Melanin, she said, is what causes intelligence. Much like the Zimbardo's Stanford Prison experiment where students were divided by either being the jailer or the jailed. ERIC - ED300491 - Ethical and Pedagogical Issues in the Use of In this documentary, Jane Elliott, a third grade teacher divided her class into two groups based on their eye color; one group had blue eyes and the other had brown eyes. One student answers, since the day I was born. Throughout the entire experiment, Elliott leads frank conversations about race and discrimination. "She stirs people up. The empathy she works to inspire in students with the experiment, which has been modified over the years, is necessary, she said. More than 50 years after her famous exercise, Elliott is still fighting. "It's the same thing over and over again," Cross says. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 prompted educator Jane Elliott to create the now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise.". When Differences Matter | Facing History and Ourselves Would you? 10," Elliott said. Order from one of our vetted writers instead. Normally, blue-eyes isnt an insult. "It changed my life. School ought to be about developing character, but most teachers won't touch that with a ten-foot pole.". ", Dean Weaver, 70, superintendent of Riceville schools from 1972 to 1979, said, "She'd just go ahead and do things. Jane Elliott's blue eye brown eye case study is/isn't more ethical than At first, she cooperated with me. The American Psychologists Principles and code of conduct state that in cases of deception, experimenters should take into consideration the potential harmful effects to participants. Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes: The Jane Elliott Experiment - Exploring Your Mind In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. On the morning of april 5, 1968, a Friday, Steven Armstrong stepped into Jane Elliott's third-grade classroom in Riceville, Iowa. "People of other color groups seem to understand," she said. I felt like hitting them if I wanted to. When Elliott walked into the teachers' lounge the next Monday, several teachers got up and walked out. On the first day, the blue-eyed students were informed that they were genetically inferior to the brown-eyed students. 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 . Folks leave their cars unlocked, keys in the ignition. ( 1985-03-26) " A Class Divided " is a 1985 episode of the PBS series Frontline. However, in this classroom, having blue-eyes had become a condition of inferiority. Weve been here before, with unsettling and disturbing results. She has made statements about the increase in hate crimes and racism in recent years. This meeting, along with other clips of the exercises impact on education, is featured in a PBS documentary called A Class Divided. When the blue-eyed group saw that the brown-eyed group was going to be seated first, some became upset. Did they know what it was like to be discriminated against? She believed that experience was the only way her students could understand how it felt like to be discriminated. "They shot that King yesterday. Would you like to find out? Initial Reaction to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Exercise. "Malinda? 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 . The first thing that Jane Elliott did was divide the children into groups: those with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. Its goal was to demonstrate what prejudice was to her third grade class. PDF Discrimination: Experimental Evidence from Psychology and Economics With over 2 million YouTube subscribers, over 500 articles, and an annual reach of almost 12 million students, it has become one of the most popular sources of psychological information. More than 50 years after she first tried that exercise in her classroom, Elliott, now 87, said she sees much more work left to do to change racist attitudes. That got the other teachers angry. The blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. Jane Elliott - Wikipedia "You know, sweetheart, you haven't changed one bit. ", A chorus of "Yeahs" went up, and so began one of the most astonishing exercises ever conducted in an American classroom. Students in the inferior groups were more likely to get a worse score. Blue eyes, brown eyes: Jane Elliott's race experiment 50 years later ", The two hugged, and Whisenhunt had tears streaming down her cheeks. After the exercise white college students in . How can put those little children through that exercise for a day? And they seem unable to relate the sympathy that theyre feeling for these little white children for a day to what happens to children of color in this society for a lifetime or to the fact that they are doing this to children based on skin color every day. In this 1998 photograph, former Iowa teacher Jane Elliott, center, speaks with two Augsburg University . Now, almost four decades later, Elliott's experiment still mattersto the grown children with whom she experimented, to the people of Riceville, population 840, who all but ran her out of town, and to thousands of people around the world who have also participated