"That you, Ms. Elliott was shocked by the results and decided to switch the roles the following day. She had never met me, and she accused me in front of everyone of using my sexuality to get ahead.. Danko, M. (2013). The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 prompted educator Jane Elliott to create the now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise.". Privacy Statement Watch it online right now! 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. That's what it feels like when you're discriminated against.". From the University of California Press website: The never-before-told true story of Jane Elliott and the "Blue-Eyes, Brown-Eyes Experiment" she made world-famous, using eye color to simulate racism. 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. Mental Sandboxes and Their Usefulness in Today's World, The Law of Reversed Effort: When Taking Action Isn't the Best Option. They are cleaner than blue-eyed people. On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. Why is Jane Elliot's exercise problematic for some people? ", "I've never forgotten the exercise," Whisenhunt volunteered. Or alternatively you may decide to keep them in ignorance of what is happening. New York: Elsevier Science. Elliott said that blue-eyed people were less intelligent and less clean. At her lunch break that day in the teacher's lounge, she told her colleagues about the exercise. This is the phrase that inspired one of the most well-known experiments in education. The selection was based on the color of the eye for each group. The brown-eyed children could take off their armbands and give them to the blue-eyed children, who were now taught that they were inferior to the brown-eyed children. This procedure is sometimes so subtle that no one notices it happening. Blue eyes, brown eyes: What Jane Elliott's famous experiment says about race 50 years on. Little children don't like uproar in the classroom. She believed that experience was the only way her students could understand how it felt like to be discriminated. She began this work in She was a local girl and the other teachers were intimidated by her success. The Blue-Eyes, Brown-Eyes Experiment. Pasicznyk joined 75 other employees for a training session in the companys suburban Denver headquarters in the late 1980s. 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 . Before proceeding with the test, she began with random questions to fully understand the children's perception of Negroes. Hundreds of viewers wrote letters saying Elliott's work appalled them. ", Walt Gabelmann, 83, was Riceville's mayor for 18 years beginning in 1966. On Friday, April 5, 1968, in Riceville, IA, a third-grade student walked . It has since evolved into an online blog and YouTube channel providing mental health advice, tools, and academic support to individuals from all backgrounds. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. She asked them if they would like to experience what it felt like to be in a person of colors shoes. a brown-eyed boy asked. Things even got violent at recess. Yes, that day was tough. "We just want to peek in," I volunteered. The story was then picked up by the Associated Press. Elliott began the exercise by dividing her students by eye color. One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle the exercise and would be seriously damaged by the exercise. 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. It brings up immediate anger and hatred. Elliot said that when the children were given the test on the same day that they were in the superior group, they tended to get the highest scores. What Was the Purpose of the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? Two Important Psychological Experiments: The Blue Eye/Brown Eye and Amitai Etzioni, a sociologist at George WashingtonUniversity, says the exercise helps develop character and empathy. She asked the other teachers what they were doing to bring news of the King assassination into their classrooms. 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 could feel a chasm forming between the two groups of students. 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. Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes 1968 - Jane Elliot, grade school teacher in Iowa conducted a classroom experiment to test whether racism was a learned characteristic Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes - an experiment to "create racism" Jane Elliot divided her 4th grade class into two groups based on eye color The Brown eyed group were told they were superior due . A second look at the blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment that taught third-graders about racism. The test violated the principle of respect for people's rights and dignity. The same experiment was also used a couple of years later with adults. ", The two hugged, and Whisenhunt had tears streaming down her cheeks. ", Vision and tenacity may get results, but they don't always endear a person to her neighbors. Blue-eyed students suggested that the teacher use a yardstick to discipline brown-eyed students that misbehaved. Blue Eyes Brown Eyes - Jane Elliott | Practical Psychology Thus, the dominant group, supported by the authorities, will always have the upper hand. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise received national attention shortly after it ended. 10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today - Mental Floss She told them brown-eyed . Jane elliots the blue eyes and brown eyes experiment - Course Hero "On an airplane, it is," Elliott said to appreciative laughter from the studio audience. We Are Repeating The Discrimination Experiment Every Day, Says - NPR The idea of white privilege is closely tied to Elliotts initial question to her students. The brown-eyed people were told to step to the front of the line. Would you like to get this essay by email? 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. Jane Elliot's 'The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment' was unethical in that she created a segregated environment in a third grade classroom. 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. "Maybe the way to sell the exercise would have been to invite the parents in, to talk about what she'd be doing. "You have to put the exercise in the context of the rest of the year. Kors writes that Elliott's exercise taught "blood-guilt and self-contempt to whites," adding that "in her view, nothing has changed in America since the collapse of Reconstruction." They are steeped in centuries of economic deprivation and cultural appropriation. When Elliott conducted the exercise the next year, she added something extra to collect data. They didnt need to engage with a single Black person. In 1970, Elliott would come to national attention when ABC broadcast their Eye of the Storm documentary which filmed the experiment in action. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. The goal of the minimal group paradigm is to establish subjective differences and create a climate of favoritism. 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. Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. 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. In a similar vein, Linda Seebach, a conservative columnist for the Rocky Mountain News, wrote in 2004 that Elliott was a "disgrace" and described her exercise as "sadistic," adding, "You would think that any normal person would realize that she had done an evil thing. Grey eyes are also a rare eye color. Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment Ethical? What Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? She wanted them to understand what discrimination felt like. To most people, it seemed to suggest that racism could be reduced, even eliminated, by a one- or two-day exercise. A Class Divided: An Experiment Involving Race and Prejudice She pointed out flaws in a student and associated it with . Jane Elliot's experiment involves cheating and intentional misinterpretation of facts. I was stunned. Kids on top would tease the children who were deemed as the inferior group. Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? She left teaching in the mid-80s to speak publicly about the experience and the impact of prejudice and racism. It is quite powerful to watch. 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. . Ethics + Religion; Health; Politics + Society; . "She taught in this school for 18 years." When Differences Matter | Facing History and Ourselves Some residents were furious. On the second day of the experiment, Elliott switched the childrens roles. Did We Fail the Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes ExperimentOr Did It Fail Us? The ethical concerns arising from the experiment are consent and deception. Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? Exploring your mind Blog about psychology and philosophy. Thats just the way blue-eyed kids were, Elliott told the students. Solve your problem differently! (PDF) A Class Divided - ResearchGate Everyone looked at Mrs. Elliott. This was the smaller group. Junior high, maybe. Decent Essays. those with brown eyes (or hazel 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. According to the article is Jane Elliot's experiment to small degree effective. "It's the same thing over and over again," Cross says. How can we teach kids to be more like him? The Blue Eye/Brown Eye was an experiment performed by Jane Elliot in 1968 on the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. (2022, Apr 06). When Elliott walked into the teachers' lounge the next Monday, several teachers got up and walked out. The people of riceville did not exactly welcome Elliott home from New York with a hayride. 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. Elliot wanted to show that the same thing happens in real life with brown eyed people (minority). Jane Elliott | Psychology Wiki | Fandom 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 . ", 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 next day when the tables were turned, "I felt like quitting school. Sign up for Politics Weekly.]. Why was the Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment considered - Study ", Others have praised Elliott's exercise. Blue-eyed students slumped in their chairs, as though . [White people] on the other hand, don't have to understand them. Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue . Subsequent research designed to gauge the efficacy of Elliotts attempt at reducing prejudice showed that many participants were shocked by the experiment, but it did nothing to address or explain the root causes of racism. The nearest traffic light is 20 miles away. "That's what I tried to teach, and that's what drove the other teachers crazy. The roots of racism and why it continues unabated in America and other nations are complicated and gnarled. As a result of those divisions, you see racial discrimination or even terrorism. She gave the blue-eyed students an armband so other students could more easily identify them, and then she told her class that it was a scientific fact that people with brown eyes are smarter than those with blue because their bodies had more . And what she did caused an uproar. Elliott was not. 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 . ERIC - ED300491 - Ethical and Pedagogical Issues in the Use of Role Theory: Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors. . That's not true. You can contribute to that positive change by watching the documentary. I got to have five minutes extra of recess." "It's Riceville 30 years ago. Separate the class into two halves - those with blue eyes and those with brown. "They shot that King yesterday. The children were not aware of the experiment, and therefore they could not give their permission of involvement. SYNOPSIS OF BLUE EYED. Brown-eyed people, she told the students, are smarter, more civilized and better than blue-eyed people. She has since refused to answer any of my inquiries. Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes: Jane Elliott's controversial classroom experiment Jane Elliott, shown here in 2009, remains an outspoken advocate against racism. On the first day, the blue-eyed students were informed that they were genetically inferior to the brown-eyed students. 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. One even wrote a lipstick message with racial slurs. One of the ways Hitler decided who went into the gas chamber was eye color, Elliott said in a later speech. Blue-eyed people would get 5 extra minutes on the playground and blue-eyed people could not talk to brown-eyed people. School ought to be about developing character, but most teachers won't touch that with a ten-foot pole.". "I know who she is. From the moment the experiment begins, Jane Elliott uses a mean tone to speak to the participants. The Anti-Racism Exercise That Taught Kids to Be Racist - Gizmodo Normally, blue-eyes isnt an insult. The searing story is a cautionary tale that examines power and privilege in and out of the classroom. Most Riceville residents seem to have an opinion of Elliott, whether or not they've met her. 1. Before she could answer, another boy piped up: "If she didn't have blue eyes, she'd be the principal or the superintendent.". 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. Ethical Issues With Jane Elliott's Experiment "You can see the look on their faces. 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). Elliott started to see her own white privilege, even her own ignorance. Not a day goes by without me thinking about it, Ms. Elliott. "Not one of them reprimanded her for that or even corrected her. Although Jane Elliot's intentions were to teach the youngsters about racism, ethical issues related to the simulation were raised. The musical is about romance, but it integrates issues of race and discrimination (Norris, 2014), and the song is about how discrimination is taught carefully, in long term. A Class Divided | FRONTLINE - PBS Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue-eyed kids to wear one. "People of other color groups seem to understand," she said. To understand racism, kids must empathise with its impact and . 