"Hey, Mrs. Elliott," Steven yelled as he slung his books on his desk. That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. 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 empathy she works to inspire in students with the experiment, which has been modified over the years, is necessary, she said. Though Jane's actions were justifiable because she was not a psychologist, her experiment cannot be replicated in the present society. The brown-eyed people were told to step to the front of the line. Abstract The effectiveness of a well-known prejudice-reduction simulation, "Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes," was assessed as a tool for changing the attitudes of ncnblack teacher eduction students toward blacks. The more melanin, the darker the person's eyesand the smarter the person. I have brown eyes. She believed that experience was the only way her students could understand how it felt like to be discriminated. "She taught in this school for 18 years." Thousands of educators across the United States folded the experiment into their curriculums. Despite the adaptation of the experiment in psychological studies, Jane has been widely criticized for her unethical conduct and promotion of discrimination among children. 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. They are cleaner than blue-eyed people. Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment Ethical? Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. When you read about this experiment, its hard not to question labels. Yes, the children felt angry, hurt, betrayed. Elliott, who is white, separated the students into two groupsthose with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. In Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues That Teach Kids to Do the Right Things, educational psychologist Michele Borda says it "teaches our children to counter stereotypes before they become full-fledged, lasting prejudices and to recognize that every human being has the right to be treated with respect." (2013). 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." She asked them if they would like to experience what it felt like to be in a person of colors shoes. We use them to divide and destroy people., White peoples number one freedom, in the United States of America, is the freedom to be totally ignorant of those who are other than white. Withdrawn brown-eyed kids were suddenly outgoing, some beaming with the widest smiles she had ever seen on them. However, the study shows some bias in the sample size and race of participants. It is sometimes cited as a landmark of social science. (She prefers the term "exercise.") "How dare you try this cruel experiment out on white children," one said. She had never met me, and she accused me in front of everyone of using my sexuality to get ahead.. This meeting, along with other clips of the exercises impact on education, is featured in a PBS documentary called A Class Divided. The day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, Jane Elliott, a teacher in a small, all-white Iowa town, divided her third-grade class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed groups and gave them a daring . SpeedyPaper.com 2023 All rights reserved. After recess that day, the brown-eyed children complained that they were . After the local newspaper published a story on Elliott and the experiment, she was flown to New York to appear on May 31, 1968, on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, where she extolled the experiments effectiveness in cluing in her 8-year-old white students on what it was like to be Black in America. She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. 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. She was hesitant to enroll in Elliotts workshop but was told that if she wanted to succeed as a manager, shed have to attend. Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images "On an airplane, it is," Elliott said to appreciative laughter from the studio audience. Junior high, maybe. 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 . One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle . 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. . The children said yes, and the exercise began. The students who had blue eyes were told that they were better and smarter than their inferior brown-eyed peers. Lasting Impact of Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment, Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. They are more civilized than blue-eyed people. "Because we might catch something," a brown-eyed boy said. When she went downtown to do errands, she heard whispers. [White people] on the other hand, don't have to understand them. Order original essays online. ", We stopped on Woodlawn Avenue, and a woman in her mid-40s approached us on the sidewalk. They needed not acknowledge their privilege or reflect on it. Why'd they shoot that King?" The interaction only strengthened Elliott's resolve. 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. 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. 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 American Psychologists Principles and code of conduct state that in cases of deception, experimenters should take into consideration the potential harmful effects to participants. 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. Jane Elliot, a third-grade teacher from Lowa town, became troubled with the turn of events and knew that something had to be done about racial discrimination (Danko, 2013). It makes you proud. The experiment known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. those with brown eyes (or hazel eyes). Biddle, B. J. January 1, 2003. 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. I often think about Paul Bodensteiner. Jane Elliott at Riceville, Iowa, Elementary School in 1968. "Things are changing, and they're going to change rapidly if we're very, very fortunate," she said. "It would be hard to know, wouldn't it, unless we actually experienced discrimination ourselves. 