in an exercise based on the experiment. To Kill A Mockingbird Quotes - 1072 Words | Internet Public Library Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Did We Fail the Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes ExperimentOr Did It Fail Us? There are risks to those inoculations, too, but we determine that those risks are worth taking. The subjects were 164 students enrolled in eight sections of an introductory elementary education course at a state university. It's the Jane Elliott machine. As the morning wore on, brown-eyed kids berated their blue-eyed classmates. "They can't forget me," she said, "and because of who they are, they can't forgive me. Let's just move on. Its not surprising to anyone that some social groups discriminate against others due to ethnicity, religion, or culture. She wanted them to understand what discrimination felt like. The corn grows so fast in northern Iowafrom seedling to seven-foot-high stalk in 12 weeksthat it crackles. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. . Unfortunately, you cant copy samples. March 26, 1985. Alan Charles Kors, a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, says Elliott's diversity training is "Orwellian" and singled her out as "the Torquemada of thought reform." Blue-eyed children got five extra minutes of recess. Elliotts bullying rejoinder to any nonbeliever was to say that however much pain a white person felt after one or two days of made-up discrimination was nothing when compared to what Blacks endure daily. Jane Elliott (ne Jennison; born on November 30, 1933) is an American diversity educator.As a schoolteacher, she became known for her "Blue eyes/Brown eyes" exercise, which she first conducted with her third-grade class on April 5, 1968, the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Select from the 0 categories from which you would like to receive articles. The three outcomes are: (1) virtually all of the subjects reported that the experience was The next day when the tables were turned, "I felt like quitting school. Why was the Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment considered - Study The searing story is a cautionary tale that examines power and privilege in and out of the classroom. The effectiveness of a well-known prejudice-reduction simulation activity, "Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes," was assessed as a tool for changing the attitudes of nonblack teacher education students toward blacks. The answer, in a word, was nothing. 5/21/2020 Topic: Module 2 Discussion: We use them to divide and destroy people., On Understanding The Different Ways We Treat Other Races, Philip Zimbardo (Biography + Experiments). Social Emotional Learning Lessons for Jane Elliott - Advancement Courses The experiment was to be a division of eye colour starting with blue eyed student having superiority and then the following day, the roles would be reversed. Jane Elliott's Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes experiment was a turning point in social psychology. One scholar asserts that it is "Orwellian" and teaches whites "self-contempt." The nonstop parade of sickening events such as the murder of George Floyd surely is not going to be abated by a quickie experiment led by a white person for the alleged benefit of other whites as was the case with the blue-eyed, brown eyed experiment. The minimal group paradigm has shaped an entire methodology in social psychology. 296. Stephen Bloom on Jane Elliott's Famous Experiment on Race and BLUE EYED - Faciliator Guide - Newsreel Elliott created the blue-eyes/brown-eyes classroom exercise in 1968 to teach students about racism. That might have been the end of it, but a month later, Elliott says, Johnny Carson called her. Locals say that drivers don't signal when they turn because everyone knows where everyone else is going. . How can we teach kids to be more like him? She was a local girl and the other teachers were intimidated by her success. Elliott and I were sitting at her dining room table. She nodded. "I know who she is. . Regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, decision making in psychology should protect individual rights and welfare to eliminate potential biases. Jane would get invited to go to Timbuktu to give a speech. Jane Elliott at Riceville, Iowa, Elementary School in 1968. 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. The anti-racism sessions Elliott led were intense. You must get the parents first. Would you like to get this essay by email? What can be changed to make the blue eyes and brown eyes experiment Two Important Psychological Experiments: The Blue Eye/Brown Eye and On the second day, the roles were reversed, and those with brown eyes received special treatment, and the blue-eyed children were made to feel inferior (A Class, 2003). When she went downtown to do errands, she heard whispers. Mental Floss, 4. Brown eyes and blue eyes Racism experiment Children Session - Jane Open Document. If you are the original author of this essay and no longer wish to have it published on the "That you, Ms. She noticed that student relationships had changed; even if students were friendly outside of the exercise, they treated each other with arrogance or bossiness once the roles were assigned. I felt mad. You didnt understand the directions. she asked the children, who were white. Almost immediately, it was apparent that she had created segregation and prejudice given that the blue-eyed students began exhibiting signs of dominion and superiority. That same year, Elliott was invited to the White House Conference on Children and Youth to conduct an exercise on adult educators. Jane Elliott, the American schoolmarm who would rid us of our racism (2010). 