Within a few hours of starting the exercise, Elliott noticed big differences in the childrens behavior and how they treated each other. Amitai Etzioni, a sociologist at George WashingtonUniversity, says the exercise helps develop character and empathy. Problems with this research were that it went against a lot of ethical issues. Elliott was even brought on The Tonight Show to talk about her experiences. (2013). 4. "I know who she is. Multi-Problem Adolescents: An Increasing Problem, Professor Jane Elliott performed a group experiment, the current problems related to discrimination. In the case of any doubt, it's best to consult a trusted specialist. Elliott was not. 4 Pages. Throughout the day, Elliott continued to give the children with blue eyes special treatment. Once indoors, the brown-eyed group was then treated to coffee and doughnuts, while the blue-eyed group could only stand around and wait. (In later versions of the exercise, children in the inferior group were given collars to wear.). "On an airplane, it is," Elliott said to appreciative laughter from the studio audience. On Monday, Elliott reversed the exercise, and the brown-eyed kids were told how shifty, dumb and lazy theywere. "She stirs people up. The experiment is to help the children to understand about prejudice and discrimination. Elliott instructed the blue-eyed kids not to play on the jungle gym or swings. Elliott began the exercise by dividing her students by eye color. 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. people are better than blue-eyed people. And the exercise continued in a similar fashion to how it was executed the day before. Would you like to find out? When Elliott first conducted the exercise in 1968, brown-eyed students were given special privileges. 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. In a grassy front yard down the block is a hand-lettered sign: "Glads for Sale, 3 for $1." Cookie Policy Given the ethical concerns, will you still rely on a quasi-experimental research design as a source of information in counselling psychology? Even though the response to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise was initially negative, it made Jane Elliott a leading figure in diversity training. She then made the blue-eyed students believe that they were better and smarter than their counterparts. But not Elliott. Below, . Elliott was featured on nearly every national news show in America for decades. 10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today. 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. Youve probably heard different versions of it. There are risks to those inoculations, too, but we determine that those risks are worth taking. "That you, Ms. 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. "I understand this is the first time you've flown?" "Maybe the way to sell the exercise would have been to invite the parents in, to talk about what she'd be doing. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd. Keep me from judging a man until I have walked a mile in his moccasins. This is a Sioux saying. When my grandchildren are old enough, I'd give anything if you'd try the exercise out on them. What Was the Purpose of the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? ", Elliott replied, "Why are we so worried about the fragile egos of white children who experience a couple of hours of made-up racism one day when blacks experience real racism every day of their lives?". Thousands of educators across the United States folded the experiment into their curriculums. A difference as simple as eye color, defined and established by the authority figure, created a rift between the students. The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves, students with blue eyes and those with brown. The documentary has become a popular teaching tool among teachers, business owners, and even employees at correctional facilities. In present society, psychological experiments are guided by honesty, truthfulness, and accuracy. 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. 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. The results showed a . Things even got violent at recess. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Elliott had a talk with her students about diversity and racism. she asked the children, who were white. 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. ", A chorus of "Yeahs" went up, and so began one of the most astonishing exercises ever conducted in an American classroom. Blue Eye/Brown Eye is an experiment performed by Jane Elliot in 1968 on the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated to demonstrate what prejudice was to her third grade class. The demonstration has since been taught by generations of teachers to millions of kids across the country. Elliott separated her all-white class of students into two groups: blue-eyed children and brown-eyed children. While Jane Elliot's experiment makes several assumptions, it also has some ethical concerns. I'm tired of hearing about her and her experiment and how everyone here is a racist. Written and verified by the psychologist Francisco Roballo. The latter felt discriminated against by the other brown-eyed children. Professor Jane Elliott performed a group experiment with her students that they would never forget. Jane Elliott, one of the most controversial figures in U.S. education and diversity training, began her journey to international acclaim in Riceville, Iowa. On the morning of april 5, 1968, a Friday, Steven Armstrong stepped into Jane Elliott's third-grade classroom in Riceville, Iowa. SpeedyPaper website, please click below to request its removal: Liked this essay sample but need an original one? It has since evolved into an online blog and YouTube channel providing mental health advice, tools, and academic support to individuals from all backgrounds. "Things are changing, and they're going to change rapidly if we're very, very fortunate," she said. Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. Would you? Not only were they fewer in numbers, but the authority figure was against them. They felt superior and had the support of the authority figure (the teacher). 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. This procedure is sometimes so subtle that no one notices it happening. (2010). Now 45, she had been in Elliott's third grade class in 1969. The Blue Eyes & Brown Eyes Exercise. Directed by William Peters, the episode profiles the Iowa schoolteacher Jane Elliott and her class of third graders, who took part in a class exercise about discrimination and prejudice in 1970 and reunited in the present day to recall the experience. "We just want to peek in," I volunteered. One key assumption is that the sample population represents an actual society. A second look at the blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment that taught third-graders about racism. Though Jane's actions were justifiable because she was not a psychologist, her experiment cannot be replicated in the present society. 