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 . Subsequent research designed to gauge the efficacy of Elliotts attempt at reducing prejudice showed that many participants were shocked by the experiment, but it did nothing to address or explain the root causes of racism. Need an original essay on Essay Sample: Ethical Concerns in Jane Elliot's Experiment? The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise is now known as the inspiration for diversity training in the workplace, making Jane Elliott one of the most influential educators in recent American history. The second day, Elliott reversed the groups. The test also included violation of consent in which participation of the children was made involuntarily. Unfortunately, you cant copy samples. Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. The fact that children are easy to manipulate into acting in a particular manner explains Jane's choice of sample. . . The brown-eyed children began to act aggressive and mean towards the blue-eyed children. 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. 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. However, in this classroom, having blue-eyes had become a condition of inferiority. Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue . Professor of Journalism, University of Iowa. Its goal was to demonstrate what prejudice was to her third grade class. This was intentional. In explaining the experiment rules to the brown-eyed contestants, she addresses the people of color in the room. "People of other color groups seem to understand," she said. The first thing that Jane Elliott did was divide the children into groups: those with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. When Elliott walked into the teachers' lounge the next Monday, several teachers got up and walked out. 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 . Consequently, the brown-eyed children started using blue-eyes as an insult. The contents of Exploring Your Mind are for informational and educational purposes only. "I think these children walked in a colored child's moccasins for a day," she was quoted as saying. It is a must . . 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. In her article, Peggy McIntosh compares the "white privilege" to an invisible set of unearned rewards and . In the 60s, the United States was in the midst of a social race crisis. She wanted them to understand what discrimination felt like. "We give our children shots to inoculate them against polio and smallpox, to protect them against the realities in the future. Back in the classroom, Elliott's experiment had taken on a life of its own. 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 . But the protests happening now have given her hope. Elliott shared the essays with her mother, who showed them to the editor of the weekly Riceville Recorder. Would you? American Psychological Association, 4. In 1970, Elliott would come to national attention when ABC broadcast their Eye of the Storm documentary which filmed the experiment in action. "Probably because they have been taught how they're treated in this country that they have to understand us. "Do blue-eyed people remember what they've been taught?" I felt mad. ", Steve Harnack, 62, served as the elementary school principal beginning in 1977. I got to have five minutes extra of recess." I think it can. She has spoken at more than 350 colleges and universities. And what she did caused an uproar. Additionally, the brown-eyed students got to sit in the front of the class, while the blue-eyed kids . a brown-eyed boy asked. 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 experiment to demonstrate . That's what it feels like when you're discriminated against.". The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise continues to be relevant. When the blue-eyed group saw that the brown-eyed group was going to be seated first, some became upset. With this experiment she wanted to let the blue-eyed people (white people) feel how it is to be in low power position. The blue eyes brown eyes study was a study on group prejudice and discrimination conducted by Jane Elliot. Professor Jane Elliott performed a group experiment with her students that they would never forget. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. Stephen G. Bloom does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. Alan Charles Kors, a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, says Elliott's diversity training is "Orwellian" and singled her out as "the Torquemada of thought reform." Issues such as the right to know, the right to privacy, and informed consent. Elliott began the exercise by dividing her students by eye color. Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. She split the class in two categories, according to eye color, and told the children that one group was superior to the others. The answer, in a word, was nothing. One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle the exercise and would be seriously damaged by the exercise. She wanted to show her students that an arbitrarily established difference could separate them and pit them against each other. In this article, we'll explain what happened during the experiment and discuss its consequences. She was a local girl and the other teachers were intimidated by her success. Jane Elliott has done a lot of reflection about the consequences of the minimal group experiment. Elliott asked. This bibliography was generated on Cite This For Me on Monday, March 7, 2016. The roots of racism and why it continues unabated in America and other nations are complicated and gnarled. On the second day, the roles were reversed, and those with brown eyes received special treatment, and the blue-eyed children were made to feel inferior (A Class, 2003). She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. However, both Mary and Zeke have brown eyes. 4. Some guidelines for avoiding or reducing this effect are: In conclusion, Jane Elliotts experiment demonstrates the fragility of coexistence and cooperation. On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN.