The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves, students with blue eyes and those with brown. The following are some of her most insightful quotes on these issues. It occurs to me that for a teacher, the arrival of new students at the start of each school year has a lot in common with the return of crops each summer. She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. A difference as simple as eye color, defined and established by the authority figure, created a rift between the students. The brown-eyed students also exercised a certain level of power over the blue-eyed students when they put the armbands on them. ", Jane shielded her eyes from the morning sun. Pasicznyk joined 75 other employees for a training session in the companys suburban Denver headquarters in the late 1980s. In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. Tears formed in the corners of Elliott's eyes. a brown-eyed boy asked. 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). All rights reserved. One of the blue eyed even went to hit a brown eyed just for the fact that he was brown eyed. 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. All rights reserved. Even family members can turn against each other if some authority suddenly decides that those differences are a problem. The students who had blue eyes were told that they were better and smarter than their inferior brown-eyed peers. Professor Jane Elliott performed a group experiment with her students that they would never forget. In 1970, a documentary about the exercise was released. "We are repeating the blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise on a daily basis.". Although actions from the experiment show lack of respect towards subjects it has widely been recognized in the study of human behavior in social and cultural context. Elliott started to see her own white privilege, even her own ignorance. The next day when the tables were turned, "I felt like quitting school. The hate and discrimination that we see in adults have their origin in their upbringing. It makes you proud. Why was the Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment considered unethical in psychology? And they are smarter than blue-eyed people." The brown-eyed children got to sit in the front of the room, to go to lunch first, and to have more time at recess. "Your son got what he deserved," the woman said. When the blue-eyed group saw that the brown-eyed group was going to be seated first, some became upset. In Zimbardo's experiment the conditions were much more controlled for later study but the r. When Elliott conducted the exercise the next year, she added something extra to collect data. "It changed my life. Perhaps because the outcome seemed so optimistic and comforting, coverage of Elliott and the experiments alleged curative powers cropped up everywhere. 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 stirs people up. ", 2023 Smithsonian Magazine A columnist at a Denver newspaper called it "evil. The blue-eyed brown-eyed experiment was conducted by Jane Elliott, a school teacher from Iowa, in which she separated blue eyed children from brown eyed children and took turns making one of the "superior" to the other. While Jane Elliot's experiment makes several assumptions, it also has some ethical concerns. SYNOPSIS OF BLUE EYED. One scholar asserts that it is "Orwellian" and teaches whites "self-contempt." Elliott's friends and family say she's tenacious, and has always had a reformer's zeal. Elliott championed the experiment as an inoculation against racism., [The Conversations Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories. "The browneyed people are the better people in this room," Elliott began. "This here is Jane Elliott," I said. [online] Today I Found Out. Looking back, I think part of the problem was that, like the residents of other small midwestern towns I've covered, many in Riceville felt that calling attention to oneself was poor manners, and that Elliott had shone a bright light not just on herself but on Riceville; people all over the United States would think Riceville was full of bigots. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd. "No person of any age [was] going to leave my presence with those attitudes unchallenged," Elliott said. Mental Sandboxes and Their Usefulness in Today's World, The Law of Reversed Effort: When Taking Action Isn't the Best Option. ", When I met Elliott in 2003, she hadn't been back to Riceville in 12 years. Blue eyes, brown eyes: What Jane Elliott's famous experiment says about race 50 years on. Things even got violent at recess. Right off the bat, she picked me out of the room and called me Barbie, Pasicznyk told me. Some people feel we can't move on when you have her out there hawking her 30-year-old experiment. And Im only doing this as an exercise that every child knows is an exercise and every child knows is going to end at the end of the day., We learn to be racist, therefore we can learn not to be racist. In 1970, she demonstrated it for educators at a White House Conference on Children and Youth. I think it can. . She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. The results are mixed. Unfortunately, you cant copy samples. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. Much like the Zimbardo's Stanford Prison experiment where students were divided by either being the jailer or the jailed. Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Website. "Do blue-eyed people remember what they've been taught?" Blue-eyed people would get 5 extra minutes on the playground and blue-eyed people could not talk to brown-eyed people. 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 experiment to demonstrate . Elliott began the exercise by dividing her students by eye color. Back in the classroom, Elliott's experiment had taken on a life of its own. Jane Elliott, one of the most controversial figures in U.S. education and diversity training, began her journey to international acclaim in Riceville, Iowa. "I think third grade was too young for what she did. In doing the research for my book with scores of peoples who were participants in the experiment, I reached out to Elliott. "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. When Sarah, the Elliotts' oldest daughter, went to the girls' bathroom in junior high, she came out of a stall to see a message scrawled in red lipstick on the mirror: "Nigger lover.". The tallest structure in Riceville is the water tower. