", "I've never forgotten the exercise," Whisenhunt volunteered. Ethics + Religion; Health; Politics + Society; . She also assumed that none of the children had interacted with black people and that the only place they could have seen them is on television. "That's what I tried to teach, and that's what drove the other teachers crazy. The Blue Eyes & Brown Eyes Exercise. Sorry, but it's not possible to copy the text due to security reasons. 980 Words. Blue Eyed vs Brown Eyed Study Conducted by Jane Elliott Presentation by Bree Elliott Ethics Background The Results In 1968, when Dr. Martin Luther King Junior was assassinated, Jane Elliott was the teacher of a third grade class in the town of Riceville, Iowa. The test also included violation of consent in which participation of the children was made involuntarily. In the 60s, the United States was in the midst of a social race crisis. Junior high, maybe. When you read about this experiment, its hard not to question labels. Terms of Use "How dare you try this cruel experiment out on white children," one said. 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. Hire a professional with VAST experience! After recess that day, the brown-eyed children complained that they were . Multi-Problem Adolescents: An Increasing Problem, Professor Jane Elliott performed a group experiment, the current problems related to discrimination. ", We stopped on Woodlawn Avenue, and a woman in her mid-40s approached us on the sidewalk. Jane Elliot and the Blue-Eyed Children Experiment. 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. ", We backed out. One scholar asserts that it is "Orwellian" and teaches whites "self-contempt." She asked the other teachers what they were doing to bring news of the King assassination into their classrooms. SpeedyPaper.com 2023 All rights reserved. . With this experiment she wanted to let the blue-eyed people (white people) feel how it is to be in low power position. "She taught in this school for 18 years." When my grandchildren are old enough, I'd give anything if you'd try the exercise out on them. I often think about Paul Bodensteiner. This was intentional. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise is now known as the inspiration for diversity training in the workplace, making Jane Elliott one of the most influential educators in recent American history. "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. Would you like to get this essay by email? 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. Elliott shared the essays with her mother, who showed them to the editor of the weekly Riceville Recorder. Even though some of the children said yes, Elliott pushed back. . The smell of the crops and loam and topsoil and manure wafted though the open door. Disclaimer: SpeedyPaper.com is a custom writing service that provides online on-demand writing work for assistance purposes. They are more civilized than blue-eyed people. She was hesitant to enroll in Elliotts workshop but was told that if she wanted to succeed as a manager, shed have to attend. She has appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" five times. Traditionally, society has always treated leadership as a male issue. "You can see the look on their faces. "She got carried away by this possession she developed over human beings. I have brown eyes. "The browneyed people are the better people in this room," Elliott began. She slumped. . Although Jane Elliot's intentions were to teach the youngsters about racism, ethical issues related to the simulation were raised. "Why?" 5/21/2020 Topic: Module 2 Discussion: Right off the bat, she picked me out of the room and called me Barbie, Pasicznyk told me. 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. I think it can. Brian, the Elliotts' oldest son, got beaten up at school, and Jane called the ringleader's, mother. This procedure is sometimes so subtle that no one notices it happening. 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. Two years later, a BBC documentary captured the experiment in Elliott's classroom. Dick DeMarsico/New York World-Telegram & the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection/PhotoQuest/Getty Images, Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. She told the students that the brown-eyed children were inferior and repeated the experiment. One of the blue eyed even went to hit a brown eyed just for the fact that he was brown eyed. For many, the experiment went horribly awry. PracticalPsychology. It is quite powerful to watch. ", Vision and tenacity may get results, but they don't always endear a person to her neighbors. Additionally, the brown-eyed students got to sit in the front of the class, while the blue-eyed kids . The results were the same. Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. According to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, 2010 the experiment also violates the principle of Integrity. Perhaps because the outcome seemed so optimistic and comforting, coverage of Elliott and the experiments alleged curative powers cropped up everywhere. ", The two hugged, and Whisenhunt had tears streaming down her cheeks. I felt mad. "They are cleaner and they are smarter.". January 1, 2003. Her bold experiment to teach Iowa third graders about racial prejudice divided townspeople and thrust her onto the national stage. "How do you think it would feel to be a Negro boy or girl?" "We want to see Room No. From Elliot's highly controversial experiment it is clear that prejudice and discrimination can only be understood through experience. But when she discovered that I was asking pointed questions of scores of her former students, as well as others subjected to the experiment, she made an about-face and said she no longer would cooperate with me. . I felt mad. According to the article is Jane Elliot's experiment to small degree effective. 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. Zimbardocreator of the also controversial 1971 Stanford Prisoner Experiment, which was stopped after college student volunteers acting as "guards" humiliated students acting as "prisoners"says Elliott's exercise is "more compelling than many done by professional psychologists. Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue . But Elliotts experiment had a more sinister impact. Then a picture was taken to remember. Need an original essay on Essay Sample: Ethical Concerns in Jane Elliot's Experiment? Three sections were selected to be administered the simulation . Elliott is nothing if not stubborn. You didnt understand the directions. Its not surprising to anyone that some social groups discriminate against others due to ethnicity, religion, or culture. Undeterred, Elliott tried to appeal to Pauls self-interest. Jane Elliott, one of the most controversial figures in U.S. education and diversity training, began her journey to international acclaim in Riceville, Iowa. 