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 . Elliot's approach to the experiment involved creativity in which the pupils' age and ability to comprehend discrimination was taken into account. 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 . It also shows how arbitrary and subjective things can turn friends, family members, and citizens against each other. Considering all the stereotypes and prejudices that exist, what kind of damage is being done? There were more brown-eyed students in the room. Jane Elliott is 84 years old, a tiny woman with white hair, wire-rim glasses and little patience. 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 . Jane Elliott has done a lot of reflection about the consequences of the minimal group experiment. In 1970, Elliott would come to national attention when ABC broadcast their Eye of the Storm documentary which filmed the experiment in action. Sadly, these conversations are still relevant today. In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. In Zimbardo's experiment the conditions were much more controlled for later study but the r. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. Though Jane's actions were justifiable because she was not a psychologist, her experiment cannot be replicated in the present society. I have brown eyes. "You know, sweetheart, you haven't changed one bit. Today, increased migration means more opportunities for people from different backgrounds to interact with each other, which is often a source of conflict. 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. She then made the blue-eyed students believe that they were better and smarter than their counterparts. If you have ever heard of the self-fulfilling prophecy, these results may not come as a surprise. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Elliott had a talk with her students about diversity and racism. See Page 1. Traditionally, society has always treated leadership as a male issue. Their response is to create dichotomies of inferiority and superiority. Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue-eyed kids to wear one. Elliott started to see her own white privilege, even her own ignorance. 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. 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. ", Elliott defends her work as a mother defends her child. But the protests happening now have given her hope. The following are some of her most insightful quotes on these issues. . 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. Undeterred, Elliott tried to appeal to Pauls self-interest. A second look at the blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment that taught third-graders about racism. (2022, Apr 06). The "invisible knapsack" is an analogy for a set of invisible and not widely talked about privileges that white people possess in the society. Grey eyes are also a rare eye color. Disclaimer: SpeedyPaper.com is a custom writing service that provides online on-demand writing work for assistance purposes. Thats how it started, and thats how it went all day long. Role Theory: Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors. 10," Elliott said. She was a local girl and the other teachers were intimidated by her success. The kids in the bottom group became timider and kept to themselves. The interaction only strengthened Elliott's resolve. The nearest traffic light is 20 miles away. Its goal was to demonstrate what prejudice was to her third grade class. The secretary said the south side of the building was closed, something about waxing the hallways. The brown-eyed children felt suddenly that they were discriminated, while the blue eyed started seeing them as inferior. I got to have five minutes extra of recess." Elliott is nothing if not stubborn. Society made them believe they were better than other people for arbitrary reasons such as skin color or gender. Blue-eyed people. On the morning of april 5, 1968, a Friday, Steven Armstrong stepped into Jane Elliott's third-grade classroom in Riceville, Iowa. Knowing that her experiment would have consequences, Jane remained committed to her course. Classroom experiment. Essay Example, Essay Example on Racism Towards Black People, Essay Sample about Developing a Campaign for School Intimidation, Essay Example on Therapist-Client Relationship Boundaries, Islamic Perspective on Euthanasia, Free Essay Sample. Perhaps because the outcome seemed so optimistic and comforting, coverage of Elliott and the experiments alleged curative powers cropped up everywhere. That says very plainly that you know whats happening, you know you dont want it for you. She repeated the abuse with subsequent classes, and finally turned it into a fully commercial enterprise. Is it even possible today? With a couple of basic and arbitrary examples, Elliott made the case that brown-eyed people were better. Jane Elliott's experiment of dividing an otherwise homogenous group of school kids by their eye color. Mental Sandboxes and Their Usefulness in Today's World, The Law of Reversed Effort: When Taking Action Isn't the Best Option. Ethical issues were 1/3 of the participants refused to take the head off the rat . Introduction. Even family members can turn against each other if some authority suddenly decides that those differences are a problem. "They are cleaner and they are smarter.". According to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, 2010 the experiment also violates the principle of Integrity. Basically, you establish differences between a set of subjects in order to divide them into separate groups. The arbitrary division among the students intensified over the course of the experiment, so much so that it actually ended in physical violence. They are steeped in centuries of economic deprivation and cultural appropriation. Solve your problem differently! We have to let people find out how it feels to be on the receiving end of that which we dish out so readily.". 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. Two education professors in England, Ivor F. Goodson and Pat Sikes, suggest that Elliott's experiment was unethical because the participants weren't informed of its real purpose beforehand. The Hangout Bar & Grill, the Riceville Pharmacy and ATouch of Dutch, a restaurant owned by Mennonites, line Main Street. On the second day of the experiment, Elliott switched the childrens roles. "We are repeating the blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise on a daily basis.". 