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. Directed by William Peters, the episode profiles the Iowa schoolteacher Jane Elliott and her class of third graders, who took part in a class exercise about discrimination and prejudice in 1970 and reunited in the present day to recall the experience. "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. 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. Tears formed in the corners of Elliott's eyes. The "invisible knapsack" is an analogy for a set of invisible and not widely talked about privileges that white people possess in the society. 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 . Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. 980 Words. She compromised the APA's Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard because she lied, after that she recanted the lies and kept as they were justified because of her greater purpose. Elliotts coworkers avoided her after her appearance on The Tonight Show. Website. "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. "No person of any age [was] going to leave my presence with those attitudes unchallenged," Elliott said. "It's happening every day in this country, right now," she said in an interview with Morning Edition. 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). One of the main ones was the fact that their right to withdraw was taken away from them. 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. They were forced to sit on the back rows and had to use a . The kids in the bottom group became timider and kept to themselves. 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. I'm tired of hearing about her and her experiment and how everyone here is a racist. However, the study shows some bias in the sample size and race of participants. Now 45, she had been in Elliott's third grade class in 1969. Jane Elliot and the Blue-Eyed Children Experiment. "She got carried away by this possession she developed over human beings. Traditionally, society has always treated leadership as a male issue. American Psychological Association, 4. The study also violates the American Principles of Psychologist codes of conduct making its replication or further investigation unethical. Introduction | FRONTLINE - PBS The blue-eyed girl apologized. In her article, Peggy McIntosh compares the "white privilege" to an invisible set of unearned rewards and . There are risks to those inoculations, too, but we determine that those risks are worth taking. 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. 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. Blue Eyes vs. Brown Eyes Experiment. Social Emotional Learning Lessons for Jane Elliott - Advancement Courses I have brown eyes. Blue Eye/Brown Eye is an experiment performed by Jane Elliot in 1968 on the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated to demonstrate what prejudice was to her third grade class. "How dare you try this cruel experiment out on white children," one said. At points, you are likely to feel uncomfortable. In the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Elliott developed a simple exercise that explored the nature of racism and prejudice.. Elliott's method for exploring racism in the context of an all-white classroom consisted of dividing her students into two groups on the basis of eye color, blue or brown (those with other eye colors were assigned to the group . We Are Repeating The Discrimination Experiment Every Day, Says - KQED But not Elliott. He printed them under the headline "How Discrimination Feels." ", Then, the inevitable: "Hey, Mrs. Elliott, how come you're the teacher if you've got blue eyes?" Jane Elliott's experiment of dividing an otherwise homogenous group of school kids by their eye color. Jane Elliott's blue eye brown eye case study is/isn't more ethical than ", We stopped on Woodlawn Avenue, and a woman in her mid-40s approached us on the sidewalk. 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. Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes: The Jane Elliott Experiment - Exploring Your Mind Ethical Experiments - AP Psychology-NWHS Delivery in 6+ hours! Grasping for a scientific explanation, she ended up claiming that melanin makes eyes darker, and makes . She has . It is sometimes cited as a landmark of social science. If you have ever heard of the self-fulfilling prophecy, these results may not come as a surprise. The arbitrary division among the students intensified over the course of the experiment, so much so that it actually ended in physical violence. 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. One student answers, since the day I was born. Throughout the entire experiment, Elliott leads frank conversations about race and discrimination. "They can't forget me," she said, "and because of who they are, they can't forgive me. 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. For many, the experiment went horribly awry. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. Keep me from judging a man until I have walked a mile in his moccasins. This is a Sioux saying. Professor of Journalism, University of Iowa. Retrieved from https://speedypaper.com/essays/ethical-concerns-in-jane-elliots-experiment, Free essays can be submitted by anyone, so we do not vouch for their quality. The answer, in a word, was nothing. The test also included violation of consent in which participation of the children was made involuntarily. From Elliot's highly controversial experiment it is clear that prejudice and discrimination can only be understood through experience. Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes: A Cautionary Tale of Race and Brutality They don't replace the diagnosis, advice, or treatment of a professional. ", Dean Weaver, 70, superintendent of Riceville schools from 1972 to 1979, said, "She'd just go ahead and do things. She learned that the responses from the children were negative and more generalized about what they thought about black people. She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show five times. I felt mad. The blue-eyed students, when told they were superior and offered privileges such as extra recess time, changed their behavior dramatically and their attitudes toward the children with brown eyes. BLUE EYED - Faciliator Guide - Newsreel Jane Elliott's Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes experiment was a turning point in social psychology. The episode features with new footage of the students, who are now adults. Biddle, B. J. It makes you proud. 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 mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. "How do you think it would feel to be a Negro boy or girl?" According to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, 2010 the experiment also violates the principle of Integrity. Locals say that drivers don't signal when they turn because everyone knows where everyone else is going. "I think third grade was too young for what she did. "Blue-eyed people sit around and do nothing. Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom.
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