: "If she didn't have blue eyes, she'd be the principal or the superintendent.". We use them to divide and destroy people., On Understanding The Different Ways We Treat Other Races, Philip Zimbardo (Biography + Experiments). ", A chorus of "Yeahs" went up, and so began one of the most astonishing exercises ever conducted in an American classroom. Today, she says, it's still playing out as the U.S. reckons with racial injustice. "How do you think it would feel to be a Negro boy or girl?" "We are repeating the blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise on a daily basis.". Elliott separated her all-white class of students into two groups: blue-eyed children and brown-eyed children. The following are some of her most insightful quotes on these issues. The never-before-told true story of Jane Elliott and the "Blue-Eyes, Brown-Eyes Experiment" she made world-famous, using eye color to simulate racism. Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. Children often fight, argue, and sometimes hit each other, but this time they were motivated by eye color. Two students even got into a physical altercation. The brown-eyed children began to act aggressive and mean towards the blue-eyed children. "Do blue-eyed people remember what they've been taught?" On the morning of april 5, 1968, a Friday, Steven Armstrong stepped into Jane Elliott's third-grade classroom in Riceville, Iowa. Blue Eyes vs. Brown Eyes Experiment. Disclaimer: SpeedyPaper.com is a custom writing service that provides online on-demand writing work for assistance purposes. Did they know what it was like to be discriminated against? She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show five times. The publication of compositions which the children had written about the experience in the local . The blue eyes and brown eyes experiment According to supporters of Elliott's approach, the goal is to reach people's sense of empathy and morality. And our number two freedom is the freedom to deny that were ignorant., I want every white person in this room who would be happy to be treated as this society in general treats our citizens, our black citizens, if you, as a white person, would be happy to receive the same treatment that our black citizens do in this society, please stand. This was the smaller group. To most people, it seemed to suggest that racism could be reduced, even eliminated, by a one- or two-day exercise. Elliott and I were sitting at her dining room table. Therefore when she gave the blue eyed people more freedom than the brown eyed people, the blue eyed people started feeling like kings because they thought they were better, and were treated better. The next day when the tables were turned, "I felt like quitting school. Elliott continues, "Just when you think that the fertile soil can sprout no more, another season comes round, and you see another year of bountiful crops, tall and straight. ABC broadcast a documentary about her work. Blue-eyed students suggested that the teacher use a yardstick to discipline brown-eyed students that misbehaved. Why do researchers use correlational studies? ", Dean Weaver, 70, superintendent of Riceville schools from 1972 to 1979, said, "She'd just go ahead and do things. In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. "You know, sweetheart, you haven't changed one bit. She learned that the responses from the children were negative and more generalized about what they thought about black people.
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