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." 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 . ", That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. "Would you like to come on the show?" The results showed a . They are cleaner than blue-eyed people. In the early morning, dew and fog cover the acres of gently swaying stalks that surround Riceville the way water surrounds an island. "Things are changing, and they're going to change rapidly if we're very, very fortunate," she said. A columnist at a Denver newspaper called it "evil. The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves, students with blue eyes and those with brown. On the "Tonight Show" Carson broke the ice by spoofing Elliott's rural roots. You should be happy! But the protests happening now have given her hope. Sadly, these conversations are still relevant today. 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. Regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, decision making in psychology should protect individual rights and welfare to eliminate potential biases. The idea was simple but profound. 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? Practical Psychology began as a collection of study material for psychology students in 2016, created by a student in the field. The subjects were 164 students enrolled in eight sections of an introductory elementary education course at a state university. Considering all the stereotypes and prejudices that exist, what kind of damage is being done? School ought to be about developing character, but most teachers won't touch that with a ten-foot pole.". In 1970, a documentary about the exercise was released. Could you?". The interaction only strengthened Elliott's resolve. It didnt take long for the children to turn on each other. She nodded. ISBN 9780520382268. March 26, 1985. The children were not aware of the experiment, and therefore they could not give their permission of involvement. a brown-eyed boy asked. Ms. Elliott, now 87, said she started teaching about racism on April 5, 1968 the day after the Rev. The arbitrary division among the students intensified over the course of the experiment, so much so that it actually ended in physical violence. 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. In this photograph from Sept. 13, 1965, Black children on their way to school in New York City pass by segregationists protesting integrated busing. Order from one of our vetted writers instead. Why are we still talking about this experiment over 50 years later? The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise continues to be relevant. Basically, you establish differences between a set of subjects in order to divide them into separate groups. Melanin, she said, is what causes intelligence. The secretary said the south side of the building was closed, something about waxing the hallways. I felt like hitting them if I wanted to. Ethical & Pedagogical Issues 2. "She could get kids to do anything she wanted them to," he says of 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. hide caption. The blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. Jane divided the class into 9 brown eyes and 9 blue eyes. In this scenario, students are told brown-eyed people . The demonstration has since been taught by generations of teachers to millions of kids across the country. She traveled to corporations, banks, prisons, schools and military bases. 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. 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. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd. "You better apologize to us for getting in our way because we're better than you are," one of the brownies said. She asked them if they would like to experience what it felt like to be in a person of colors shoes. Elliott's friends and family say she's tenacious, and has always had a reformer's zeal. Jane Elliot's 'The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment' was unethical in that she created a segregated environment in a third grade classroom. Jane Elliott's Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes experiment was a turning point in social psychology. Malinda Whisenhunt? Thus, the dominant group, supported by the authorities, will always have the upper hand. ", Walt Gabelmann, 83, was Riceville's mayor for 18 years beginning in 1966. The experiment is to help the children to understand about prejudice and discrimination. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. Initial Reaction to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Exercise. 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. Blue-eyed people. 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? The tallest structure in Riceville is the water tower. ", When I met Elliott in 2003, she hadn't been back to Riceville in 12 years. In Jane Elliott's experiment she made the third graders believe that the blue eyed people were better,than the brown eyed people. It's cruel to white children and will cause them great psychological damage. 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 Outside, rows of corn stretched to the horizon. As a journalism professor and author of a book on race that spans more than 50 years, Ive watched these developments with great concern. The brown-eyed students also exercised a certain level of power over the blue-eyed students when they put the armbands on them. 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. You have the right color eyes!. The Blue-Eyes, Brown-Eyes Experiment. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. Yes, that day was tough. Not only were they fewer in numbers, but the authority figure was against them. Their response is to create dichotomies of inferiority and superiority. 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 . We have to let people find out how it feels to be on the receiving end of that which we dish out so readily.". Still, Elliott said the last few years have brought out America's worst racist tendencies. Thousands of educators across the United States folded the experiment into their curriculums. 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. 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. "Maybe the way to sell the exercise would have been to invite the parents in, to talk about what she'd be doing. 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. 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." 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. 