I’m glad our class was able to watch the clip of the blue eyes
vs. brown eyes experiment by Jane Elliott. I had never even heard of this
experiment before which was kind of shocking to me because of some of the
classes I have taken dealing with racism and I think this is a genius
experiment. Using young kids is a great idea too because they are less likely
to see to the bottom of the experiment and they are going to behave just as
they did, and it will teach them that they don’t like being discriminated
against just because of something like color, whether it be eye color or skin
color now they know that their words can hurt and that treatment is unfair.
When they were discussing back in the classroom why those
two kids were fighting at recess and it was because the one kid called the
other “brown eyes” that was enough to start a fight. It wouldn’t have started a
fight the day before but just because the blue-eyed kids were getting all the
benefits and felt they were better, being called “brown eyes” became an insult.
The children didn’t have a problem talking openly about their behavior to their
teacher either, which was a great look at why they did some of the things they
did. I think it was good letting parents watch these results too because maybe even
they will understand it more seeing their own kids being treated unfairly.
I think the kids learned some valuable lessons and hopefully
the parents did too. Jane Elliott really had a good idea for an experiment here
and it was a good way to show those kids the unfair treatment first hand
because like that saying goes no one really knows how others feel unless they
can walk a mile in their shoes.
By: Taylor Cook
ReplyDeleteI happened to see this experiment in another class as well and it was really amazing to see how the kids reacted to the blue eyes vs. brown eyes dilemma. To me it seems like a great experiment to use on young children because they have know way of truly knowing that it is actually an experiment based on being discriminated against and not a fun game. You are right when saying it will show kids at a young age that it is not right to discriminate against any other person based on the color of their eyes, skin, etc. Despite what parents may be teaching their kids at home this experiment will show them that racism is wrong and will not be tolerated in our society. It will also allow kids to interact with other kids that are different then they are. Whether it be skin color, eye color, or any other difference. And as you said you will never know how a discriminated person feels until you actually walk a mile in their shoes.
Hey Matt, I totally agree with you by saying this is a genius experiment. It just relates to racism so well and shows the kids how people that are being discriminated feel. Like you said using kids is a great idea. They are innocent and very direct to the point, they do not think twice before they answer and the result will be very honest. Now we all can relate how people who are being called names feel. Just by calling the other kid “brown eyes” could start a fight, imagine how people will feel being call the N-word or the C-word. This experiment is an eye opening experiment to everyone until today. Everyone have the right be treated with respect and equally. There should not be a separation because of race. Living in the 21st century, people should know that racism is wrong and should try to stop it. I am really glad that you posted your entry on this topic. I showed my friends the video after class that day and did not stop talking about it for a few days. Racism is still a big issue today and I believe that we can stop it.
ReplyDelete-Marcus Kok
Before seeing this video in class again, I had saw it once before in a psychology class. I honestly thought it was brilliant what she had done in order to get the kids to think they were playing a game when really she was just running an experiment about discrimination with the children. I think that after so much negative reinforcement, as well as discrimination, the children actually believed that they were less of a human merely based on their eye color, when they had not even thought about this prior to this experiment. Since children tend to speak and act without thinking through the consequences of their actions, I found it interesting that the one boy beat up the brown-eyed boy just because of the color of his eyes. The only reason it happened on that day is because the teacher said that the blue-eyed people have all the power that day and the brown-eyed kid got tired of being discriminated against. If someone is constantly being told that they are lower than someone else, surely there will be a descent in self- esteem and violence could break out regardless of the truth behind it as we saw in that clip. Not only does it become a general problem within a society in my opinion, but it definitely affects the individuals within that society. If you are constantly being treated differently because of something, then you will begin to believe that it is true, even if it is something ridiculous like your eye color.
