On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. To back up my statement Bloom (2005) says Jane Elliott's blue-eyes brown-eyes exercise encouraged children to mistrust authority figures. In the early morning, dew and fog cover the acres of gently swaying stalks that surround Riceville the way water surrounds an island. 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. 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. "We give our children shots to inoculate them against polio and smallpox, to protect them against the realities in the future. 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 . 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. Cookie Settings, Kids Start Forgetting Early Childhood Around Age 7, Archaeologists Discover Wooden Spikes Described by Julius Caesar, Artificial Sweetener Tied to Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds, Rare Jurassic-Era Insect Discovered at Arkansas Walmart. The day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, Jane Elliott, a teacher in a small, all-white Iowa town, divided her third-grade class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed groups and gave them a daring . SpeedyPaper website, please click below to request its removal: Liked this essay sample but need an original one? Danko, M. (2013). "I think third grade was too young for what she did. 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. Thousands of educators across the United States folded the experiment into their curriculums. On Monday, Elliott reversed the exercise, and the brown-eyed kids were told how shifty, dumb and lazy theywere. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 prompted educator Jane Elliott to create the now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise.". Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. Would you like to find out? On the first day, the blue-eyed students were informed that they were genetically inferior to the brown-eyed students. Advertising Notice He printed them under the headline "How Discrimination Feels." "Would you like to come on the show?" That's not true. She repeated the abuse with subsequent classes, and finally turned it into a fully commercial enterprise. The second day, Elliott reversed the groups. 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. When my grandchildren are old enough, I'd give anything if you'd try the exercise out on them. Her bold experiment to teach Iowa third graders about racial prejudice divided townspeople and thrust her onto the national stage. ", That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. Then tell them that . In the documentary, she said that she conducted the original blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment to make a positive change. The test violated the principle of respect for people's rights and dignity. Elliott asked her students to write about their experiences for the local newspaper. "The browneyed people are the better people in this room," Elliott began. You've still got that same sweet smile. Privacy Statement This technique allows researchers to show how many different traits are necessary to create defined groups, and then analyze the subjects behavior within their groups. Locals say that drivers don't signal when they turn because everyone knows where everyone else is going. Some people feel we can't move on when you have her out there hawking her 30-year-old experiment. Elliott and I were sitting at her dining room table. We use them to divide and destroy people., On Understanding The Different Ways We Treat Other Races, Philip Zimbardo (Biography + Experiments). a brown-eyed boy asked. Ethical & Pedagogical Issues 2. "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. Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images 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. But not Elliott. 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. (2022, Apr 06). She told her students that she had made a mistake the previous day and that brown-eyed students . To most people, it seemed to suggest that racism could be reduced, even eliminated, by a one- or two-day exercise. The answer, in a word, was nothing. Classroom experiment. 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. Throughout the investigation, the classroom represented a real-life scenario in which the unprivileged and minority members of the society are treated as out-groups making them susceptible to discrimination. Essay Example, Essay Example on Racism Towards Black People, Essay Sample about Developing a Campaign for School Intimidation, Essay Example on Therapist-Client Relationship Boundaries, Islamic Perspective on Euthanasia, Free Essay Sample. "No person of any age [was] going to leave my presence with those attitudes unchallenged," Elliott said. Your Privacy Rights The video . They killed hundreds of thousands of people based on eye color alone, thats the reason I used eye color for my determining factor that day., Elliott divided the class into children with blue eyes and children with brown eyes. See Page 1. Elliott was not. Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., she pioneered an experiment to show her all-white class of third graders what it was like to be Black in America. Jane Elliott and Dr. On April 5 1968 the day after the death of Martin Luther King Jr Elliott decided to show her students how easy it was to be influenced by racism. ", Absolutely not. The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves, students with blue eyes and those with brown. She told them brown-eyed . In doing the research for my book with scores of peoples who were participants in the experiment, I reached out to Elliott. Jane Elliott has done a lot of reflection about the consequences of the minimal group experiment. 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 . Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER! The selection was based on the color of the eye for each group. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. It also shows how arbitrary and subjective things can turn friends, family members, and citizens against each other. The subjects were 164 students enrolled in eight sections of an introductory elementary education course at a state university. The idea was simple but profound. The idea of white privilege is closely tied to Elliotts initial question to her students. Brown-eyed people. As Elliott recalls, she engineered the "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise" in 1968 after watching the late-night news cycle announce the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Rather than be deterred by possible 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. 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 experiment known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. Let's just move on. It has everything to do with power.. Elliotts coworkers avoided her after her appearance on The Tonight Show. . Melanin, she said, is what causes intelligence. These initial criticisms didnt stop Elliott. One key assumption is that the sample population represents an actual society. hide caption. Jane Elliot's 'The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment' was unethical in that she created a segregated environment in a third grade classroom. Its not surprising to anyone that some social groups discriminate against others due to ethnicity, religion, or culture. ", Elliott replied, "Why are we so worried about the fragile egos of white children who experience a couple of hours of made-up racism one day when blacks experience real racism every day of their lives?". ", The two hugged, and Whisenhunt had tears streaming down her cheeks. 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. Elliott separated her all-white class of students into two groups: blue-eyed children and brown-eyed children. APA principles acknowledge that individuals rights to privacy, self-determination, and confidentiality is paramount to all psychological activities. Solve your problem differently! Withdrawn brown-eyed kids were suddenly outgoing, some beaming with the widest smiles she had ever seen on them. Things even got violent at recess. The Hangout Bar & Grill, the Riceville Pharmacy and ATouch of Dutch, a restaurant owned by Mennonites, line Main Street. When some of the . In this scenario, students are told brown-eyed people . At this point you may wish to tell the pupils that you are conducting an "experiment" to look at what prejudice is. Elliott began the exercise by dividing her students by eye color. Elliott turned into Americas mother of diversity training. One of the ways Hitler decided who went into the gas chamber was eye color, Elliott said in a later speech. . Hundreds of viewers wrote letters saying Elliott's work appalled them. 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 . Some residents were furious.
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