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. But the protests happening now have given her hope. Order from one of our vetted writers instead, First name should have at least 2 letters, Phone number should have at least 10 digits, Free Essay with a Response to Cross Words by UIW President Louis Agnese, How Does Donald Duk View His Chinese Heritage? Today, she says, it's still playing out as the U.S. reckons with racial injustice. Brown-eyed people. "Because we might catch something," a brown-eyed boy said. Not everyone appreciated Elliotts exercise. The results showed a reversal effect in which the blue-eyed students showed signs of inferiority and low self-esteem. The subjects were 164 students enrolled in eight sections of an introductory elementary education course at a state university. On Friday, April 5, 1968, in Riceville, IA, a third-grade student walked . Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER! Jane Elliot's experiment explains the reasons for discrimination to a small extent. She had never met me, and she accused me in front of everyone of using my sexuality to get ahead.. And StanfordUniversity psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo writes in his 1979 textbook, Psychology and Life, that Elliott's "remarkable" experiment tried to show "how easily prejudiced attitudes may be formed and how arbitrary and illogical they can be." In a grassy front yard down the block is a hand-lettered sign: "Glads for Sale, 3 for $1." Withdrawn brown-eyed kids were suddenly outgoing, some beaming with the widest smiles she had ever seen on them. Classroom experiment. Kids on top would tease the children who were deemed as the inferior group. She then made the blue-eyed students believe that they were better and smarter than their counterparts. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Elliott had a talk with her students about diversity and racism. "You know, sweetheart, you haven't changed one bit. hide caption. The smell of the crops and loam and topsoil and manure wafted though the open door. But in reality, I found in researching for my book Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes that the experiment was a sadistic exhibition of power and authority levers controlled by Elliott. Amitai Etzioni, a sociologist at George WashingtonUniversity, says the exercise helps develop character and empathy. She split the class in two categories, according to eye color, and told the children that one group was superior to the others. Brown-eyed people, she told the students, are smarter, more civilized and better than blue-eyed people. The latter felt discriminated against by the other brown-eyed children. Jane Elliots work and experiences have made her an authority on education and anti-racism. At her lunch break that day in the teacher's lounge, she told her colleagues about the exercise. The Hangout Bar & Grill, the Riceville Pharmacy and ATouch of Dutch, a restaurant owned by Mennonites, line Main Street. ISBN 9780520382268. According to the article is Jane Elliot's experiment to small degree effective. Elliott said that blue-eyed people were less intelligent and less clean. 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. Within a few hours of starting the exercise, Elliott noticed big differences in the childrens behavior and how they treated each other. She wanted them to understand what discrimination felt like. 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. Youve probably heard different versions of it. She told them brown-eyed . At points, you are likely to feel uncomfortable. This procedure is sometimes so subtle that no one notices it happening. Everyone's tired of her. 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. ", Others have praised Elliott's exercise. Grey eyes are also a rare eye color. Yet what Elliott did continues to stir controversy. ", Absolutely not. What Lies Behind Your Urgent Need to Answer Work E Mails? On Monday, Elliott reversed the exercise, and the brown-eyed kids were told how shifty, dumb and lazy theywere. The first thing that Jane Elliott did was divide the children into groups: those with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. Researchers later concluded that there was evidence that the students became less prejudiced after the study and that it was inconclusive as to whether or not the potential harm outweighed the benefits of the exercise. Why do researchers use correlational studies? The fact that children are easy to manipulate into acting in a particular manner explains Jane's choice of sample. Nevertheless, Elliott became as famous as a teacher could become in America. Role Theory: Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors. After the exercise white college students in . That got the other teachers angry. Articles and opinions on happiness, fear and other aspects of human psychology. 2012 2023 . Immediately after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Professor Jane Elliott used the minimal group paradigm to perform an experiment that would teach her students about race discrimination. I felt mad. The empathy she works to inspire in students with the experiment, which has been modified over the years, is necessary, she said. one girl asked. In 1968 after Martin Luther King was assassinated the United States was in turmoil. Blue-eyed people. Why are we still talking about this experiment over 50 years later? Although Jane Elliot's intentions were to teach the youngsters about racism, ethical issues related to the simulation were raised. It's cruel to white children and will cause them great psychological damage. Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment Ethical? In the 60th year beyond Brown vs. Board of Education, Frontline is making available their classic 1985 documentary, " A Class Divided ," about the experiment and what happened later. Or alternatively you may decide to keep them in ignorance of what is happening. Brian, the Elliotts' oldest son, got beaten up at school, and Jane called the ringleader's, mother. Danko, M. (2013). Would you like to get this essay by email? "Maybe the way to sell the exercise would have been to invite the parents in, to talk about what she'd be doing. In 2001, she was still trying to make a change. Her bold experiment to teach Iowa third graders about racial prejudice divided townspeople and thrust her onto the national stage. One example that has been in place for many years is the blue-eyed/brown-eyed experiment. Yes, that day was tough. Considering all the stereotypes and prejudices that exist, what kind of damage is being done? Their response is to create dichotomies of inferiority and superiority. She has made statements about the increase in hate crimes and racism in recent years. ( 1985-03-26) " A Class Divided " is a 1985 episode of the PBS series Frontline. They are steeped in centuries of economic deprivation and cultural appropriation. Elliott had hoped that this experiment would help the children to better understand the feelings of discrimination that certain groups feel on a daily basis, but what she didn .
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