One of the most famous experiments in education Jane Elliott's "blue eyes, brown eyes" separation of her third grade students to teach them about prejudice was very different from what the public was told, as revealed in this excerpt from the in-depth story about what really happened in that classroom. Within a few hours of starting the exercise, Elliott noticed big differences in the childrens behavior and how they treated each other. Elliott began the exercise by dividing her students by eye color. 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. You have the right color eyes!. March 26, 1985. The following are some of her most insightful quotes on these issues. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . 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 . Back when she introduced the experiment to her Iowa students more than five decades ago, at least one student had the audacity to challenge Elliotts premise, according to those who were in the classroom at the time. She then made the blue-eyed students believe that they were better and smarter than their counterparts. Blue Eyes vs. Brown Eyes Experiment. "Things are changing, and they're going to change rapidly if we're very, very fortunate," she said. Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., she pioneered an experiment to show her all-white class of third graders what it was like to be Black in America. When the exercise ended, some of the kids hugged, some cried. She said she watched and was horrified at what she saw. 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. Jane Elliott's Blue-Eyed versus Brown-Eyed Students experiment was conducted to determine whether racism was a learned characteristic. Grey eyes are also a rare eye color. The same experiment was also used a couple of years later with adults. Practical Psychology began as a collection of study material for psychology students in 2016, created by a student in the field. "It's Riceville 30 years ago. The secretary said the south side of the building was closed, something about waxing the hallways. those with brown eyes (or hazel eyes). (2022, Apr 06). This way, she successfully created two distinct groups in her classroom: The consequences of the minimal group became evident very quickly. Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. But not Elliott. "If this ugly change, if this negative change can happen this quickly, why can't positive change happen that quickly? ", 2023 Smithsonian Magazine I think it can. To get her points across, Elliott hurled insults at workshop participants, particularly those who were white and had blue eyes. The story was then picked up by the Associated Press. The smell of the crops and loam and topsoil and manure wafted though the open door. 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 . Unfortunately, you cant copy samples. To most people, it seemed to suggest that racism could be reduced, even eliminated, by a one- or two-day exercise. But Paul, one of eight siblings and the son of a dairy farmer, didnt buy Elliotts mollification. 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. Articles and opinions on happiness, fear and other aspects of human psychology. 2012 2023 . Melanin, she said, is what causes intelligence. She has appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" five times. "No person of any age [was] going to leave my presence with those attitudes unchallenged," Elliott said. Elliott championed the experiment as an inoculation against racism., [The Conversations Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories. Below, . Elliott instructed the blue-eyed kids not to play on the jungle gym or swings. 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. She described to her colleagues what she'd done, remarking how several of her slower kids with brown eyes had transformed themselves into confident leaders of the class. Yet what Elliott did continues to stir controversy. Locals say that drivers don't signal when they turn because everyone knows where everyone else is going. 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. On the first day, the blue-eyed students were informed that they were genetically inferior to the brown-eyed students. The more melanin, the darker the person's eyesand the smarter the person. The students who had blue eyes were told that they were better and smarter than their inferior brown-eyed peers. The results showed a reversal effect in which the blue-eyed students showed signs of inferiority and low self-esteem. On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. Much like the Zimbardo's Stanford Prison experiment where students were divided by either being the jailer or the jailed. When Elliott walked into the teachers' lounge the next Monday, several teachers got up and walked out. Problems with this research were that it went against a lot of ethical issues. In 2001, Jane Elliott recordedThe Angry Eye,in which she revised and updated her experiment. Need an original essay on Essay Sample: Ethical Concerns in Jane Elliot's Experiment? The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves, students with blue eyes and those with brown. As the morning wore on, brown-eyed kids berated their blue-eyed classmates. Subsequently the brown-eyed children stopped objecting, even when Miss Elliott and the blue-eyed kids chastised and bullied them. The nearest traffic light is 20 miles away. 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. When the blue-eyed group saw that the brown-eyed group was going to be seated first, some became upset. Advertising Notice Answer (1 of 3): My guess is that is doesn't really represent racism but classism. Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. It has everything to do with power.. "There's a sense of renewal here that I've never seen anywhere else," Elliott says. They all either smiled or laughed and nodded.". She says its because racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and ethnocentrism are mean and nasty. 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. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. Withdrawn brown-eyed kids were suddenly outgoing, some beaming with the widest smiles she had ever seen on them. Thats what it feels like when youre discriminated against., -A child participant in the Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes experiment-. The Hangout Bar & Grill, the Riceville Pharmacy and ATouch of Dutch, a restaurant owned by Mennonites, line Main Street. Elliott was not. hide caption. Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images At the time, she was a third-grade . All the work should be used in accordance with the appropriate policies and applicable laws. Right off the bat, she picked me out of the room and called me Barbie, Pasicznyk told me. Jane Elliott's experiment. The experiment is to help the children to understand about prejudice and discrimination. Some residents were furious. 