When Elliott conducted the exercise the next year, she added something extra to collect data. Within a few hours of starting the exercise, Elliott noticed big differences in the childrens behavior and how they treated each other. In fact, most of the initial response was negative. In 1970, she demonstrated it for educators at a White House Conference on Children and Youth. 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. The Brown Eyed / Blue Eyed Experiment. 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. 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. "I think these children walked in a colored child's moccasins for a day," she was quoted as saying. 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. "We are repeating the blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise on a daily basis.". How do you think the world would change if everyone experienced the perils and setbacks that come with prejudice and discrimination? Little children don't like uproar in the classroom. Brian, the Elliotts' oldest son, got beaten up at school, and Jane called the ringleader's, mother. 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." Racism is not genetical. That says very plainly that you know whats happening, you know you dont want it for you. She told them brown-eyed . Elliotts bullying rejoinder to any nonbeliever was to say that however much pain a white person felt after one or two days of made-up discrimination was nothing when compared to what Blacks endure daily. THE ANGRY EYE , a 35-minute video, features Jane Elliott conducting her Blue Eyed/Brown Eyed exercise with college students. Tears formed in the corners of Elliott's eyes. She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. 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. "Why?" The answer, in a word, was nothing. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 was also an event that spurred educators to action, motivating one teacher to try out a bold experiment touted to reduce racism. The following are some of her most insightful quotes on these issues. She has spoken at more than 350 colleges and universities. 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. This meeting, along with other clips of the exercises impact on education, is featured in a PBS documentary called A Class Divided. 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 . Kids on top would tease the children who were deemed as the inferior group. ", Absolutely not. When the blue-eyed group saw that the brown-eyed group was going to be seated first, some became upset. Shermer and Bloom discuss: "Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes" Jane Elliott famous racism experiment reactions to it (in the classroom, locally, nationally, internationally) whether the "experiment" was really more of a demonstration public interest, from Johnny Carson to Oprah Winfrey the questionable ethics of the experiment what it reveals about tribalism, racism . They are cleaner than blue-eyed people. (She prefers the term "exercise.") The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise continues to be relevant. It is sometimes cited as a landmark of social science. "You can see the look on their faces. Yet what Elliott did continues to stir controversy. Jane would get invited to go to Timbuktu to give a speech. . One of the blue eyed even went to hit a brown eyed just for the fact that he was brown eyed. At this point you may wish to tell the pupils that you are conducting an "experiment" to look at what prejudice is. Elliott was even brought on The Tonight Show to talk about her experiences. Youve probably heard different versions of it. Sadly, these conversations are still relevant today. For many, the experiment went horribly awry. ", Vision and tenacity may get results, but they don't always endear a person to her neighbors. The brown-eyed children could take off their armbands and give them to the blue-eyed children, who were now taught that they were inferior to the brown-eyed children. The Associated Press followed up, quoting Elliott as saying she was "dumbfounded" by the exercise's effectiveness. 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. It is a must . The ethical concerns arising from the experiment are consent and deception. We walked into the principal's office at RicevilleElementary School, Elliott's old haunt. Consequently, the brown-eyed children started using blue-eyes as an insult. ", A chorus of "Yeahs" went up, and so began one of the most astonishing exercises ever conducted in an American classroom. She then made the blue-eyed students believe that they were better and smarter than their counterparts. Ms. Elliott, now 87, said she started teaching about racism on April 5, 1968 the day after the Rev. Ethical issues were 1/3 of the participants refused to take the head off the rat . One of the ways Hitler decided who went into the gas chamber was eye color, Elliott said in a later speech. We dont have to learn about those who are other than white. . "She was an excellent school teacher, but she has a way about her," says 90-year-old Riceville native Patricia Bodenham, who has known Elliott since Jane was a baby. On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. Written and verified by the psychologist Francisco Roballo. The first thing that Jane Elliott did was divide the children into groups: those with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. hide caption. 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. To begin with, Jane Elliot's experiment involved deception in which the children were made in believing that change in eye color influence intelligence. Then a picture was taken to remember. In explaining the experiment rules to the brown-eyed contestants, she addresses the people of color in the room. This way, she successfully created two distinct groups in her classroom: The consequences of the minimal group became evident very quickly. On the "Tonight Show" Carson broke the ice by spoofing Elliott's rural roots. You've still got that same sweet smile. She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. And StanfordUniversity psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo writes in his 1979 textbook, Psychology and Life, that Elliott's "remarkable" experiment tried to show "how easily prejudiced attitudes may be formed and how arbitrary and illogical they can be." If you are the original author of this essay and no longer wish to have it published on the Two students even got into a physical altercation. Jane Elliots work and experiences have made her an authority on education and anti-racism. Elliotts coworkers avoided her after her appearance on The Tonight Show. In this photograph from Sept. 13, 1965, Black children on their way to school in New York City pass by segregationists protesting integrated busing. ( 1985-03-26) " A Class Divided " is a 1985 episode of the PBS series Frontline. "They can't forget me," she said, "and because of who they are, they can't forgive me. 