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. Elliot's approach to the experiment involved creativity in which the pupils' age and ability to comprehend discrimination was taken into account. And the exercise continued in a similar fashion to how it was executed the day before. She gave the blue-eyed students an armband so other students could more easily identify them, and then she told her class that it was a scientific fact that people with brown eyes are smarter than those with blue because their bodies had more . To get her points across, Elliott hurled insults at workshop participants, particularly those who were white and had blue eyes. Consequently, the brown-eyed children started using blue-eyes as an insult. Professor of Journalism, University of Iowa. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. In 1970, Elliott would come to national attention when ABC broadcast their Eye of the Storm documentary which filmed the experiment in action. Elliot said that when the children were given the test on the same day that they were in the superior group, they tended to get the highest scores. Essay Sample: Ethical Concerns in Jane Elliot's Experiment - SpeedyPaper ", Then, the inevitable: "Hey, Mrs. Elliott, how come you're the teacher if you've got blue eyes?" Elliott reminded them that the reason for the lesson was the King assassination, and she asked them to write down what they had learned. Elliott, who is white, separated the students into two groupsthose with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. Problems with this research were that it went against a lot of ethical issues. Why'd they shoot that King?" Want a quality guarantee? 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. Elliott started to see her own white privilege, even her own ignorance. It's cruel to white children and will cause them great psychological damage. SpeedyPaper.com 2023 All rights reserved. Blue-eyed students suggested that the teacher use a yardstick to discipline brown-eyed students that misbehaved. 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. The musical is about romance, but it integrates issues of race and discrimination (Norris, 2014), and the song is about how discrimination is taught carefully, in long term. But the protests happening now have given her hope. Did we fail the blue eyes/brown eyes experiment or did it fail us? The publication of compositions which the children had written about the experience in the local . 9 Unethical Psychological Experiments That Actually Happened I felt mad. It has everything to do with power.. These are the sources and citations used to research Jane Elliott's blue eye brown eye case study is/isn't more ethical than Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment. Almost immediately, it was apparent that she had created segregation and prejudice given that the blue-eyed students began exhibiting signs of dominion and superiority. The Anti-Racism Exercise That Taught Kids to Be Racist - Gizmodo A class divided: lessons learned - Times Bulletin Kellen Castineiras PSY Dr. Gail C. Flanagan February 6, 2022. . Evaluation of Jane Elliott's "Blue-Eyed Brown-Eyes" A difference as simple as eye color, defined and established by the authority figure, created a rift between the students. The test also included violation of consent in which participation of the children was made involuntarily. Ethical Principles of Psychologists & Code of Conduct - StudyMode The nearest traffic light is 20 miles away. Fourteen years later, the students featured in The Eye of the Storm reunited and discussed their experiences with Elliott. On the "Tonight Show" Carson broke the ice by spoofing Elliott's rural roots. Kids on top would tease the children who were deemed as the inferior group. Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes: On Race and Jane Elliott's Famous Experiment on Withdrawn brown-eyed kids were suddenly outgoing, some beaming with the widest smiles she had ever seen on them. Her class, She could feel a chasm forming between the two groups of students. But they returned to a better placeunlike a child of color, who gets abused every day, and never has the ability to find him or herself in a nurturing classroom environment." On April 4 1968, King was killed by the single . This way, she successfully created two distinct groups in her classroom: The consequences of the minimal group became evident very quickly. PDF Blue eye Brown eye activity - The Classroom In a grassy front yard down the block is a hand-lettered sign: "Glads for Sale, 3 for $1."
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