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. Role Theory: Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors. She also made the brown-eyed students put construction paper armbands on the blue-eyed students. (2013). Yes, the children felt angry, hurt, betrayed. 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. It was the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968 that Elliott ran her first "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise in her Riceville, Iowa classroom. 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 noticed that student relationships had changed; even if students were friendly outside of the exercise, they treated each other with arrogance or bossiness once the roles were assigned. SYNOPSIS OF BLUE EYED. Throughout the day, Elliott continued to give the children with blue eyes special treatment. Jane would get invited to go to Timbuktu to give a speech. Website. 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." The tallest structure in Riceville is the water tower. On April 4 1968, King was killed by the single . Many of them noted that when they hear prejudice and discrimination from others, they wish they could whip out those collars and give them the experience they had as third graders. The secretary on duty looked up, startled, as if she had just seen a ghost. Things even got violent at recess. On Friday, April 5, 1968, in Riceville, IA, a third-grade student walked . A smart blue-eyed girl who had never had problems with multiplication tables started making mistakes. The minimal group paradigm has shaped an entire methodology in social psychology. She has made statements about the increase in hate crimes and racism in recent years. ISBN 9780520382268. 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. Did they know what it was like to be discriminated against? Fourteen years later, the students featured in The Eye of the Storm reunited and discussed their experiences with Elliott. The blue-eyed girl apologized. 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. Yet what Elliott did continues to stir controversy. Malinda Whisenhunt? 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. Even though some of the children said yes, Elliott pushed back. "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. 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. Is it even possible today? 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. ", Jane shielded her eyes from the morning sun. ", A chorus of "Yeahs" went up, and so began one of the most astonishing exercises ever conducted in an American classroom. 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. Retrieved from https://speedypaper.com/essays/ethical-concerns-in-jane-elliots-experiment, Free essays can be submitted by anyone, so we do not vouch for their quality. ", Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise, 'I See These Conversations As Protective': Talking With Kids About Race. ", We stopped on Woodlawn Avenue, and a woman in her mid-40s approached us on the sidewalk. Kellen Castineiras PSY Dr. Gail C. Flanagan February 6, 2022. . The documentary has become a popular teaching tool among teachers, business owners, and even employees at correctional facilities. 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. "You have to put the exercise in the context of the rest of the year. All the work should be used in accordance with the appropriate policies and applicable laws. The Blue-Eyes, Brown-Eyes Experiment. March 26, 1985. Traditionally, society has always treated leadership as a male issue. She continued to conduct the exercise with her third graders. Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue . As a journalism professor and author of a book on race that spans more than 50 years, Ive watched these developments with great concern. "Why?" Thats how it started, and thats how it went all day long. ABC broadcast a documentary about her work. The same experiment was also used a couple of years later with adults. 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. In present society, psychological experiments are guided by honesty, truthfulness, and accuracy. Locals say that drivers don't signal when they turn because everyone knows where everyone else is going. "We'll just be a couple of minutes. They were also relevant in the 1950s when Elliott first began this work. And Im only doing this as an exercise that every child knows is an exercise and every child knows is going to end at the end of the day., We learn to be racist, therefore we can learn not to be racist. Jane Elliot's experiment explains the reasons for discrimination to a small extent. In her article, Peggy McIntosh compares the "white privilege" to an invisible set of unearned rewards and . Elliott? Folks leave their cars unlocked, keys in the ignition. "Brown-eyed people have more of that chemical in their eyes, so brown-eyed people are better than those with blue eyes," Elliott said. 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. 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. Perhaps because the outcome seemed so optimistic and comforting, coverage of Elliott and the experiments alleged curative powers cropped up everywhere. 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 spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. Need an original essay on Essay Sample: Ethical Concerns in Jane Elliot's Experiment? Grasping for a scientific explanation, she ended up claiming that melanin makes eyes darker, and makes . Its not true and its not fair no matter what you say! he responded. The second day, Elliott reversed the groups. The blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. Melanin, she said, is what causes intelligence. Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images When some of the . 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. Its goal was to demonstrate what prejudice was to her third grade class. Tears formed in the corners of Elliott's eyes. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. Part of the problem is that the blue-eyed group is exclusively white, while the brown-eyed group is predominantly non-white, so that eye colour is no longer an analogue or metaphor for race but a . When she went downtown to do errands, she heard whispers. One example that has been in place for many years is the blue-eyed/brown-eyed experiment. ", Walt Gabelmann, 83, was Riceville's mayor for 18 years beginning in 1966. Today, she says, it's still playing out as the U.S. reckons with racial injustice. people are better than blue-eyed people. To begin with, Jane Elliot's experiment involved deception in which the children were made in believing that change in eye color influence intelligence. Blue-eyed people. THE ANGRY EYE , a 35-minute video, features Jane Elliott conducting her Blue Eyed/Brown Eyed exercise with college students. However, the study shows some bias in the sample size and race of participants. It didnt take long for the children to turn on each other. 