APA principles acknowledge that individuals rights to privacy, self-determination, and confidentiality is paramount to all psychological activities. 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. Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? She also made the brown-eyed students put construction paper armbands on the blue-eyed students. Children with brown eyes were forced to wear armbands that made it easy for people to see that they had brown eyes. 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. She asks them if they have ever faced treatment like the type that blue-eyed people would experience in the following two and a half hours. Biddle, B. J. Blue-eyed students slumped in their chairs, as though . 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. Perhaps because the outcome seemed so optimistic and comforting, coverage of Elliott and the experiments alleged curative powers cropped up everywhere. 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. Blue eyes, brown eyes: What Jane Elliott's famous experiment says about race 50 years on. On Friday, April 5, 1968, in Riceville, IA, a third-grade student walked . Most Riceville residents seem to have an opinion of Elliott, whether or not they've met her. A difference as simple as eye color, defined and established by the authority figure, created a rift between the students. "That's what I tried to teach, and that's what drove the other teachers crazy. As a result of those divisions, you see racial discrimination or even terrorism. Mary and Zeke have three children, all of whom have blue eyes. Introduction | FRONTLINE - PBS The results are mixed. 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. Would you like to find out? These differences lead to war and hate. ", 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. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. Why is Jane Elliot's exercise problematic for some people? She chatted about the experiment, and before she knew it was whisked off the stage. ", Jane shielded her eyes from the morning sun. She pointed out flaws in a student and associated it with . 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 told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. Elliott is nothing if not stubborn. Jane Elliott "I don't think this community was ready for what she did," he said. Lasting Impact of Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment, Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. Even though the response to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise was initially negative, it made Jane Elliott a leading figure in diversity training. "Do blue-eyed people remember what they've been taught?" 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. The subjects were 164 students enrolled in eight sections of an introductory elementary education course at a state university. Open Document. In Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues That Teach Kids to Do the Right Things, educational psychologist Michele Borda says it "teaches our children to counter stereotypes before they become full-fledged, lasting prejudices and to recognize that every human being has the right to be treated with respect." To Kill A Mockingbird Quotes - 1072 Words | Internet Public Library Blue-eyed people. School ought to be about developing character, but most teachers won't touch that with a ten-foot pole.". She told the students that the brown-eyed children were inferior and repeated the 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. Before she could answer, another boy piped up: "If she didn't have blue eyes, she'd be the principal or the superintendent.". The students were surprised, but they didnt argue. 980 Words. . On the "Tonight Show" Carson broke the ice by spoofing Elliott's rural roots. That's what it feels like when you're discriminated against.". 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 . Jane Elliot's Famous Classroom Experiment: How Eye Color - Thriveworks Blue eyes, brown eyes: Jane Elliott's race experiment 50 years later Withdrawn brown-eyed kids were suddenly outgoing, some beaming with the widest smiles she had ever seen on them. The roots of racism and why it continues unabated in America and other nations are complicated and gnarled. Elliotts coworkers avoided her after her appearance on The Tonight Show. Elliott said that blue-eyed people were less intelligent and less clean. One group consisted pupils with brown eye while the other group consisted of those with blue eyes. She nodded. "No person of any age [was] going to leave my presence with those attitudes unchallenged," Elliott said. On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. Everyone's tired of her. "Probably because they have been taught how they're treated in this country that they have to understand us. One student answers, since the day I was born. Throughout the entire experiment, Elliott leads frank conversations about race and discrimination. Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes: Jane Elliott's controversial classroom experiment 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 Eye/Brown Eye was an experiment performed by Jane Elliot in 1968 on the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Grasping for a scientific explanation, she ended up claiming that melanin makes eyes darker, and makes . Introduction. Jane Elliott at Riceville, Iowa, Elementary School in 1968. On the first day of the two-day experiment, Elliott told the . 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. 10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today. In present society, psychological experiments are guided by honesty, truthfulness, and accuracy. The blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. Now 45, she had been in Elliott's third grade class in 1969. 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. This procedure is sometimes so subtle that no one notices it happening. a brown-eyed boy asked. Or alternatively you may decide to keep them in ignorance of what is happening. 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. 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. Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes: A Cautionary Tale of Race and Brutality Tears formed in the corners of Elliott's eyes. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. . She has since refused to answer any of my inquiries. They were also relevant in the 1950s when Elliott first began this work. Jane Elliott, one of the most controversial figures in U.S. education and diversity training, began her journey to international acclaim in Riceville, Iowa. 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. Jane Elliott's experiment of dividing an otherwise homogenous group of school kids by their eye color. "It's Riceville 30 years ago. Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes: A Cautionary Tale of Race and Brutality A smart blue-eyed girl who had never had problems with multiplication tables started making mistakes. All rights reserved. In this article, we talk about leadership and female discrimination.. Shermer and Bloom discuss: "Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes" Jane Elliott famous racism experiment reactions to it (in the classroom, locally, nationally, internationally) whether the "experiment" was really more of a demonstration public interest, from Johnny Carson to Oprah Winfrey the questionable ethics of the experiment what it reveals about tribalism, racism . You've still got that same sweet smile. Blue Eyed vs Brown Eyed Experiment by Bree Elliott - Prezi 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. 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 . Privacy Statement She says its because racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and ethnocentrism are mean and nasty. Jane Elliot's 'The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment' was unethical in that she created a segregated environment in a third grade classroom. In Jane Elliott's experiment she made the third graders believe that the blue eyed people were better,than the brown eyed people. Jane Elliot, a third-grade teacher from Lowa town, became troubled with the turn of events and knew that something had to be done about racial discrimination (Danko, 2013). In doing the research for my book with scores of peoples who were participants in the experiment, I reached out to Elliott. 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 . 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. 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 tallest structure in Riceville is the water tower. 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. She learned that the responses from the children were negative and more generalized about what they thought about black people. In this scenario, students are told brown-eyed people . March 26, 1985. The searing story is a cautionary tale that examines power and privilege in and out of the classroom. 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. The test violated the principle of respect for people's rights and dignity. Jane Elliot's Experiment - 879 Words | Bartleby 10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today - Mental Floss The results showed a . Elliot's approach to the experiment involved creativity in which the pupils' age and ability to comprehend discrimination was taken into account. Exploring your mind Blog about psychology and philosophy. At this point you may wish to tell the pupils that you are conducting an "experiment" to look at what prejudice is. Thus, the dominant group, supported by the authorities, will always have the upper hand. 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 . Ethical Issues With Jane Elliott's Experiment Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. Even family members can turn against each other if some authority suddenly decides that those differences are a problem. The Blue-Eyes, Brown-Eyes Experiment. Disclaimer: SpeedyPaper.com is a custom writing service that provides online on-demand writing work for assistance purposes. Elliott was not. She and her husband, Darald Elliott, then a grocer, have four children, and they, too, felt a backlash. 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. Blue-eyed students suggested that the teacher use a yardstick to discipline brown-eyed students that misbehaved. I have brown eyes. Jane Elliot and the Blue-Eyed Children Experiment. "Not one of them reprimanded her for that or even corrected her. (PDF) A Class Divided - ResearchGate A Class Divided: An Experiment Involving Race and Prejudice Children often fight, argue, and sometimes hit each other, but this time they were motivated by eye color. ", A chorus of "Yeahs" went up, and so began one of the most astonishing exercises ever conducted in an American classroom. They wouldnt be allowed second helpings for lunch. One teacher ended up displaying the same bigotry Elliott had spent the morning trying to fight. Subsequently the brown-eyed children stopped objecting, even when Miss Elliott and the blue-eyed kids chastised and bullied them. Scores of others did participate. "Because we might catch something," a brown-eyed boy said. 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. 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. Not everyone appreciated Elliotts exercise. SpeedyPaper.com 2023 All rights reserved. 4. When Elliott first conducted the exercise in 1968, brown-eyed students were given special privileges. The experiment is to help the children to understand about prejudice and discrimination. This way, she successfully created two distinct groups in her classroom: The consequences of the minimal group became evident very quickly. Melanin, she said, is what causes intelligence. The latter felt discriminated against by the other brown-eyed children. Elliott, who is white, separated the students into two groupsthose with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. 296. Stephen Bloom on Jane Elliott's Famous Experiment on Race and Mental Floss, 4. As a journalism professor and author of a book on race that spans more than 50 years, Ive watched these developments with great concern. She traveled to corporations, banks, prisons, schools and military bases. To back up my statement Bloom (2005) says Jane Elliott's blue-eyes brown-eyes exercise encouraged children to mistrust authority figures. Sign up for Politics Weekly.]. Would you like to get this essay by email? At her lunch break that day in the teacher's lounge, she told her colleagues about the exercise. That says very plainly that you know whats happening, you know you dont want it for you. The secretary said the south side of the building was closed, something about waxing the hallways. One example that has been in place for many years is the blue-eyed/brown-eyed experiment. This time, the participants werent a bunch of elementary school children they were young adults. This meeting, along with other clips of the exercises impact on education, is featured in a PBS documentary called A Class Divided. When the exercise ended, some of the kids hugged, some cried. Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. Basically, you establish differences between a set of subjects in order to divide them into separate groups. At the time, she was a third-grade . Junior high, maybe. "Let me look at you," Elliott said. Kellen Castineiras PSY Dr. Gail C. Flanagan February 6, 2022. . Module 2 Discussion_ Are We Still Divided_ Blue Eyes_Brown Eyes_ A 3rd "People of other color groups seem to understand," she said. 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. In 1970, a documentary about the exercise was released. Need an original essay on Essay Sample: Ethical Concerns in Jane Elliot's Experiment? 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. "The browneyed people are the better people in this room," Elliott began. Considering all the stereotypes and prejudices that exist, what kind of damage is being done?
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