4. Their 12-year-old daughter, Mary, came home from school one day in tears, sobbing that her sixth-grade classmates had surrounded her in the school hallway and taunted her by saying her mother would soon be sleeping with black men. ", We backed out. The experiment was to be a division of eye colour starting with blue eyed student having superiority and then the following day, the roles would be reversed. Exploring your mind Blog about psychology and philosophy. It was typical of Elliott's blunt styleno "Good morning," no small talk. Brian, the Elliotts' oldest son, got beaten up at school, and Jane called the ringleader's, mother. "You know, sweetheart, you haven't changed one bit. Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. . It also documents small-town White America's reflex reaction to the . In the case of any doubt, it's best to consult a trusted specialist. Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. One group consisted pupils with brown eye while the other group consisted of those with blue eyes. Having in mind that it would be difficult to explain to third graders about discrimination, she needed to be more practical so that her student could understand how discrimination and prejudice felt. "We give our children shots to inoculate them against polio and smallpox, to protect them against the realities in the future. Focusing on ethics the experiment violated some of the principles and codes of conduct established by the American Psychological Association. . Jane Elliot's experiment explains the reasons for discrimination to a small extent. "Why?" Children often fight, argue, and sometimes hit each other, but this time they were motivated by eye color. Its not true and its not fair no matter what you say! he responded. 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. Why are we still talking about this experiment over 50 years later? All rights reserved. The results showed a . This paradigm helps understand the current problems related to discrimination. Back in the classroom, Elliott's experiment had taken on a life of its own. "He's a bluey! For many, the experiment went horribly awry. She was a standing-room-only speaker at hundreds of colleges and universities. 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. In a grassy front yard down the block is a hand-lettered sign: "Glads for Sale, 3 for $1." And they are smarter than blue-eyed people." The brown-eyed children got to sit in the front of the room, to go to lunch first, and to have more time at recess. The searing story is a cautionary tale that examines power and privilege in and out of the classroom. 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. If you are the original author of this essay and no longer wish to have it published on the As a journalism professor and author of a book on race that spans more than 50 years, Ive watched these developments with great concern. And the exercise continued in a similar fashion to how it was executed the day before. 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. I was stunned. The students initially involved wished that everyone could participate in an exercise like this. The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves - those with blue eyes and those with brown. Given the long-term results of the experiment, the controversial study could not have taken place in today's society despite its significant insights on matters racism. 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. Amitai Etzioni, a sociologist at George WashingtonUniversity, says the exercise helps develop character and empathy. On Friday, April 5, 1968, in Riceville, IA, a third-grade student walked . . We dont have to learn about those who are other than white. [online] Today I Found Out. That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. She asked the other teachers what they were doing to bring news of the King assassination into their classrooms. ", Others have praised Elliott's exercise. "She could get kids to do anything she wanted them to," he says of Elliott. Elliott had hoped that this experiment would help the children to better understand the feelings of discrimination that certain groups feel on a daily basis, but what she didn . . Despite the adaptation of the experiment in psychological studies, Jane has been widely criticized for her unethical conduct and promotion of discrimination among children. "You better apologize to us for getting in our way because we're better than you are," one of the brownies said. 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. Nevertheless, Elliott became as famous as a teacher could become in America. "We are repeating the blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise on a daily basis.". It makes you proud. "Would you like to come on the show?" 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. (2013). Questioning authority The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. Issues such as the right to know, the right to privacy, and informed consent. Jane Elliott's experiment of dividing an otherwise homogenous group of school kids by their eye color. Cookie Settings, Kids Start Forgetting Early Childhood Around Age 7, Archaeologists Discover Wooden Spikes Described by Julius Caesar, Artificial Sweetener Tied to Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds, Rare Jurassic-Era Insect Discovered at Arkansas Walmart. Even though some of the children said yes, Elliott pushed back. One teacher ended up displaying the same bigotry Elliott had spent the morning trying to fight. I often think about Paul Bodensteiner. When she went downtown to do errands, she heard whispers. "She stirs people up. Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment Ethical? The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. 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 . She had never met me, and she accused me in front of everyone of using my sexuality to get ahead.. Keep me from judging a man until I have walked a mile in his moccasins. This is a Sioux saying. "It would be hard to know, wouldn't it, unless we actually experienced discrimination ourselves. Jane Elliott is 84 years old, a tiny woman with white hair, wire-rim glasses and little patience. In Zimbardo's experiment the conditions were much more controlled for later study but the r. Jane would get invited to go to Timbuktu to give a speech. Sorry, but it's not possible to copy the text due to security reasons. ", When I met Elliott in 2003, she hadn't been back to Riceville in 12 years. The results were the same. You didnt understand the directions. When some of the . The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise received national attention shortly after it ended. Open Document. "I know who she is. More than 50 years after her famous exercise, Elliott is still fighting. Elliott asked. "We just want to peek in," I volunteered. 