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. Would you like to find out? Pasicznyk joined 75 other employees for a training session in the companys suburban Denver headquarters in the late 1980s. Elliott asked. "She stirs people up. There were more brown-eyed students in the room. ", Jane shielded her eyes from the morning sun. Subsequently the brown-eyed children stopped objecting, even when Miss Elliott and the blue-eyed kids chastised and bullied them. In her article, Peggy McIntosh compares the "white privilege" to an invisible set of unearned rewards and . APA principles acknowledge that individuals rights to privacy, self-determination, and confidentiality is paramount to all psychological activities. . In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. She has . As Elliott recalls, she engineered the "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise" in 1968 after watching the late-night news cycle announce the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Rather than be deterred by possible Additionally, the brown-eyed students got to sit in the front of the class, while the blue-eyed kids . 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. Provide your email for sample delivery, You agree to receive our emails and consent to our Terms & Conditions, Order an essay on this subject and get a 100% original paper. The blue eyes and brown eyes experiment According to supporters of Elliott's approach, the goal is to reach people's sense of empathy and morality. "Not one of them reprimanded her for that or even corrected her. Delivery in 6+ hours! The second day, Elliott reversed the groups. She told the kids that blue-eyed children weren't as good as brown-eyed or green-eyed ones. Jane Elliot's experiment involves cheating and intentional misinterpretation of facts. ", When I met Elliott in 2003, she hadn't been back to Riceville in 12 years. "We give our children shots to inoculate them against polio and smallpox, to protect them against the realities in the future. [online] Today I Found Out. 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. They are more civilized than blue-eyed people. The roots of racism and why it continues unabated in America and other nations are complicated and gnarled. Even though the response to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise was initially negative, it made Jane Elliott a leading figure in diversity training. Unfortunately, you cant copy samples. (2013). Even family members can turn against each other if some authority suddenly decides that those differences are a problem. 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. "They are cleaner and they are smarter.". "Your son got what he deserved," the woman said. At first, she cooperated with me. Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? One even wrote a lipstick message with racial slurs. More than 50 years after her famous exercise, Elliott is still fighting. The idea of white privilege is closely tied to Elliotts initial question to her students. In the case of any doubt, it's best to consult a trusted specialist. The textbook publisher McGraw-Hill has listed her on a timeline of key educators, along with Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Horace Mann, Booker T. Washington, Maria Montessori and 23 others. Brown-eyed people, she told the students, are smarter, more civilized and better than blue-eyed people. Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. They all either smiled or laughed and nodded.". The results showed a . 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. Scores of others did participate. The people of riceville did not exactly welcome Elliott home from New York with a hayride. . Elliott and I were sitting at her dining room table. Three sections were selected to be administered the simulation . The nonstop parade of sickening events such as the murder of George Floyd surely is not going to be abated by a quickie experiment led by a white person for the alleged benefit of other whites as was the case with the blue-eyed, brown eyed experiment. The more melanin, the darker the person's eyesand the smarter the person. But in reality, I found in researching for my book Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes that the experiment was a sadistic exhibition of power and authority levers controlled by Elliott. Why Did Jane Elliott Choose Eye Color To Divide Her Students? Lasting Impact of Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment, Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. Given the ethical concerns, will you still rely on a quasi-experimental research design as a source of information in counselling psychology? You should be happy! "I know who she is. The test also included violation of consent in which participation of the children was made involuntarily. ", For years scholars have evaluated Elliott's exercise, seeking to determine if it reduces racial prejudice in participants or poses a psychological risk to them. She pointed out flaws in a student and associated it with . SpeedyPaper website, please click below to request its removal: Liked this essay sample but need an original one? And the exercise continued in a similar fashion to how it was executed the day before. The blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. The contents of Exploring Your Mind are for informational and educational purposes only. "That you, Ms. One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle the exercise and would be seriously damaged by the exercise. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Elliott had a talk with her students about diversity and racism. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise received national attention shortly after it ended. Mental Floss, 4. Thus, the dominant group, supported by the authorities, will always have the upper hand. In 2001, she was still trying to make a change. . That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. Grasping for a scientific explanation, she ended up claiming that melanin makes eyes darker, and makes . Some people feel we can't move on when you have her out there hawking her 30-year-old experiment. At points, you are likely to feel uncomfortable. Blue Eyed versus Brown Eyed Students Jane Elliott was not a psychologist, but she developed one of the most famously controversial exercises in 1968 by dividing students into a blue-eyed group and . Perhaps because the outcome seemed so optimistic and comforting, coverage of Elliott and the experiments alleged curative powers cropped up everywhere. Advertising Notice Carson asked, grinning. Nevertheless, Elliott became as famous as a teacher could become in America. Why do researchers use correlational studies? Thats what it feels like when youre discriminated against., -A child participant in the Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes experiment-. Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. This time, the participants werent a bunch of elementary school children they were young adults. January 1, 2003. American Psychological Association, 4. 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.