Considering all the stereotypes and prejudices that exist, what kind of damage is being done? The blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. "I don't think this community was ready for what she did," he said. 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." What Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? These differences lead to war and hate. 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. It makes you proud. The brown-eyed students also exercised a certain level of power over the blue-eyed students when they put the armbands on them. They felt superior and had the support of the authority figure (the teacher). Many educators responded by holding mandatory workshops on institutional racism and implicit bias, reforming teaching methods and lesson plans and searching for ways to amplify undersung voices. They are more civilized than blue-eyed people. ", A former teacher, Ruth Setka, 79, said she was perhaps the only teacher who would still talk to Elliott. 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. The test violated the principle of respect for people's rights and dignity. 10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today. 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. The roots of racism and why it continues unabated in America and other nations are complicated and gnarled. Thats how it started, and thats how it went all day long. 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. The ethical concerns arising from the experiment are consent and deception. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. Not a day goes by without me thinking about it, Ms. Elliott. 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. At the time, she was a third-grade . You should be happy! "The browneyed people are the better people in this room," Elliott began. The exercise is "an inoculation against racism," she says. Although Jane Elliot's intentions were to teach the youngsters about racism, ethical issues related to the simulation were raised. Even though some of the children said yes, Elliott pushed back. The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves - those with blue eyes and those with brown. The Blue-Eyes, Brown-Eyes Experiment. The students were surprised, but they didnt argue. Thus, the dominant group, supported by the authorities, will always have the upper hand. "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. One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle . On the "Tonight Show" Carson broke the ice by spoofing Elliott's rural roots. She split the class in two categories, according to eye color, and told the children that one group was superior to the others. If this arbitrary division that Elliott enforced for a few hours created so many problems in this classroom, whats happening on a larger scale? ", Walt Gabelmann, 83, was Riceville's mayor for 18 years beginning in 1966. "Let me look at you," Elliott said. She could feel a chasm forming between the two groups of students. This meeting, along with other clips of the exercises impact on education, is featured in a PBS documentary called A Class Divided. Elliott championed the experiment as an inoculation against racism., [The Conversations Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories. Elliott was even brought on The Tonight Show to talk about her experiences. Students in the inferior groups were more likely to get a worse score. Yes, the children felt angry, hurt, betrayed. Not only were they fewer in numbers, but the authority figure was against them. She pointed out flaws in a student and associated it with . You didnt understand the directions. Blue-eyed students slumped in their chairs, as though . The publication of compositions which the children had written about the experience in the local . 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. 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. Why was the Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment considered unethical in psychology? I interviewed Julie Pasicznyk, who had been working for US West, a giant telecommunications company in Minneapolis. The experiment known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. "Brown-eyed people have more of that chemical in their eyes, so brown-eyed people are better than those with blue eyes," Elliott said. Would you like to find out? Exploring your mind Blog about psychology and philosophy. Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. At recess, three brown-eyed girls ganged up on her. ", We backed out. She attended a oneroom rural schoolhouse.Today, at 72, Elliott, who has short white hair, a penetrating gaze and no-nonsense demeanor, shows no signs of slowing. "We give our children shots to inoculate them against polio and smallpox, to protect them against the realities in the future. 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 started to see her own white privilege, even her own ignorance. She says its because racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and ethnocentrism are mean and nasty. The selection was based on the color of the eye for each group. Elliott began the exercise by dividing her students by eye color. 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 . 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. In 1970, Elliott would come to national attention when ABC broadcast their Eye of the Storm documentary which filmed the experiment in action. I often think about Paul Bodensteiner. Traditionally, society has always treated leadership as a male issue. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. [online] Today I Found Out. "It's happening every day in this country, right now," she said in an interview with Morning Edition. A columnist at a Denver newspaper called it "evil. Some guidelines for avoiding or reducing this effect are: In conclusion, Jane Elliotts experiment demonstrates the fragility of coexistence and cooperation. I have brown eyes. 980 Words. We dont have to learn about those who are other than white. "Eye color, hair color and skin color are caused by a chemical," Elliott went on, writing MELANIN on the blackboard. The Blue-Eyed/Brown-Eyed Experiment: Investigation. . She believed that experience was the only way her students could understand how it felt like to be discriminated. Folks leave their cars unlocked, keys in the ignition. Thousands of educators across the United States folded the experiment into their curriculums. Everyone's tired of her. I got to have five minutes extra of recess." This was intentional. SYNOPSIS OF BLUE EYED. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. "Things are changing, and they're going to change rapidly if we're very, very fortunate," she said. "You know, sweetheart, you haven't changed one bit. When the exercise ended, some of the kids hugged, some cried. 