She pointed out flaws in a student and associated it with . 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 . Her class, She has since refused to answer any of my inquiries. Jane Elliott's experiment. However, in this classroom, having blue-eyes had become a condition of inferiority. You give them something nice and they just wreck it." ( 1985-03-26) " A Class Divided " is a 1985 episode of the PBS series Frontline. Undeterred, Elliott tried to appeal to Pauls self-interest. 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. Melanin, she said, is what causes intelligence. ", When I met Elliott in 2003, she hadn't been back to Riceville in 12 years. On the morning of april 5, 1968, a Friday, Steven Armstrong stepped into Jane Elliott's third-grade classroom in Riceville, Iowa. Elliott, who is white, separated the students into two groupsthose with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. Everyone's tired of her. 10," Elliott said. Problems with this research were that it went against a lot of ethical issues. Why are we still talking about this experiment over 50 years later? "I think third grade was too young for what she did. Elliott separated her all-white class of students into two groups: blue-eyed children and brown-eyed children. How can we teach kids to be more like him? Jane Elliott's brown eye/blue eye experiment starts at 03:10 of A Class Divided. 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. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd. The documentary has become a popular teaching tool among teachers, business owners, and even employees at correctional facilities. She left teaching in the mid-80s to speak publicly about the experience and the impact of prejudice and racism. She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. 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. "Brown-eyed people have more of that chemical in their eyes, so brown-eyed people are better than those with blue eyes," Elliott said. Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Jane Elliot's experiment explains the reasons for discrimination to a small extent. "You know, sweetheart, you haven't changed one bit. According to the article is Jane Elliot's experiment to small degree effective. On the first day, the blue-eyed students were informed that they were genetically inferior to the brown-eyed students. 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. It is a must . It's cruel to white children and will cause them great psychological damage. The next day when the tables were turned, "I felt like quitting school. 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. The blue eyes/brown eyes experiment, which could last one to three days, was at a glance similar to other human-potential-movement workshops of the era, including Werner Erhard's est training . She also made the brown-eyed students put construction paper armbands on the blue-eyed students. But Paul, one of eight siblings and the son of a dairy farmer, didnt buy Elliotts mollification. In the case of any doubt, it's best to consult a trusted specialist. That got the other teachers angry. The brown-eyed children felt suddenly that they were discriminated, while the blue eyed started seeing them as inferior. Kellen Castineiras PSY Dr. Gail C. Flanagan February 6, 2022. . Today, increased migration means more opportunities for people from different backgrounds to interact with each other, which is often a source of conflict. 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. 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. Elliott's friends and family say she's tenacious, and has always had a reformer's zeal. "She stirs people up. Introduction. 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. "That you, Ms. Through this study, Elliot demonstrated how easy it is for prejudice and discrimination to emerge from just a simple message that people with one eye color are superior to people with another eye color. One key assumption is that the sample population represents an actual society. 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. "There's a sense of renewal here that I've never seen anywhere else," Elliott says. Scores of others did participate. 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. The children said yes, and the exercise began. Need an original essay on Essay Sample: Ethical Concerns in Jane Elliot's Experiment? "Probably because they have been taught how they're treated in this country that they have to understand us. In a grassy front yard down the block is a hand-lettered sign: "Glads for Sale, 3 for $1." Proceeding with the experiment, Elliot divided the children into two groups each with nine pupils. . Amitai Etzioni, a sociologist at George WashingtonUniversity, says the exercise helps develop character and empathy. The nearest traffic light is 20 miles away. Thus, the dominant group, supported by the authorities, will always have the upper hand. Elliott was not. In her article, Peggy McIntosh compares the "white privilege" to an invisible set of unearned rewards and . She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. Regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, decision making in psychology should protect individual rights and welfare to eliminate potential biases. New York: Elsevier Science. 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. She said she watched and was horrified at what she saw. 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. (In later versions of the exercise, children in the inferior group were given collars to wear.). 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 . On April 4 1968, King was killed by the single . Yes, that day was tough. As a result of those divisions, you see racial discrimination or even terrorism. They wouldnt be allowed second helpings for lunch. 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. Folks leave their cars unlocked, keys in the ignition. 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. This meeting, along with other clips of the exercises impact on education, is featured in a PBS documentary called A Class Divided. Lasting Impact of Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment, Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. They were forced to sit on the back rows and had to use a . The anti-racism sessions Elliott led were intense. 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. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . How do you think the world would change if everyone experienced the perils and setbacks that come with prejudice and discrimination? They embraced the experiments reductive message, as well as its promised potential, thereby keeping the implausible rationale of Elliotts crusade alive and well for decades, however flawed and racist it really was. In this 1998 photograph, former Iowa teacher Jane Elliott, center, speaks with two Augsburg University . In this article, we'll explain what happened during the experiment and discuss its consequences. We use them to divide and destroy people., On Understanding The Different Ways We Treat Other Races, Philip Zimbardo (Biography + Experiments). Their response is to create dichotomies of inferiority and superiority. In 2001, Jane Elliott recordedThe Angry Eye,in which she revised and updated her experiment. 