Brown Eyes vs. Blue Eyes

[Andy]

Watch the video Class Divided. Summarize the experiment. What does
this resemble? Is this a good way to teach what discrimination is
like? How would you make this experiment better? How much has things
changed over the past 40 years since the experiment took place?

[eruther...@gmail.com]

The Experiment implemented by Jane Elliot presented an ingenious way
to deal with discrimination and bigotry amongst ourselves. In the past
40 years without a doubt there is still racial tension. But however to
a degree i feel we as Americans are beginning to heal from our ugly
past of racial injustice. Hopefully we all can take a valuable lesson
from Mrs. Elliot's experiment, and understand the hurtful potential of
prejudice towards one another.

[Ashlyn Reynolds]

The experiment by "A Class Divided" by Jane Elliot took two different kinds of people in a classroom with all white children. The teacher divided the class into two different groups: people with blue eyes and people with brown eyes.On the first day the children with blue eyes were treated better. On the second day the people with brown eyes were treated better. This experiment resembled the way cultures discriminate against each other. This is a good way to teach what discrimination is but it doesn't really show the full effects that discrimination has on a person. To make this experiment better, I would have made the experiment longer. Over the past 40 years, things have really changed. In the beginning of the video the kids were open about their thoughts against other races. In today's schools kids are taught to hide their feelings against other races.

[Ashley Trobaugh]

The experiment was about a group of children who were told they were better based on the color of their eyes. This resembles racism in the country of other people with different color skin or a different culture or a different religion. I think it is a good way to teach discrimination because they can live through the experience of it and teach them not to discriminate because they know what it feels like. I would make this experiment better by bringing in other races at the end and see if they really learned anything about discrimination. Things have changed in the past forty years. The biggest change is that there is less discrimination now than there was then and people are more accepting today of other races than they were forty years ago. 

[Andy Scheel]

Yes!!  You'll see this again in Sociology!!

[Andy Scheel]

We will really dive into this topic in Sociology!!!!

[Andy Scheel]

I feel very similar Eric.  We will revisit this in detail in Sociology.

[Nicole Ni]

Mrs. Elliott used the blue eyes versus brown eyes experiment to show
people that racism is wrong. This resembles white people versus non
white people. This is a good way to teach what discrimination is like.
I wouldn't make this experiment better, because it's good enough. A
lot of things has changed over the past 40 years since the experiment
took place.

[Laila Malki]

Class Divided: Brown vs. Blue Eyes Experiment:

The Experiment taken by Mrs. Elliot was a test to show that even racism had an affect on the views of children. In the video, it showed us how little kids, the best of friends may I add, just turned on each other because they were told that one day they were better than the other. In the end of the video, these little children saw how it felt to be judged on by things that they couldn't change (the color of their eyes) They soon had a different outlook on racism after "walking in the shoes" of those who were judged. I feel that this experiment resembled the "Real World". In the past, black people where judged out in the open for plainly, being of a different color. No one cared as to if they were good people. White people where told that Black people where Different and so they should be treated different. Until things changed, white people did as they where told. Today, people do the same thing. They cave in to peer pressure and judge people on what makes them different because of what people say and do. As far as the experiment, I do feel this is a great way to teach what discrimination is like. There isn't a better way that I would do this experiment. I think it was a great way to teach and show people why it isn't really nice to discriminate on others. People should always think of how it would feel if they were the one's being judged!