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. Elliott was even brought on The Tonight Show to talk about her experiences. Not everyone appreciated Elliotts exercise. ", 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?". Its not surprising to anyone that some social groups discriminate against others due to ethnicity, religion, or culture. "People of other color groups seem to understand," she said. "Because we might catch something," a brown-eyed boy said. If you white folks want to be treated the way blacks are in this society, stand. The secretary on duty looked up, startled, as if she had just seen a ghost. She asked them if they would like to experience what it felt like to be in a person of colors shoes. Blue-eyed people. Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue . Order original essays online. "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. It's the Jane Elliott machine. She chatted about the experiment, and before she knew it was whisked off the stage. Two years later, a BBC documentary captured the experiment in Elliott's classroom. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. She continued to conduct the exercise with her third graders. Yes, that day was tough. "Blue-eyed people sit around and do nothing. Dick DeMarsico/New York World-Telegram & the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection/PhotoQuest/Getty Images, Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. Select from the 0 categories from which you would like to receive articles. The goal of the minimal group paradigm is to establish subjective differences and create a climate of favoritism. "Hey, Mrs. Elliott," Steven yelled as he slung his books on his desk. ABC broadcast a documentary about her work. At recess, three brown-eyed girls ganged up on her. Solve your problem differently! Three sections were selected to be administered the simulation . He printed them under the headline "How Discrimination Feels." "I understand this is the first time you've flown?" That's not true. Elliott, who is white, separated the students into two groupsthose with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. Jane Elliott on The Tonight Show on May 31, 1968. 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 . That's what it feels like when you're discriminated against.". With a couple of basic and arbitrary examples, Elliott made the case that brown-eyed people were better. The effectiveness of a well-known prejudice-reduction simulation activity, "Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes," was assessed as a tool for changing the attitudes of nonblack teacher education students toward blacks. That might have been the end of it, but a month later, Elliott says, Johnny Carson called her. Elliott flew to the NBC studio in New York City. "They can't forget me," she said, "and because of who they are, they can't forgive me. 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. However, both Mary and Zeke have brown eyes. Normally, blue-eyes isnt an insult. Why do researchers use correlational studies? Everyone's tired of her. "On an airplane, it is," Elliott said to appreciative laughter from the studio audience. Stripping away the veneer of the experiment, what was left had nothing to do with race. Therefore when she gave the blue eyed people more freedom than the brown eyed people, the blue eyed people started feeling like kings because they thought they were better, and were treated better. They are cleaner than blue-eyed people. 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. You should be happy! She was a local girl and the other teachers were intimidated by her success. Considering all the stereotypes and prejudices that exist, what kind of damage is being done? Elliot's approach to the experiment involved creativity in which the pupils' age and ability to comprehend discrimination was taken into account. The brown-eyed students also exercised a certain level of power over the blue-eyed students when they put the armbands on them. The test also included violation of consent in which participation of the children was made involuntarily. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. THE ANGRY EYE , a 35-minute video, features Jane Elliott conducting her Blue Eyed/Brown Eyed exercise with college students. This time, the participants werent a bunch of elementary school children they were young adults. 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. Yes, the children felt angry, hurt, betrayed. Perhaps because the outcome seemed so optimistic and comforting, coverage of Elliott and the experiments alleged curative powers cropped up everywhere. 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. 980 Words. At this point you may wish to tell the pupils that you are conducting an "experiment" to look at what prejudice is. "Probably because they have been taught how they're treated in this country that they have to understand us. In 1970, Elliott would come to national attention when ABC broadcast their Eye of the Storm documentary which filmed the experiment in action. The killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, was a seismic event, a turning point that compelled many Americans to do something and do it with urgency. 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. Regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, decision making in psychology should protect individual rights and welfare to eliminate potential biases. One of the blue eyed even went to hit a brown eyed just for the fact that he was brown eyed. I felt like quitting school. 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. Elliott started to see her own white privilege, even her own ignorance. The corn grows so fast in northern Iowafrom seedling to seven-foot-high stalk in 12 weeksthat it crackles. "I think these children walked in a colored child's moccasins for a day," she was quoted as saying. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The publication of compositions which the children had written about the experience in the local . Thus, the dominant group, supported by the authorities, will always have the upper hand. A difference as simple as eye color, defined and established by the authority figure, created a rift between the students. 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. PracticalPie.com is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program. "That you, Ms. The next day, Elliott reversed the roles. To back up my statement Bloom (2005) says Jane Elliott's blue-eyes brown-eyes exercise encouraged children to mistrust authority figures. 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.

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