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. Fourteen years later, the students featured in The Eye of the Storm reunited and discussed their experiences with Elliott. ", A chorus of "Yeahs" went up, and so began one of the most astonishing exercises ever conducted in an American classroom. SpeedyPaper.com 2023 All rights reserved. In present society, psychological experiments are guided by honesty, truthfulness, and accuracy. 980 Words. The ethical concerns arising from the experiment are consent and deception. 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). Mental Floss, 4. On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. PracticalPsychology. "You have to put the exercise in the context of the rest of the year. This way, she successfully created two distinct groups in her classroom: The consequences of the minimal group became evident very quickly. To this day, at the age of 86, Jane Elliott continues this work. Nobodys standing here. A difference as simple as eye color, defined and established by the authority figure, created a rift between the students. When the exercise ended, some of the kids hugged, some cried. She nodded. 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. And you'll always have it. The students who had blue eyes were told that they were better and smarter than their inferior brown-eyed peers. "Your son got what he deserved," the woman said. "It's happening every day in this country, right now," she said in an interview with Morning Edition. See Page 1. Not only were they fewer in numbers, but the authority figure was against them. Jane divided the class into 9 brown eyes and 9 blue eyes. "Why?" She then told them that the children with blue eyes were inherently inferior to the children with brown . This paradigm helps understand the current problems related to discrimination. She and Darald split their time between a converted schoolhouse in Osage, Iowa, a town 18 miles from Riceville, and a home near Riverside, California. . Select from the 0 categories from which you would like to receive articles. The story was then picked up by the Associated Press. If you are the original author of this essay and no longer wish to have it published on the The results were the same. The first day of the experiment she convinced the children that blue-eyed people were smarter, better and would have more priorities. Basically, you establish differences between a set of subjects in order to divide them into separate groups. "We just want to peek in," I volunteered. All rights reserved. "You better apologize to us for getting in our way because we're better than you are," one of the brownies said. "The browneyed people are the better people in this room," Elliott began. Ms. Elliott, now 87, said she started teaching about racism on April 5, 1968 the day after the Rev. In 1970, a documentary about the exercise was released. 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. One even wrote a lipstick message with racial slurs. And what she did caused an uproar. The tallest structure in Riceville is the water tower. On the first day of the two-day experiment, Elliott told the . She learned that the responses from the children were negative and more generalized about what they thought about black people. ", We stopped on Woodlawn Avenue, and a woman in her mid-40s approached us on the sidewalk. Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 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 . One example that has been in place for many years is the blue-eyed/brown-eyed experiment. At lunchtime, Elliott hurried to the teachers' lounge. We walked into the principal's office at RicevilleElementary School, Elliott's old haunt. . I felt mad. Elliot's approach to the experiment involved creativity in which the pupils' age and ability to comprehend discrimination was taken into account. Blue-eyed people would get 5 extra minutes on the playground and blue-eyed people could not talk to brown-eyed people. When she went downtown to do errands, she heard whispers. All the work should be used in accordance with the appropriate policies and applicable laws. And the exercise continued in a similar fashion to how it was executed the day before. Cookie Policy The goal of the minimal group paradigm is to establish subjective differences and create a climate of favoritism. Some guidelines for avoiding or reducing this effect are: In conclusion, Jane Elliotts experiment demonstrates the fragility of coexistence and cooperation. . 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. "People of other color groups seem to understand," she said. "She could get kids to do anything she wanted them to," he says of Elliott. "Would you like to come on the show?" 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. . Then a picture was taken to remember. The blue eyes brown eyes study was a study on group prejudice and discrimination conducted by Jane Elliot. Elliott asked her students to write about their experiences for the local newspaper. Elliott shared the essays with her mother, who showed them to the editor of the weekly Riceville Recorder. But Elliotts experiment had a more sinister impact. However, the study shows some bias in the sample size and race of participants. Separate the class into two halves - those with blue eyes and those with brown. What Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? Thousands of educators across the United States folded the experiment into their curriculums. Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. 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. At first, she cooperated with me. When the blue-eyed group saw that the brown-eyed group was going to be seated first, some became upset. "Not one of them reprimanded her for that or even corrected her. He printed them under the headline "How Discrimination Feels." The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment. 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 . After the exercise white college students in . If brown-eyed children made a mistake, Elliott would call out the mistake and attribute it to the students brown eyes. she asked the children, who were white. (2010). When Elliott walked into the teachers' lounge the next Monday, several teachers got up and walked out. 