Additionally, the brown-eyed students got to sit in the front of the class, while the blue-eyed kids . . 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 blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. Open Document. Subsequently the brown-eyed children stopped objecting, even when Miss Elliott and the blue-eyed kids chastised and bullied them. As a journalism professor and author of a book on race that spans more than 50 years, Ive watched these developments with great concern. 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 . Jane divided the class into 9 brown eyes and 9 blue eyes. (2013). In this article, we talk about leadership and female discrimination.. Classroom experiment. School ought to be about developing character, but most teachers won't touch that with a ten-foot pole.". The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Elliott had a talk with her students about diversity and racism. That says very plainly that you know whats happening, you know you dont want it for you. Need an original essay on Essay Sample: Ethical Concerns in Jane Elliot's Experiment? 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. I want to know why youre so willing to accept it or to allow it to happen for others., The first reaction I get from teachers, who see this film or from hearing, hear me discuss what I do say to me How can you do that to these little children? 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). It's the Jane Elliott machine. The experiment known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves - those with blue eyes and those with brown. 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. 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. The exercise is "an inoculation against racism," she says. Her class, The searing story is a cautionary tale that examines power and privilege in and out of the classroom. She chatted about the experiment, and before she knew it was whisked off the stage. Elliott? However, in this classroom, having blue-eyes had become a condition of inferiority. The hate and discrimination that we see in adults have their origin in their upbringing. Elliott asked. When she separated the class by eye color and announced that blue-eyed children were superior, Paul Bodensteiner objected at every turn. You give them something nice and they just wreck it." You can start from that point in Activity 2, or you can play the video from the beginning (00:00) so that your students can see civil rights era footage following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as Elliott's students returning to Iowa . The next day, Jane made it known to the students that she had made a mistake and that the brown-eyed pupils were better and smarter than their counterparts. She compromised the APA's Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard because she lied, after that she recanted the lies and kept as they were justified because of her greater purpose. The day after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination in 1968, Jane Elliott, a schoolteacher in rural Iowa, introduced to her all-white third-grade class a shocking . ", Absolutely not. "I understand this is the first time you've flown?" In Jane Elliott's experiment she made the third graders believe that the blue eyed people were better,than the brown eyed people. If this arbitrary division that Elliott enforced for a few hours created so many problems in this classroom, whats happening on a larger scale? Blue eyes, brown eyes: Jane Elliott's race experiment 50 years later Articles and opinions on happiness, fear and other aspects of human psychology. 2012 2023 . And what she did caused an uproar. The brown-eyed students also exercised a certain level of power over the blue-eyed students when they put the armbands on them. ", 2023 Smithsonian Magazine The secretary said the south side of the building was closed, something about waxing the hallways. 5/21/2020 Topic: Module 2 Discussion: . But Elliotts experiment had a more sinister impact. "I think these children walked in a colored child's moccasins for a day," she was quoted as saying. Hire a professional with VAST experience! 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. In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. Carson asked, grinning. The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves, students with blue eyes and those with brown. Why Did Jane Elliott Choose Eye Color To Divide Her Students? A difference as simple as eye color, defined and established by the authority figure, created a rift between the students. . Before she could answer, another boy piped up: "If she didn't have blue eyes, she'd be the principal or the superintendent.". Thats what it feels like when youre discriminated against., -A child participant in the Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes experiment-. ABC broadcast a documentary about her work. There is a way to avoid editing or writing from scratch! According to the article is Jane Elliot's experiment to small degree effective. Disclaimer: SpeedyPaper.com is a custom writing service that provides online on-demand writing work for assistance purposes. Jane Elliott at Riceville, Iowa, Elementary School in 1968. 1. 