The 1970s and 1980s were ripe for diversity education in the private and public sectors, and Elliott would try out the experiment at workshops on tens of thousands of participants, not just in the U.S. and Canada, but in Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Yet what Elliott did continues to stir controversy. Thats what it feels like when youre discriminated against., -A child participant in the Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes experiment-. Why are we still talking about this experiment over 50 years later? Normally, blue-eyes isnt an insult. 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. When she went downtown to do errands, she heard whispers. Their 12-year-old daughter, Mary, came home from school one day in tears, sobbing that her sixth-grade classmates had surrounded her in the school hallway and taunted her by saying her mother would soon be sleeping with black men. Children with brown eyes were forced to wear armbands that made it easy for people to see that they had brown eyes. The students who had blue eyes were told that they were better and smarter than their inferior brown-eyed peers. In the brown eyed/blue eyed experiment Jane Elliot told her third graders with blue eyes that they were better than the brown-eyed children. She slumped. Her bold experiment to teach Iowa third graders about racial prejudice divided townspeople and thrust her onto the national stage. To get her points across, Elliott hurled insults at workshop participants, particularly those who were white and had blue eyes. In this article, we talk about leadership and female discrimination.. Not a day goes by without me thinking about it, Ms. Elliott. From Elliot's highly controversial experiment it is clear that prejudice and discrimination can only be understood through experience. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise continues to be relevant. Blue-eyed students suggested that the teacher use a yardstick to discipline brown-eyed students that misbehaved. Elliott was shocked by the results and decided to switch the roles the following day. ", We stopped on Woodlawn Avenue, and a woman in her mid-40s approached us on the sidewalk. 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. How can we teach kids to be more like him? They gossiped about her in the hallway. The latter felt discriminated against by the other brown-eyed children. Let's just move on. The first thing that Jane Elliott did was divide the children into groups: those with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. Society made them believe they were better than other people for arbitrary reasons such as skin color or gender. And the exercise continued in a similar fashion to how it was executed the day before. Elliott instructed the blue-eyed kids not to play on the jungle gym or swings. ", Absolutely not. Jane divided the class into 9 brown eyes and 9 blue eyes. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. "Probably because they have been taught how they're treated in this country that they have to understand us. The results showed a . Separate the class into two halves - those with blue eyes and those with brown. Blue Eyed versus Brown Eyed Students Jane Elliott was not a psychologist, but she developed one of the most famously controversial exercises in 1968 by dividing students into a blue-eyed group and . ", Vision and tenacity may get results, but they don't always endear a person to her neighbors. According to the article is Jane Elliot's experiment to small degree effective. The brown-eyed students also exercised a certain level of power over the blue-eyed students when they put the armbands on them. 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. "If this ugly change, if this negative change can happen this quickly, why can't positive change happen that quickly? They wouldnt be allowed second helpings for lunch. "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. She was a standing-room-only speaker at hundreds of colleges and universities. Some guidelines for avoiding or reducing this effect are: In conclusion, Jane Elliotts experiment demonstrates the fragility of coexistence and cooperation. Open Document. Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Two years later, a BBC documentary captured the experiment in Elliott's classroom. In 1970, a documentary about the exercise was released. 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. She says its because racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and ethnocentrism are mean and nasty. "Well, what do you expect from him, Mrs. Elliott," a brown-eyed student said as a blue-eyed student got an arithmetic problem wrong. Exploring your mind Blog about psychology and philosophy. More than 50 years after her famous exercise, Elliott is still fighting. They felt superior and had the support of the authority figure (the teacher). "I understand this is the first time you've flown?" Ethics + Religion; Health; Politics + Society; . 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. Now 45, she had been in Elliott's third grade class in 1969. The people and cultures already present in a place often feel threatened by new immigrants. "Not one of them reprimanded her for that or even corrected her. Yes, the children felt angry, hurt, betrayed. It makes you proud. She pointed out flaws in a student and associated it with . 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. Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Folks leave their cars unlocked, keys in the ignition. ", Then, the inevitable: "Hey, Mrs. Elliott, how come you're the teacher if you've got blue eyes?" Provide your email for sample delivery, You agree to receive our emails and consent to our Terms & Conditions, Order an essay on this subject and get a 100% original paper. Yes, that day was tough. Regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, decision making in psychology should protect individual rights and welfare to eliminate potential biases. The day after Kings murder, Jane Elliott, a white third-grade teacher in rural Riceville, Iowa, sought to make her students feel the brutality of racism. . "Why?" But not Elliott. 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. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise received national attention shortly after it ended. Questioning authority The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. Despite the adaptation of the experiment in psychological studies, Jane has been widely criticized for her unethical conduct and promotion of discrimination among children. Brown-eyed people. Elliott flew to the NBC studio in New York City. Elliott was not. Little children don't like uproar in the classroom. Jane Elliott's experiment. "I know who she is. 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." But the protests happening now have given her hope. When Elliott first conducted the exercise in 1968, brown-eyed students were given special privileges. ", The two hugged, and Whisenhunt had tears streaming down her cheeks. The blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. It seemed to evince that all white people had to do to learn about racism was restrain themselves from an impulse to engage in made-up cruelty. One of the blue eyed even went to hit a brown eyed just for the fact that he was brown eyed. The blue eyes brown eyes study was a study on group prejudice and discrimination conducted by Jane Elliot. The brown-eyed children began to act aggressive and mean towards the blue-eyed children. Subsequently the brown-eyed children stopped objecting, even when Miss Elliott and the blue-eyed kids chastised and bullied them. 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. If brown-eyed children made a mistake, Elliott would call out the mistake and attribute it to the students brown eyes. Why Did Jane Elliott Choose Eye Color To Divide Her Students? Throughout the day, Elliott continued to give the children with blue eyes special treatment. A difference as simple as eye color, defined and established by the authority figure, created a rift between the students. Facilitators should be aware that Jane Elliott's focus on white people can lead viewers to the wrong impression that people of color are passively molded by white people's behavior when, in actuality, people of color can and do respond to racism in a variety of ways. "How do you think it would feel to be a Negro boy or girl?" Website. Sorry, but it's not possible to copy the text due to security reasons. On the other hand, privileged members of the community are treated as in-groups which earn them undue respect and capacity to abuse the less advantaged. You can contribute to that positive change by watching the documentary. Elliot wanted to show that the same thing happens in real life with brown eyed people (minority). Everyone's tired of her. We dont have to learn about those who are other than white. I felt mad. Elliott was featured on nearly every national news show in America for decades. Order original essays online. 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." Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. 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. 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. She has . 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. In 1968, schoolteacher Jane Elliott decided to divide her classroom into students with blue eyes and students with brown eyes. Is it even possible today? Elliott created the blue-eyes/brown-eyes classroom exercise in 1968 to teach students about racism. Why'd they shoot that King?" Blue-eyed people would get 5 extra minutes on the playground and blue-eyed people could not talk to brown-eyed people.
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