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. Jane Elliott, one of the most controversial figures in U.S. education and diversity training, began her journey to international acclaim in Riceville, Iowa. The interaction only strengthened Elliott's resolve. Elliott separated her all-white class of students into two groups: blue-eyed children and brown-eyed children. With over 2 million YouTube subscribers, over 500 articles, and an annual reach of almost 12 million students, it has become one of the most popular sources of psychological information. The hate and discrimination that we see in adults have their origin in their upbringing. The brown-eyed children began to act aggressive and mean towards the blue-eyed children. 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. 10," Elliott said. The students started to internalize, and accept, the characteristics they'd been arbitrarily assigned based on the color of their eyes. When the blue-eyed group saw that the brown-eyed group was going to be seated first, some became upset. To most people, it seemed to suggest that racism could be reduced, even eliminated, by a one- or two-day exercise. The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment. The study also violates the American Principles of Psychologist codes of conduct making its replication or further investigation unethical. She said she watched and was horrified at what she saw. Thats just the way blue-eyed kids were, Elliott told the students. You give them something nice and they just wreck it." 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. Racism is not genetical. The more melanin, the darker the person's eyesand the smarter the person. "We give our children shots to inoculate them against polio and smallpox, to protect them against the realities in the future. One student answers, since the day I was born. Throughout the entire experiment, Elliott leads frank conversations about race and discrimination. Yes, that day was tough. We use them to divide and destroy people., On Understanding The Different Ways We Treat Other Races, Philip Zimbardo (Biography + Experiments). 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. Why'd they shoot that King?" "Not one of them reprimanded her for that or even corrected her. Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. The people and cultures already present in a place often feel threatened by new immigrants. It occurs to me that for a teacher, the arrival of new students at the start of each school year has a lot in common with the return of crops each summer. . Could you?". She left teaching in the mid-80s to speak publicly about the experience and the impact of prejudice and racism. Elliott was shocked by the results and decided to switch the roles the following day. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise continues to be relevant. Although Jane Elliot's intentions were to teach the youngsters about racism, ethical issues related to the simulation were raised. One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle . At points, you are likely to feel uncomfortable. The selection was based on the color of the eye for each group. As the morning wore on, brown-eyed kids berated their blue-eyed classmates. You must get the parents first. It's the Jane Elliott machine. She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. Weve been here before, with unsettling and disturbing results. Elliot wanted to show that the same thing happens in real life with brown eyed people (minority). I felt mad. Danko, M. (2013). Jane Elliott's Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes experiment was a turning point in social psychology. The kids in the bottom group became timider and kept to themselves. Initial Reaction to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Exercise. [online] Today I Found Out. It makes you proud. Articles and opinions on happiness, fear and other aspects of human psychology. 2012 2023 . Barbie had to have a Ken, so Elliott picked from the audience a tall, handsome man and accused him of doing the same things with his female subordinates, Pasicznyk said. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 prompted educator Jane Elliott to create the now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise.". 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. This meeting, along with other clips of the exercises impact on education, is featured in a PBS documentary called A Class Divided. On the second day of the experiment, Elliott switched the childrens roles. Although actions from the experiment show lack of respect towards subjects it has widely been recognized in the study of human behavior in social and cultural context. ", That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. The empathy she works to inspire in students with the experiment, which has been modified over the years, is necessary, she said. (Byrnes & Kiger, 1992). Mary and Zeke have three children, all of whom have blue eyes. However, in this classroom, having blue-eyes had become a condition of inferiority. In 1968, schoolteacher Jane Elliott decided to divide her classroom into students with blue eyes and students with brown eyes. The experiment is to help the children to understand about prejudice and discrimination. She began this work in Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. They also harassed them constantly. ( 1985-03-26) " A Class Divided " is a 1985 episode of the PBS series Frontline. Basically, you establish differences between a set of subjects in order to divide them into separate groups. 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. That phrase came to my mind when I watched the video, A Class Divided, about education experiment to teach stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination (Frontline, 1985 . ", Elliott defends her work as a mother defends her child. In the early morning, dew and fog cover the acres of gently swaying stalks that surround Riceville the way water surrounds an island. Order from one of our vetted writers instead. Open Document. Kors writes that Elliott's exercise taught "blood-guilt and self-contempt to whites," adding that "in her view, nothing has changed in America since the collapse of Reconstruction." On the "Tonight Show" Carson broke the ice by spoofing Elliott's rural roots. Some residents were furious. She pointed out flaws in a student and associated it with . 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. Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. When Elliott walked into the teachers' lounge the next Monday, several teachers got up and walked out. All 28 children found their desks, and Elliott said she had something special for them to do, to begin to understand the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. the day before. "She got carried away by this possession she developed over human beings. That says very plainly that you know whats happening, you know you dont want it for you.