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. In fact, most of the initial response was negative. I often think about Paul Bodensteiner. When Differences Matter | Facing History and Ourselves The results are mixed. Written and verified by the psychologist Francisco Roballo. One group consisted pupils with brown eye while the other group consisted of those with blue eyes. They felt superior and had the support of the authority figure (the teacher). Elliott and I were sitting at her dining room table. She told her students that she had made a mistake the previous day and that brown-eyed students . You must get the parents first. The students were surprised, but they didnt argue. "Not one of them reprimanded her for that or even corrected her. Given the ethical concerns, will you still rely on a quasi-experimental research design as a source of information in counselling psychology? Part of the problem is that the blue-eyed group is exclusively white, while the brown-eyed group is predominantly non-white, so that eye colour is no longer an analogue or metaphor for race but a . She repeated the abuse with subsequent classes, and finally turned it into a fully commercial enterprise. Before proceeding with the test, she began with random questions to fully understand the children's perception of Negroes. "I know who she is. Two years later, a BBC documentary captured the experiment in Elliott's classroom. Issues such as the right to know, the right to privacy, and informed consent. ", Elliott says the role of a teacher is to enhance students' moral development. Jane Elliot's Experiment - 879 Words | Bartleby Little children don't like uproar in the classroom. The minimal group paradigm has shaped an entire methodology in social psychology. One of the main ones was the fact that their right to withdraw was taken away from them. This meeting, along with other clips of the exercises impact on education, is featured in a PBS documentary called A Class Divided. I felt like hitting them if I wanted to. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. To most people, it seemed to suggest that racism could be reduced, even eliminated, by a one- or two-day exercise. "If this ugly change, if this negative change can happen this quickly, why can't positive change happen that quickly? The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 prompted educator Jane Elliott to create the now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise ." As a school teacher in the small town of Riceville, Iowa, Elliott first conducted the anti-racism experiment on her all-white third-grade classroom, the day after the civil rights leader was killed. Most Riceville residents seem to have an opinion of Elliott, whether or not they've met her. Malinda Whisenhunt? "It's happening every day in this country, right now," she said in an interview with Morning Edition. The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment. Blue eyes, brown eyes: What Jane Elliott's famous experiment says about race 50 years on. She knew that the children weren't going to buy her pitch unless she came up with a reason, and the more scientific to these Space Age children of the 1960s, the better. Could you?". "She said, on the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, 'I don't know why you're doing that I thought it was about time somebody shot that son of a bitch,' " she said. Elliott was not. Children with brown eyes were forced to wear armbands that made it easy for people to see that they had brown eyes. In explaining the experiment rules to the brown-eyed contestants, she addresses the people of color in the room. She has . Initial Reaction to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Exercise. When you read about this experiment, its hard not to question labels. 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. 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. This was intentional. . The roots of racism and why it continues unabated in America and other nations are complicated and gnarled. 4 Pages. 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. She has led training sessions at General Electric, Exxon, AT&T, IBM and other corporations, and has lectured to the IRS, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Department of Education and the Postal Service. Three sections were selected to be administered the simulation . ", 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. This way, she successfully created two distinct groups in her classroom: The consequences of the minimal group became evident very quickly. Folks leave their cars unlocked, keys in the ignition. "Blue-eyed people sit around and do nothing. [White people] on the other hand, don't have to understand them. Below, . Blue Eyes Brown Eyes - Jane Elliott | Practical Psychology In the 60s, the United States was in the midst of a social race crisis. Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes: The Jane Elliott Experiment - Exploring Your Mind January 1, 2003. "We'll just be a couple of minutes. Jane Elliot's experiment explains the reasons for discrimination to a small extent. Outside, rows of corn stretched to the horizon. ", Then, the inevitable: "Hey, Mrs. Elliott, how come you're the teacher if you've got blue eyes?" When the exercise ended, some of the kids hugged, some cried. Kors writes that Elliott's exercise taught "blood-guilt and self-contempt to whites," adding that "in her view, nothing has changed in America since the collapse of Reconstruction." Blue-eyed people would get 5 extra minutes on the playground and blue-eyed people could not talk to brown-eyed people. Did they know what it was like to be discriminated against? he asked. "How do you think it would feel to be a Negro boy or girl?" "On an airplane, it is," Elliott said to appreciative laughter from the studio audience. She continued to conduct the exercise with her third graders. 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. It was the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968 that Elliott ran her first "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise in her Riceville, Iowa classroom. You didnt understand the directions. Elliott created the blue-eyes/brown-eyes classroom exercise in 1968 to teach students about racism. (Byrnes & Kiger, 1992). She asked the other teachers what they were doing to bring news of the King assassination into their classrooms. "Well, what do you expect from him, Mrs. Elliott," a brown-eyed student said as a blue-eyed student got an arithmetic problem wrong. She was 10 before the farmhouse had running water and electricity. Yes, that day was tough. This was the smaller group. After recess that day, the brown-eyed children complained that they were . hide caption. Not only were they fewer in numbers, but the authority figure was against them. Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. The contents of Exploring Your Mind are for informational and educational purposes only. Thus, the dominant group, supported by the authorities, will always have the upper hand. 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. There are risks to those inoculations, too, but we determine that those risks are worth taking. They are more civilized than blue-eyed people. The tallest structure in Riceville is the water tower. These differences lead to war and hate. Role Theory: Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors. "Why?" "It's the same thing over and over again," Cross says. 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. At this point you may wish to tell the pupils that you are conducting an "experiment" to look at what prejudice is. New York: Elsevier Science. To this day, at the age of 86, Jane Elliott continues this work. 10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today - Mental Floss A class divided: lessons learned - Times Bulletin Abstract The effectiveness of a well-known prejudice-reduction simulation, "Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes," was assessed as a tool for changing the attitudes of ncnblack teacher eduction students toward blacks. Back in the classroom, Elliott's experiment had taken on a life of its own. The blue-eyed students, when told they were superior and offered privileges such as extra recess time, changed their behavior dramatically and their attitudes toward the children with brown eyes. She split the class in two categories, according to eye color, and told the children that one group was superior to the others. However, the study shows some bias in the sample size and race of participants. We Are Repeating The Discrimination Experiment Every Day, Says - NPR Evaluation of Jane Elliott's "Blue-Eyed Brown-Eyes" The children said yes, and the exercise began. Nobodys standing here. Elliott separated her all-white class of students into two groups: blue-eyed children and brown-eyed children. Sadly, these conversations are still relevant today. Professor Jane Elliott performed a group experiment with her students that they would never forget. Exercise or Experiment-- An Account of Jane Elliott's Tenacity: A 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. She was a local girl and the other teachers were intimidated by her success. THE ANGRY EYE , a 35-minute video, features Jane Elliott conducting her Blue Eyed/Brown Eyed exercise with college students. They wouldnt be allowed second helpings for lunch. 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." Order original essays online. "The browneyed people are the better people in this room," Elliott began. The Brown Eyed / Blue Eyed Experiment. It has everything to do with power.. Grasping for a scientific explanation, she ended up claiming that melanin makes eyes darker, and makes . Not a day goes by without me thinking about it, Ms. Elliott. The students who had blue eyes were told that they were better and smarter than their inferior brown-eyed peers. Though Jane's actions were justifiable because she was not a psychologist, her experiment cannot be replicated in the present society. . "Do blue-eyed people remember what they've been taught?" We dont have to learn about those who are other than white. A second look at the blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment that taught third-graders about racism. (In later versions of the exercise, children in the inferior group were given collars to wear.). All 28 children found their desks, and Elliott said she had something special for them to do, to begin to understand the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. the day before. She asked them if they would like to experience what it felt like to be in a person of colors shoes. SpeedyPaper website, please click below to request its removal: Liked this essay sample but need an original one? These initial criticisms didnt stop Elliott. Problems with this research were that it went against a lot of ethical issues. The fourth of five children, Elliott was born on her family's farm in Riceville in 1933, and was delivered by her Irish-American father himself. The brown-eyed children didnt want to play with the blue-eyes during recess. She and her husband, Darald Elliott, then a grocer, have four children, and they, too, felt a backlash. Ethical Experiments - AP Psychology-NWHS 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 . Jane Elliot and the Blue-Eyed Children Experiment. "Let me look at you," Elliott said. Back when she introduced the experiment to her Iowa students more than five decades ago, at least one student had the audacity to challenge Elliotts premise, according to those who were in the classroom at the time. It has since evolved into an online blog and YouTube channel providing mental health advice, tools, and academic support to individuals from all backgrounds. Elliott turned into Americas mother of diversity training. When Elliott conducted the exercise the next year, she added something extra to collect data. Youve probably heard different versions of it. On the second day of the experiment, Elliott switched the childrens roles. 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. Brown-eyed people. Traditionally, society has always treated leadership as a male issue. When my grandchildren are old enough, I'd give anything if you'd try the exercise out on them. When the blue-eyed group saw that the brown-eyed group was going to be seated first, some became upset. "You can see the look on their faces. As the morning wore on, brown-eyed kids berated their blue-eyed classmates. Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. "A Class Divided": How We Learn to Discriminate - Psychology Today At recess, three brown-eyed girls ganged up on her. I felt mad. ", Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise, 'I See These Conversations As Protective': Talking With Kids About Race. One key assumption is that the sample population represents an actual society. It is a must . "He's a bluey! ", Others have praised Elliott's exercise. In doing the research for my book with scores of peoples who were participants in the experiment, I reached out to Elliott. Jane Elliott's experiment of dividing an otherwise homogenous group of school kids by their eye color. She says that its shocking how children whore normally kind, cooperative, and friendly with each other suddenly become arrogant, discriminatory, and hostile when they belong to a superior group. "We just want to peek in," I volunteered. "It's Riceville 30 years ago. Terms of Use She decided to continue the exercise with her students after lunch. The video . When some of the . Ethical Issues With Jane Elliott's Experiment "Because we might catch something," a brown-eyed boy said. Keep me from judging a man until I have walked a mile in his moccasins. This is a Sioux saying. Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? In this article, we'll explain what happened during the experiment and discuss its consequences. The following are some of her most insightful quotes on these issues. To Kill A Mockingbird Quotes - 1072 Words | Internet Public Library Considering all the stereotypes and prejudices that exist, what kind of damage is being done? The experiment is to help the children to understand about prejudice and discrimination. What can be changed to make the blue eyes and brown eyes experiment What Was the Purpose of the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? Hundreds of viewers wrote letters saying Elliott's work appalled them. Stripping away the veneer of the experiment, what was left had nothing to do with race. Blue or Brown; A Classroom Divided | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) Your Privacy Rights "That you, Ms. Even family members can turn against each other if some authority suddenly decides that those differences are a problem. 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 . people are better than blue-eyed people. She gave all of the students simple spelling and math tests two weeks before the exercise, on the days of the exercise, and after the exercise. The kids in the bottom group became timider and kept to themselves. ", "I've never forgotten the exercise," Whisenhunt volunteered. At first, she cooperated with me. From the University of California Press website: 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. Jane Elliott's blue eye brown eye case study is/isn't more ethical than The people and cultures already present in a place often feel threatened by new immigrants. All rights reserved. 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. You have the right color eyes!. ", Steve Harnack, 62, served as the elementary school principal beginning in 1977. 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. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise received national attention shortly after it ended. Why are we still talking about this experiment over 50 years later? Racism is not genetical. To begin with, Jane Elliot's experiment involved deception in which the children were made in believing that change in eye color influence intelligence. The second day, Elliott reversed the groups. This bibliography was generated on Cite This For Me on Monday, March 7, 2016. Social Emotional Learning Lessons for Jane Elliott - Advancement Courses Many of them noted that when they hear prejudice and discrimination from others, they wish they could whip out those collars and give them the experience they had as third graders. "The racists carry on, so I carry on." The lives and legacies of Dr. Jane Elliott and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are inextricably linked. Theyd have to use paper cups if they drank from the water fountain. Then tell them that . A columnist at a Denver newspaper called it "evil. Jane Elliott, shown here in 2009, remains an outspoken advocate against racism. One of the blue eyed even went to hit a brown eyed just for the fact that he was brown eyed. Did We Fail the Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes ExperimentOr Did It Fail Us? Even though some of the children said yes, Elliott pushed back. Kellen Castineiras PSY Dr. Gail C. Flanagan February 6, 2022. . "Maybe the way to sell the exercise would have been to invite the parents in, to talk about what she'd be doing. She described to her colleagues what she'd done, remarking how several of her slower kids with brown eyes had transformed themselves into confident leaders of the class. "We give our children shots to inoculate them against polio and smallpox, to protect them against the realities in the future. She would conduct the exercise for the nine more years she taught the third grade, and the next eight years she taught seventh and eighth graders before giving up teaching in Riceville, in 1985, largely to conduct the eye-color exercise for groups outside the school. One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle the exercise and would be seriously damaged by the exercise. The interaction only strengthened Elliott's resolve. she asked the children, who were white. The blue-eyed girl apologized. "I think third grade was too young for what she did. Having in mind that it would be difficult to explain to third graders about discrimination, she needed to be more practical so that her student could understand how discrimination and prejudice felt. Not everyone appreciated Elliotts exercise. As a school teacher in the small town of Riceville, Iowa, Elliott first conducted the anti-racism experiment on her all-white third-grade classroom, the day after the civil rights leader was killed. In the case of any doubt, it's best to consult a trusted specialist.