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 three outcomes are: (1) virtually all of the subjects reported that the experience was She wanted them to understand what discrimination felt like. Jane Elliott's experiment. They are steeped in centuries of economic deprivation and cultural appropriation. More than 50 years after her famous exercise, Elliott is still fighting. ", 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?". ", Then, the inevitable: "Hey, Mrs. Elliott, how come you're the teacher if you've got blue eyes?" If you white folks want to be treated the way blacks are in this society, stand. 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 . 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. She noticed that student relationships had changed; even if students were friendly outside of the exercise, they treated each other with arrogance or bossiness once the roles were assigned. Elliott created the blue-eyes/brown-eyes classroom exercise in 1968 to teach students about racism. Much like the Zimbardo's Stanford Prison experiment where students were divided by either being the jailer or the jailed. 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. The idea of white privilege is closely tied to Elliotts initial question to her students. (She prefers the term "exercise.") Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. The brown-eyed people were told to step to the front of the line. She has made statements about the increase in hate crimes and racism in recent years. 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 . You've still got that same sweet smile. 4. The blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. This was the smaller group. With a couple of basic and arbitrary examples, Elliott made the case that brown-eyed people were better. It's the Jane Elliott machine. Professor of Journalism, University of Iowa. The contents of Exploring Your Mind are for informational and educational purposes only. When the exercise ended, some of the kids hugged, some cried. They needed not acknowledge their privilege or reflect on it. Would you? I felt like quitting school. The next day when the tables were turned, "I felt like quitting school. 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. those with brown eyes (or hazel eyes). "No person of any age [was] going to leave my presence with those attitudes unchallenged," Elliott said. While controversial, the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise continues to be one of the most well-known and praised learning exercises in the world of educational psychology. It has everything to do with power.. Elliott was featured on nearly every national news show in America for decades. She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. On the first day, she told the children with blue eyes they were superior: smarter and more well-behaved than the children with brown eyes. 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. one girl asked. 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. Keep me from judging a man until I have walked a mile in his moccasins. This is a Sioux saying. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. All rights reserved. ", Jane shielded her eyes from the morning sun. They wouldnt be allowed second helpings for lunch. ", Dean Weaver, 70, superintendent of Riceville schools from 1972 to 1979, said, "She'd just go ahead and do things. This way, she successfully created two distinct groups in her classroom: The consequences of the minimal group became evident very quickly. She pointed out flaws in a student and associated it with . Elliott and I were sitting at her dining room table. The exercise is "an inoculation against racism," she says. Elliott? Select from the 0 categories from which you would like to receive articles. New York: Elsevier Science. Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER! "We are repeating the blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise on a daily basis.". 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). 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. "We just want to peek in," I volunteered. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 was also an event that spurred educators to action, motivating one teacher to try out a bold experiment touted to reduce racism. 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. Brown-eyed people, she told the students, are smarter, more civilized and better than blue-eyed people. 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. The "invisible knapsack" is an analogy for a set of invisible and not widely talked about privileges that white people possess in the society. In fact, most of the initial response was negative. 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 . (In later versions of the exercise, children in the inferior group were given collars to wear.). Back in the classroom, Elliott's experiment had taken on a life of its own. I got to have five minutes extra of recess." "They can't forget me," she said, "and because of who they are, they can't forgive me. 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. That says very plainly that you know whats happening, you know you dont want it for you. 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. Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? The brown-eyed children began to act aggressive and mean towards the blue-eyed children. All the work should be used in accordance with the appropriate policies and applicable laws. In the case of any doubt, it's best to consult a trusted specialist. And you'll always have it. Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. Cookie Policy If brown-eyed children made a mistake, Elliott would call out the mistake and attribute it to the students brown eyes. 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 . The first thing that Jane Elliott did was divide the children into groups: those with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. The blue-eyed children were told not to do their homework because, even if they answered all the questions, theyd probably forget to bring the assignment back to class. Elliot wanted to show that the same thing happens in real life with brown eyed people (minority). We use them to divide and destroy people., On Understanding The Different Ways We Treat Other Races, Philip Zimbardo (Biography + Experiments). When Elliott conducted the exercise the next year, she added something extra to collect data. Elliott was even brought on The Tonight Show to talk about her experiences. One group consisted pupils with brown eye while the other group consisted of those with blue eyes. It brings up immediate anger and hatred. Once indoors, the brown-eyed group was then treated to coffee and doughnuts, while the blue-eyed group could only stand around and wait.

Bow Leg Correction Surgery Cost In Nigeria, Shakespeare Astrology Quotes, Centenario Azul Baby Mango, Former Harris County Judges, Can Gallbladder Cause Post Nasal Drip, Articles B