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 . The blue eyes brown eyes study was a study on group prejudice and discrimination conducted by Jane Elliot. Additionally, the brown-eyed students got to sit in the front of the class, while the blue-eyed kids . You can contribute to that positive change by watching the documentary. In the 60s, the United States was in the midst of a social race crisis. Brown-eyed people. ISBN 9780520382268. Her class, "I think these children walked in a colored child's moccasins for a day," she was quoted as saying. When you read about this experiment, its hard not to question labels. Today, she says, it's still playing out as the U.S. reckons with racial injustice. In this article, we talk about leadership and female discrimination.. 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. "She said, on the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, 'I don't know why you're doing that I thought it was about time somebody shot that son of a bitch,' " she said. Withdrawn brown-eyed kids were suddenly outgoing, some beaming with the widest smiles she had ever seen on them. "We are repeating the blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise on a daily basis.". Open Document. Its goal was to demonstrate what prejudice was to her third grade class. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. ", Dean Weaver, 70, superintendent of Riceville schools from 1972 to 1979, said, "She'd just go ahead and do things. The roots of racism and why it continues unabated in America and other nations are complicated and gnarled. The people and cultures already present in a place often feel threatened by new immigrants. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise received national attention shortly after it ended. The musical is about romance, but it integrates issues of race and discrimination (Norris, 2014), and the song is about how discrimination is taught carefully, in long term. How can put those little children through that exercise for a day? And they seem unable to relate the sympathy that theyre feeling for these little white children for a day to what happens to children of color in this society for a lifetime or to the fact that they are doing this to children based on skin color every day. Yet what Elliott did continues to stir controversy. In 1970, a documentary about the exercise was released. This bibliography was generated on Cite This For Me on Monday, March 7, 2016. In explaining the experiment rules to the brown-eyed contestants, she addresses the people of color in the room. The results were the same. "I think third grade was too young for what she did. The brown-eyed children didnt want to play with the blue-eyes during recess. It is sometimes cited as a landmark of social science. Ethical issues were 1/3 of the participants refused to take the head off the rat . Before proceeding with the test, she began with random questions to fully understand the children's perception of Negroes. When Sarah, the Elliotts' oldest daughter, went to the girls' bathroom in junior high, she came out of a stall to see a message scrawled in red lipstick on the mirror: "Nigger lover.". Elliott was shocked by the results and decided to switch the roles the following day. Some guidelines for avoiding or reducing this effect are: In conclusion, Jane Elliotts experiment demonstrates the fragility of coexistence and cooperation. They all either smiled or laughed and nodded.". She repeated the abuse with subsequent classes, and finally turned it into a fully commercial enterprise. 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-eyed kids to wear one. She had never met me, and she accused me in front of everyone of using my sexuality to get ahead.. The secretary said the south side of the building was closed, something about waxing the hallways. . 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. Three sections were selected to be administered the simulation . 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. Elliotts coworkers avoided her after her appearance on The Tonight Show. "Hey, Mrs. Elliott," Steven yelled as he slung his books on his desk. They don't replace the diagnosis, advice, or treatment of a professional. This was the smaller group. 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. She told the kids that blue-eyed children weren't as good as brown-eyed or green-eyed ones. She was a local girl and the other teachers were intimidated by her success. Essay Example, Essay Example on Racism Towards Black People, Essay Sample about Developing a Campaign for School Intimidation, Essay Example on Therapist-Client Relationship Boundaries, Islamic Perspective on Euthanasia, Free Essay Sample. She told the students that the brown-eyed children were inferior and repeated the experiment. She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. I have brown eyes. She says that its shocking how children whore normally kind, cooperative, and friendly with each other suddenly become arrogant, discriminatory, and hostile when they belong to a superior group. The idea of white privilege is closely tied to Elliotts initial question to her students. She has appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" five times. Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. Solve your problem differently! Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Before she could answer, another boy piped up: "If she didn't have blue eyes, she'd be the principal or the superintendent.". Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment Ethical? How do you think the world would change if everyone experienced the perils and setbacks that come with prejudice and discrimination? 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. Elliott? In her article, Peggy McIntosh compares the "white privilege" to an invisible set of unearned rewards and . That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. Regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, decision making in psychology should protect individual rights and welfare to eliminate potential biases. 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. The exercise is "an inoculation against racism," she says. She slumped. Mental Floss, 4. They wouldnt be allowed second helpings for lunch. 