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. Biddle, B. J. Yes, the children felt angry, hurt, betrayed. But the protests happening now have given her hope. "Malinda? Mary and Zeke have three children, all of whom have blue eyes. To get her points across, Elliott hurled insults at workshop participants, particularly those who were white and had blue eyes. Theyd have to use paper cups if they drank from the water fountain. The publication of compositions which the children had written about the experience in the local . Carson asked, grinning. While Jane Elliot's experiment makes several assumptions, it also has some ethical concerns. On the second day of the experiment, Elliott switched the childrens roles. 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. She was a standing-room-only speaker at hundreds of colleges and universities. "Hey, Mrs. Elliott," Steven yelled as he slung his books on his desk. ", Steve Harnack, 62, served as the elementary school principal beginning in 1977. Watch it online right now! Jane Elliott's Blue-Eyed versus Brown-Eyed Students experiment was conducted to determine whether racism was a learned characteristic. Locals say that drivers don't signal when they turn because everyone knows where everyone else is going. Could you?". 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. 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 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 prompted educator Jane Elliott to create the now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise ." As a school teacher in the small town of Riceville, Iowa, Elliott first conducted the anti-racism experiment on her all-white third-grade classroom, the day after the civil rights leader was killed. The subjects were 164 students enrolled in eight sections of an introductory elementary education course at a state university. Little children don't like uproar in the classroom. Jane Elliott, Creator of the "Blue/Brown Eyes" Experiment, Says Racism Is Easy To Fix. At her lunch break that day in the teacher's lounge, she told her colleagues about the exercise. She wanted them to understand what discrimination felt like. The experiment is to help the children to understand about prejudice and discrimination. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. "They shot that King yesterday. To back up my statement Bloom (2005) says Jane Elliott's blue-eyes brown-eyes exercise encouraged children to mistrust authority figures. 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." Before she could answer, another boy piped up: "If she didn't have blue eyes, she'd be the principal or the superintendent.". She chatted about the experiment, and before she knew it was whisked off the stage. She had never met me, and she accused me in front of everyone of using my sexuality to get ahead.. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. She believed that experience was the only way her students could understand how it felt like to be discriminated. Elliott reminded them that the reason for the lesson was the King assassination, and she asked them to write down what they had learned. Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. 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. Jane Elliott, shown here in 2009, remains an outspoken advocate against racism. What Was the Purpose of the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? The secretary said the south side of the building was closed, something about waxing the hallways. This is the phrase that inspired one of the most well-known experiments in education. Grasping for a scientific explanation, she ended up claiming that melanin makes eyes darker, and makes . Danko, M. (2013). The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise received national attention shortly after it ended. "This here is Jane Elliott," I said. "It's Riceville 30 years ago. . Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue-eyed kids to wear one. Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Grey eyes are also a rare eye color. It has everything to do with power.. Disclaimer: SpeedyPaper.com is a custom writing service that provides online on-demand writing work for assistance purposes. "I know who she is. Blue-eyed people. 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 (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. ", Jane shielded her eyes from the morning sun. On the first day of the experiment, she declared the brown-eyed group superior and gave them extra privileges like seconds at lunch, extra recess time, and access to the new school playground. This time, the participants werent a bunch of elementary school children they were young adults. From the moment the experiment begins, Jane Elliott uses a mean tone to speak to the participants. Or alternatively you may decide to keep them in ignorance of what is happening. Two years later, a BBC documentary captured the experiment in Elliott's classroom. "We'll just be a couple of minutes. "Mention two wordsJane Elliottand you get a flood of emotions from people," says Jim Cross, the Riceville Recorder's editor these days. 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. Order from one of our vetted writers instead. Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes offers an intimate portrait of the insular community where Elliott grew up and conducted the experiment on the town's children for more than a decade. "He's a bluey! You have the right color eyes!. The idea was simple but profound. All rights reserved. She split the class in two categories, according to eye color, and told the children that one group was superior to the others. She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. When she separated the class by eye color and announced that blue-eyed children were superior, Paul Bodensteiner objected at every turn. Delivery in 6+ hours! Thats just the way blue-eyed kids were, Elliott told the students. Decent Essays. (2022, Apr 06). January 1, 2003. Website. I'm tired of hearing about her and her experiment and how everyone here is a racist. Normally, blue-eyes isnt an insult. Then tell them that . The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Elliott had a talk with her students about diversity and racism. The kids in the bottom group became timider and kept to themselves. 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. If you white folks want to be treated the way blacks are in this society, stand. They don't replace the diagnosis, advice, or treatment of a professional. "They can't forget me," she said, "and because of who they are, they can't forgive me. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 prompted educator Jane Elliott to create the now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise.". Why do researchers use correlational studies? Considering all the stereotypes and prejudices that exist, what kind of damage is being done? Your Privacy Rights 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. . 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. "That's what I tried to teach, and that's what drove the other teachers crazy. Elliott started to see her own white privilege, even her own ignorance. There are risks to those inoculations, too, but we determine that those risks are worth taking.