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. (Byrnes & Kiger, 1992). "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. "People of other color groups seem to understand," she said. However, in this classroom, having blue-eyes had become a condition of inferiority. As a journalism professor and author of a book on race that spans more than 50 years, Ive watched these developments with great concern. Mental Floss, 4. In the documentary, she said that she conducted the original blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment to make a positive change. "They are cleaner and they are smarter.". She began this work in Brown-eyed people. When Sarah, the Elliotts' oldest daughter, went to the girls' bathroom in junior high, she came out of a stall to see a message scrawled in red lipstick on the mirror: "Nigger lover.". 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. I'm tired of hearing about her and her experiment and how everyone here is a racist. Jane Elliott on The Tonight Show on May 31, 1968. 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 . This was the smaller group. The blue-eyed girl apologized. 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. ", 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?". It is quite powerful to watch. "Malinda? On the first day of the two-day experiment, Elliott told the . Hundreds of viewers wrote letters saying Elliott's work appalled them. Elliott's friends and family say she's tenacious, and has always had a reformer's zeal. hide caption. This bibliography was generated on Cite This For Me on Monday, March 7, 2016. Amitai Etzioni, a sociologist at George WashingtonUniversity, says the exercise helps develop character and empathy. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Elliott had a talk with her students about diversity and racism. One teacher ended up displaying the same bigotry Elliott had spent the morning trying to fight. ", Steve Harnack, 62, served as the elementary school principal beginning in 1977. 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. "We are repeating the blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise on a daily basis.". Jane Elliot's 'The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment' was unethical in that she created a segregated environment in a third grade classroom. 5/21/2020 Topic: Module 2 Discussion: She decided to continue the exercise with her students after lunch. Elliott asked her students to write about their experiences for the local newspaper. Tears formed in the corners of Elliott's eyes. Elliott instructed the blue-eyed kids not to play on the jungle gym or swings. "It's the same thing over and over again," Cross says. Brian, the Elliotts' oldest son, got beaten up at school, and Jane called the ringleader's, mother. Biddle, B. J. Elliott and I were sitting at her dining room table. Open Document. Essay Sample: Ethical Concerns in Jane Elliot's Experiment. "You can see the look on their faces. She nodded. The textbook publisher McGraw-Hill has listed her on a timeline of key educators, along with Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Horace Mann, Booker T. Washington, Maria Montessori and 23 others. Jane Elliott's experiment. ", Elliott says the role of a teacher is to enhance students' moral development. Some residents were furious. 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. ", The two hugged, and Whisenhunt had tears streaming down her cheeks. 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. 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. 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? 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). All the work should be used in accordance with the appropriate policies and applicable laws. The Blue Eyes & Brown Eyes Exercise. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. 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 demonstration has since been taught by generations of teachers to millions of kids across the country. "It would be hard to know, wouldn't it, unless we actually experienced discrimination ourselves. one girl asked. "I understand this is the first time you've flown?" She told them brown-eyed . She has made statements about the increase in hate crimes and racism in recent years. The test also included violation of consent in which participation of the children was made involuntarily. Nevertheless, Elliott became as famous as a teacher could become in America. Now 45, she had been in Elliott's third grade class in 1969. Would you? Brown-eyed people, she told the students, are smarter, more civilized and better than blue-eyed people. There were more brown-eyed students in the room. When she separated the class by eye color and announced that blue-eyed children were superior, Paul Bodensteiner objected at every turn. Website. She had never met me, and she accused me in front of everyone of using my sexuality to get ahead.. As the morning wore on, brown-eyed kids berated their blue-eyed classmates. Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. "I know who she is. 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. Pasicznyk joined 75 other employees for a training session in the companys suburban Denver headquarters in the late 1980s. In explaining the experiment rules to the brown-eyed contestants, she addresses the people of color in the room. Professor of Journalism, University of Iowa. The empathy she works to inspire in students with the experiment, which has been modified over the years, is necessary, she said. They needed not acknowledge their privilege or reflect on it. Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? The results showed a . The brown-eyed people were told to step to the front of the line. ", "I've never forgotten the exercise," Whisenhunt volunteered. Written and verified by the psychologist Francisco Roballo. On the morning of april 5, 1968, a Friday, Steven Armstrong stepped into Jane Elliott's third-grade classroom in Riceville, Iowa. The study also violates the American Principles of Psychologist codes of conduct making its replication or further investigation unethical. 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. Scores of others did participate. The next day, Elliott reversed the roles. In the case of any doubt, it's best to consult a trusted specialist. Elliott turned into Americas mother of diversity training. Today, increased migration means more opportunities for people from different backgrounds to interact with each other, which is often a source of conflict. Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Grey eyes are also a rare eye color. 