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 . Students in the inferior groups were more likely to get a worse score. The same experiment was also used a couple of years later with adults. At the time, she was a third-grade . Racism is not genetical. When the exercise ended, some of the kids hugged, some cried. Elliott's friends and family say she's tenacious, and has always had a reformer's zeal. ", Walt Gabelmann, 83, was Riceville's mayor for 18 years beginning in 1966. Two years later, a BBC documentary captured the experiment in Elliott's classroom. Then tell them that . 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 . At recess, three brown-eyed girls ganged up on her. Why'd they shoot that King?" Website. She asks them if they have ever faced treatment like the type that blue-eyed people would experience in the following two and a half hours. "People of other color groups seem to understand," she said. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. PracticalPie.com is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program. In doing the research for my book with scores of peoples who were participants in the experiment, I reached out to Elliott. Undeterred, Elliott tried to appeal to Pauls self-interest. Jane Elliot's 'The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment' was unethical in that she created a segregated environment in a third grade classroom. The test also included violation of consent in which participation of the children was made involuntarily. Thats what it feels like when youre discriminated against., -A child participant in the Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes experiment-. Blue-eyed children got five extra minutes of recess. She also made the brown-eyed students put construction paper armbands on the blue-eyed students. 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. Nobodys standing here. Elliott asked her students to write about their experiences for the local newspaper. Some residents were furious. Order from one of our vetted writers instead, First name should have at least 2 letters, Phone number should have at least 10 digits, Free Essay with a Response to Cross Words by UIW President Louis Agnese, How Does Donald Duk View His Chinese Heritage? One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle . I got to have five minutes extra of recess." Subsequently the brown-eyed children stopped objecting, even when Miss Elliott and the blue-eyed kids chastised and bullied them. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. And they are smarter than blue-eyed people." The brown-eyed children got to sit in the front of the room, to go to lunch first, and to have more time at recess. ", Then, the inevitable: "Hey, Mrs. Elliott, how come you're the teacher if you've got blue eyes?" That's not true. The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves - those with blue eyes and those with brown. In this article, we'll explain what happened during the experiment and discuss its consequences. The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment. Kids on top would tease the children who were deemed as the inferior group. Select from the 0 categories from which you would like to receive articles. Some people feel we can't move on when you have her out there hawking her 30-year-old experiment. Not a day goes by without me thinking about it, Ms. Elliott. And our number two freedom is the freedom to deny that were ignorant., I want every white person in this room who would be happy to be treated as this society in general treats our citizens, our black citizens, if you, as a white person, would be happy to receive the same treatment that our black citizens do in this society, please stand. They were forced to sit on the back rows and had to use a . Through this study, Elliot demonstrated how easy it is for prejudice and discrimination to emerge from just a simple message that people with one eye color are superior to people with another eye color. ", We backed out. hide caption. However, the study shows some bias in the sample size and race of participants. The idea was simple but profound. Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. In the documentary, she said that she conducted the original blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment to make a positive change. The Blue Eye/Brown Eye was an experiment performed by Jane Elliot in 1968 on the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. . All the work should be used in accordance with the appropriate policies and applicable laws. View Module 2 Discussion_ Are We Still Divided_ Blue Eyes_Brown Eyes_ A 3rd Grade Lesson for Us All.pdf from HUMN 330 at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Role Theory: Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors. She said she watched and was horrified at what she saw. "They can't forget me," she said, "and because of who they are, they can't forgive me. These initial criticisms didnt stop Elliott. Jane Elliott was a third grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa when she developed the Blue Eyed/ Brown Eyed exercise to teach the effects of racism. [online] Today I Found Out. She began this work in ", "I've never forgotten the exercise," Whisenhunt volunteered. 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 . She has since refused to answer any of my inquiries. A smart blue-eyed girl who had never had problems with multiplication tables started making mistakes. "Because we might catch something," a brown-eyed boy said. On the "Tonight Show" Carson broke the ice by spoofing Elliott's rural roots. The experiment was to be a division of eye colour starting with blue eyed student having superiority and then the following day, the roles would be reversed. This meeting, along with other clips of the exercises impact on education, is featured in a PBS documentary called A Class Divided. 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. You have the right color eyes!. . 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 gossiped about her in the hallway. The searing story is a cautionary tale that examines power and privilege in and out of the classroom. She learned that the responses from the children were negative and more generalized about what they thought about black people. Introduction. She believed that experience was the only way her students could understand how it felt like to be discriminated. 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. The children were not aware of the experiment, and therefore they could not give their permission of involvement. It has everything to do with power.. With a couple of basic and arbitrary examples, Elliott made the case that brown-eyed people were better. Jane Elliott is 84 years old, a tiny woman with white hair, wire-rim glasses and little patience. Grey eyes are also a rare eye color.
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