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. Your Privacy Rights It has since evolved into an online blog and YouTube channel providing mental health advice, tools, and academic support to individuals from all backgrounds. "I don't think this community was ready for what she did," he said. She was 10 before the farmhouse had running water and electricity. The publication of compositions which the children had written about the experience in the local . The idea was simple but profound. "That you, Ms. She has made statements about the increase in hate crimes and racism in recent years. Practical Psychology began as a collection of study material for psychology students in 2016, created by a student in the field. Biddle, B. J. Not a day goes by without me thinking about it, Ms. Elliott. 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. 980 Words. This is the phrase that inspired one of the most well-known experiments in education. They wouldnt be allowed second helpings for lunch. How can put those little children through that exercise for a day? And they seem unable to relate the sympathy that theyre feeling for these little white children for a day to what happens to children of color in this society for a lifetime or to the fact that they are doing this to children based on skin color every day. At first, she cooperated with me. In this photograph from Sept. 13, 1965, Black children on their way to school in New York City pass by segregationists protesting integrated busing. Additionally, the brown-eyed students got to sit in the front of the class, while the blue-eyed kids . But Elliotts experiment had a more sinister impact. "People of other color groups seem to understand," she said. Elliott championed the experiment as an inoculation against racism., [The Conversations Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories. "I think these children walked in a colored child's moccasins for a day," she was quoted as saying. You must get the parents first. March 26, 1985. Thus, the dominant group, supported by the authorities, will always have the upper hand. 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. The smell of the crops and loam and topsoil and manure wafted though the open door. "Mention two wordsJane Elliottand you get a flood of emotions from people," says Jim Cross, the Riceville Recorder's editor these days. The corn grows so fast in northern Iowafrom seedling to seven-foot-high stalk in 12 weeksthat it crackles. Jane Elliot's experiment involves cheating and intentional misinterpretation of facts. You should be happy! Racism is not genetical. On Monday, Elliott reversed the exercise, and the brown-eyed kids were told how shifty, dumb and lazy theywere. She said she watched and was horrified at what she saw. American Psychological Association, 4. The same experiment was also used a couple of years later with adults. "You can see the look on their faces. Elliott said that blue-eyed people were less intelligent and less clean. ", For years scholars have evaluated Elliott's exercise, seeking to determine if it reduces racial prejudice in participants or poses a psychological risk to them. According to the article is Jane Elliot's experiment to small degree effective. The fourth of five children, Elliott was born on her family's farm in Riceville in 1933, and was delivered by her Irish-American father himself. One of the main ones was the fact that their right to withdraw was taken away from them. (She prefers the term "exercise.") On the first day of the experiment, Elliott told the children who had blue eyes that they were superior to the children with brown eyes; that they were better, nicer and smarter. She would conduct the exercise for the nine more years she taught the third grade, and the next eight years she taught seventh and eighth graders before giving up teaching in Riceville, in 1985, largely to conduct the eye-color exercise for groups outside the school. She nodded. She told the kids that blue-eyed children weren't as good as brown-eyed or green-eyed ones. This was intentional. She believed that experience was the only way her students could understand how it felt like to be discriminated. Keep me from judging a man until I have walked a mile in his moccasins. This is a Sioux saying. I often think about Paul Bodensteiner. Privacy Statement Jane divided the class into 9 brown eyes and 9 blue eyes. Consequently, the brown-eyed children started using blue-eyes as an insult. This meeting, along with other clips of the exercises impact on education, is featured in a PBS documentary called A Class Divided. In Jane Elliott's experiment she made the third graders believe that the blue eyed people were better,than the brown eyed people. 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. These differences lead to war and hate. She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. APA principles acknowledge that individuals rights to privacy, self-determination, and confidentiality is paramount to all psychological activities. The test also included violation of consent in which participation of the children was made involuntarily. 1. Why was the Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment considered unethical in psychology? Below, . She chatted about the experiment, and before she knew it was whisked off the stage. That same year, Elliott was invited to the White House Conference on Children and Youth to conduct an exercise on adult educators. On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. Junior high, maybe. Jane Elliot's 'The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment' was unethical in that she created a segregated environment in a third grade classroom. Theyd have to use paper cups if they drank from the water fountain. The results showed a reversal effect in which the blue-eyed students showed signs of inferiority and low self-esteem. They also harassed them constantly. "It changed my life. 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? 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. She asked the other teachers what they were doing to bring news of the King assassination into their classrooms. Some guidelines for avoiding or reducing this effect are: In conclusion, Jane Elliotts experiment demonstrates the fragility of coexistence and cooperation. Select from the 0 categories from which you would like to receive articles. "On an airplane, it is," Elliott said to appreciative laughter from the studio audience. she asked the children, who were white. Everyone's tired of her. Danko, M. (2013). It is quite powerful to watch. Within a few hours of starting the exercise, Elliott noticed big differences in the childrens behavior and how they treated each other.
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