ReplyDelete-By Josh Gibson
By: Taylor Brown
ReplyDeleteI also had never seen this experiment before, but found it to be very interesting. It was a fantastic experiement because it gave those kids an opportunity to understand just how exactly people who are discriminated against feel. At the beginning the kids were making stereotypical and racist comments, but afterwards I would have to think they would have a great understanding of how some people feel. I think that those children actually believed they were a lesser to the person with another eye color and gave them a very real perspective on how it feels to deal with predjudice. I hope that more and more people will be able to use examples like this to end racism and stereotypes. People should not have to deal with being treated differently because we are not all the same eye or skin color. This experiment was very interesting for me to watch and I hope that people will continue to do things like this to point out that no one wants to be discriminated against and that it is wrong.
I seen this video a long time ago, sadly I completely forgot which class. I feel as though during that time, an action desperately needed to be taken. Jane Elliot was completely right for taking this action into her own hands, explaining to younger kids. The young kids in the video didn't really know why they discriminated against African Americans. Separating the kids by eye color, and making a certain group of kids at an advantage while the other group were at a disadvantage, was a very smart tactic. Once these groups were created, the brown eyed kids couldn't do anything the blue eyed kids got to do. Arguments and name-calling began towards the brown eyed children. That's crazy to me because all the kids were friends the day before. The kids learned a valuable lesson that nobody should be discriminated against.
ReplyDeleteBy: Angel Akinkuoye
By: Micah Stein
ReplyDeleteI have never seen this video before, but I'm certainly glad we watched it in class. Even though the experiment was awhile ago, it is still relevant in today's society. Something that stood out to me was how impressionable kids are at such a young age. When asked questions, kids would tell the teacher the things their parents had said around them. Even at such a young age, it's near impossible to raise a child in today's age and maintain his or her innocence for very long. The society we live in today causes kids to grow up and face intense issues such as discrimination at a very young age, which is sad. I am, however, glad that the teacher ran this little experiment - it was something the kids needed to feel for themselves, not something they just hear about in History class.
I would have to say after watching the experiment of blue-eyes vs. brown eyes I was shocked by the results of the experiment that occurred. I had never seen an experiment like this before, or heard of such an experiment like this one in another class. However, it was very interesting to see how these kids reacted when their teacher placed certain restrictions upon the class due to the color of their eyes. Kids were starting to label each other, discriminate against one another, and be stereotypical towards each other for this experiment. I think if this experiment was conducted through adults this teacher would of never gotten the results she was looking for like she did with her students. Due to the fact that adults would be more civilized and understand concepts like the color of your eyes does not make you smarter or dumber. However, by using her students instead the results were exactly what she was looking for because the kids didn't know any better and followed every restriction or stereotype of different eye colored people.
ReplyDeleteBy Anthony Pape
I saw this video in another class and afterword we talked about the brilliance of it. I agree it was genius to use children because they couldn’t see the root of the experiment. In high school one of my teachers performed a similar activity but it was for a week. Students were given arm bands and students with the brown arm bands weren’t as important as the rest of the class. My teacher contacted their other teachers and asked them to carry out the message in all of their class to give them a small realization of how it felt. Now in our school fights weren’t started but the student that did participate and were given the brown arm bands defiantly didn’t enjoy themselves, their friends weren’t “allowed” to talk to them and they were treated differently in all of their classes. My high school teacher showed us a small glimpse of how segregation went and how awful it was. I think schools should still do this because it’s a very effective way to teach our history and make sure it’s not repeated.
ReplyDelete-Jessica Gatten
I think that the experiment, Brown-eyes vs. Blue-eyes, is an excellent representation of how society works. The kids were simply told that based off of their eye color they would be judged and treated a certain way. This is exactly how society tells people that based off of their race, religion, culture, etc. that they will be treated and judged a certain way. For me, the eye experiment shows the same power of judgment towards a group of people that the Nazis did throughout the reign of the Third Reich. Hitler was able to not convince little kids that a group of people were not equal to them, but an entire country. It is crazy to think that how powerful words can be and how much influence a person in power (Hitler and the kids’ teacher) can have on a population’s judgment of others.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Redd