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. To get her points across, Elliott hurled insults at workshop participants, particularly those who were white and had blue eyes. Thats just the way blue-eyed kids were, Elliott told the students. "We want to see Room No. In 1970, she demonstrated it for educators at a White House Conference on Children and Youth. School ought to be about developing character, but most teachers won't touch that with a ten-foot pole.". "She got carried away by this possession she developed over human beings. On Monday, Elliott reversed the exercise, and the brown-eyed kids were told how shifty, dumb and lazy theywere. One group consisted pupils with brown eye while the other group consisted of those with blue eyes. Jane Elliott, shown here in 2009, remains an outspoken advocate against racism. The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves, students with blue eyes and those with brown. Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 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. Problems with this research were that it went against a lot of ethical issues. The smell of the crops and loam and topsoil and manure wafted though the open door. Elliott asked. You have the right color eyes!. "You better apologize to us for getting in our way because we're better than you are," one of the brownies said. 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. They also harassed them constantly. Subsequently the brown-eyed children stopped objecting, even when Miss Elliott and the blue-eyed kids chastised and bullied them. "They shot that King yesterday. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. Weve been here before, with unsettling and disturbing results. In 2001, she was still trying to make a change. . Knowing that her experiment would have consequences, Jane remained committed to her course. At first, she cooperated with me. She also made the brown-eyed students put construction paper armbands on the blue-eyed students. When Elliott walked into the teachers' lounge the next Monday, several teachers got up and walked out. Let's just move on. Jane Elliott has done a lot of reflection about the consequences of the minimal group experiment. The blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. 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. 1. She left teaching in the mid-80s to speak publicly about the experience and the impact of prejudice and racism. ", Absolutely not. The following are some of her most insightful quotes on these issues. Order original essays online. "It changed my life. 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. In this scenario, students are told brown-eyed people . "I think these children walked in a colored child's moccasins for a day," she was quoted as saying. You can contribute to that positive change by watching the documentary. "This here is Jane Elliott," I said. The latter felt discriminated against by the other brown-eyed children. Some people feel we can't move on when you have her out there hawking her 30-year-old experiment. In this article, we'll explain what happened during the experiment and discuss its consequences. With a couple of basic and arbitrary examples, Elliott made the case that brown-eyed people were better. ( 1985-03-26) " A Class Divided " is a 1985 episode of the PBS series Frontline. According to role theorist Erving Goffman, emotional and cognitive experiences in such experiments as the Blue-Eyed versus the Brown-Eyed can have a long-term influence on behaviors and attitudes of participants especially when they are made to play the role of a stigmatized group (Biddle, 2013). That got the other teachers angry. Jane would get invited to go to Timbuktu to give a speech. She was a standing-room-only speaker at hundreds of colleges and universities. Elliott, who is white, separated the students into two groupsthose with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. One student answers, since the day I was born. Throughout the entire experiment, Elliott leads frank conversations about race and discrimination. In Jane Elliott's experiment she made the third graders believe that the blue eyed people were better,than the brown eyed people. Two students even got into a physical altercation. To begin with, Jane Elliot's experiment involved deception in which the children were made in believing that change in eye color influence intelligence. For many, the experiment went horribly awry. The same experiment was also used a couple of years later with adults. In her article, Peggy McIntosh compares the "white privilege" to an invisible set of unearned rewards and . In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. 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 answer, in a word, was nothing. The results are mixed. Later, it would occur to Elliott that the blueys were much less nasty than the brown-eyed kids had been, perhaps because the blue-eyed kids had felt the sting of being ostracized and didn't want to inflict it on their former tormentors. Jane Elliott's Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes experiment was a turning point in social psychology. "Would you like to come on the show?" "That's what I tried to teach, and that's what drove the other teachers crazy. Then tell them that . Looking back, I think part of the problem was that, like the residents of other small midwestern towns I've covered, many in Riceville felt that calling attention to oneself was poor manners, and that Elliott had shone a bright light not just on herself but on Riceville; people all over the United States would think Riceville was full of bigots. Jane Elliott is 84 years old, a tiny woman with white hair, wire-rim glasses and little patience. One scholar asserts that it is "Orwellian" and teaches whites "self-contempt." 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 . Jane Elliots work and experiences have made her an authority on education and anti-racism. A second look at the blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment that taught third-graders about racism. From the moment the experiment begins, Jane Elliott uses a mean tone to speak to the participants. In present society, psychological experiments are guided by honesty, truthfulness, and accuracy. 10," Elliott said. Elliott was featured on nearly every national news show in America for decades. In Zimbardo's experiment the conditions were much more controlled for later study but the r. 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. Jane Elliott was a third grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa when she developed the Blue Eyed/ Brown Eyed exercise to teach the effects of racism.
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