The contents of Exploring Your Mind are for informational and educational purposes only. Jane Elliott has done a lot of reflection about the consequences of the minimal group experiment. In Zimbardo's experiment the conditions were much more controlled for later study but the r. All rights reserved. Elliott started to see her own white privilege, even her own ignorance. As the morning wore on, brown-eyed kids berated their blue-eyed classmates. 10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today - Mental Floss hide caption. The latter felt discriminated against by the other brown-eyed children. They needed not acknowledge their privilege or reflect on it. Ethical issues were 1/3 of the participants refused to take the head off the rat . That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. You've still got that same sweet smile. "There's a sense of renewal here that I've never seen anywhere else," Elliott says. In this scenario, students are told brown-eyed people . On the second day of the experiment, Elliott switched the childrens roles. ", 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. Professor of Journalism, University of Iowa. "Eye color, hair color and skin color are caused by a chemical," Elliott went on, writing MELANIN on the blackboard. Two students even got into a physical altercation. In fact, most of the initial response was negative. Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes offers an intimate portrait of the insular community where Elliott grew up and conducted the experiment on the town's children for more than a decade. 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 . More than 50 years after her famous exercise, Elliott is still fighting. You should be happy! Normally, blue-eyes isnt an insult. School ought to be about developing character, but most teachers won't touch that with a ten-foot pole.". Jane Elliott, Known for "Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes," on Racism in 2020 In this article, we'll explain what happened during the experiment and discuss its consequences. Why was the Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment considered - Study 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. One of the most famous experiments in education Jane Elliott's "blue eyes, brown eyes" separation of her third grade students to teach them about prejudice was very different from what the public was told, as revealed in this excerpt from the in-depth story about what really happened in that classroom. Brown-eyed people, she told the students, are smarter, more civilized and better than blue-eyed people. Two Important Psychological Experiments: The Blue Eye/Brown Eye and "Probably because they have been taught how they're treated in this country that they have to understand us. If you had a good German name, but you had brown eyes, they threw you into the gas chamber because they thought you might be a Jewish person who was trying to pass. Sadly, these conversations are still relevant today. They don't replace the diagnosis, advice, or treatment of a professional. Exploring your mind Blog about psychology and philosophy. 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. Jane Elliot and the Blue-Eyed Children Experiment. Initial Reaction to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Exercise. One even wrote a lipstick message with racial slurs. 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 hate and discrimination that we see in adults have their origin in their upbringing. Classroom experiment. ", Steve Harnack, 62, served as the elementary school principal beginning in 1977. That got the other teachers angry. When she separated the class by eye color and announced that blue-eyed children were superior, Paul Bodensteiner objected at every turn. The three outcomes are: (1) virtually all of the subjects reported that the experience was I felt mad. ", A former teacher, Ruth Setka, 79, said she was perhaps the only teacher who would still talk to Elliott. The results showed a . 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. Children often fight, argue, and sometimes hit each other, but this time they were motivated by eye color. She has led training sessions at General Electric, Exxon, AT&T, IBM and other corporations, and has lectured to the IRS, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Department of Education and the Postal Service. 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 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. It also shows how arbitrary and subjective things can turn friends, family members, and citizens against each other. 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. We walked into the principal's office at RicevilleElementary School, Elliott's old haunt. Her class, ", Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise, 'I See These Conversations As Protective': Talking With Kids About Race. They were also relevant in the 1950s when Elliott first began this work. The nearest traffic light is 20 miles away. Not everyone appreciated Elliotts exercise. Sorry, but it's not possible to copy the text due to security reasons. Answer (1 of 3): My guess is that is doesn't really represent racism but classism. "I understand this is the first time you've flown?" But Elliotts experiment had a more sinister impact. Carson asked, grinning. 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. (In later versions of the exercise, children in the inferior group were given collars to wear.). "I think these children walked in a colored child's moccasins for a day," she was quoted as saying. The brown-eyed children didnt want to play with the blue-eyes during recess. The test violated the principle of respect for people's rights and dignity. . Charity is humiliating because its exercised vertically and from above; solidarity is horizontal and implies mutual respect.. In the early morning, dew and fog cover the acres of gently swaying stalks that surround Riceville the way water surrounds an island. January 1, 2003. ", We stopped on Woodlawn Avenue, and a woman in her mid-40s approached us on the sidewalk. The brown-eyed people were told to step to the front of the line. The interaction only strengthened Elliott's resolve. ", Elliott says the role of a teacher is to enhance students' moral development. Elliott's friends and family say she's tenacious, and has always had a reformer's zeal. "That's what I tried to teach, and that's what drove the other teachers crazy. 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 story was then picked up by the Associated Press. Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER! 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. "She taught in this school for 18 years." The students initially involved wished that everyone could participate in an exercise like this. The idea of white privilege is closely tied to Elliotts initial question to her students. This was the smaller group. Things even got violent at recess. Disclaimer: SpeedyPaper.com is a custom writing service that provides online on-demand writing work for assistance purposes. Children with brown eyes were forced to wear armbands that made it easy for people to see that they had brown eyes. Brown-eyed people. 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. Focusing on ethics the experiment violated some of the principles and codes of conduct established by the American Psychological Association. The following are some of her most insightful quotes on these issues. Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER! The Brown Eyed / Blue Eyed Experiment - 980 Words | Bartleby The Associated Press followed up, quoting Elliott as saying she was "dumbfounded" by the exercise's effectiveness. The students were surprised, but they didnt argue. You can start from that point in Activity 2, or you can play the video from the beginning (00:00) so that your students can see civil rights era footage following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as Elliott's students returning to Iowa . For many, the experiment went horribly awry. The first thing that Jane Elliott did was divide the children into groups: those with blue eyes and those with brown eyes. Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue-eyed kids to wear one. She wanted to show her students that an arbitrarily established difference could separate them and pit them against each other. In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. 9 Unethical Psychological Experiments That Actually Happened Jane Elliott, one of the most controversial figures in U.S. education and diversity training, began her journey to international acclaim in Riceville, Iowa. "Well, what do you expect from him, Mrs. Elliott," a brown-eyed student said as a blue-eyed student got an arithmetic problem wrong. 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. . When the blue-eyed group saw that the brown-eyed group was going to be seated first, some became upset. When Elliott walked into the teachers' lounge the next Monday, several teachers got up and walked out. Consequently, the brown-eyed children started using blue-eyes as an insult. Brown Eyes or Blue: A Social Experiment - Soapboxie Weve been here before, with unsettling and disturbing results. 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. Jane Elliott, shown here in 2009, remains an outspoken advocate against racism. She split the class in two categories, according to eye color, and told the children that one group was superior to the others. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. Elliott turned into Americas mother of diversity training. She had never met me, and she accused me in front of everyone of using my sexuality to get ahead.. Blue Eyed vs Brown Eyed Experiment by Bree Elliott - Prezi The Anti-Racism Exercise That Taught Kids to Be Racist - Gizmodo ", Then, the inevitable: "Hey, Mrs. Elliott, how come you're the teacher if you've got blue eyes?" When some of the . She nodded. Regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, decision making in psychology should protect individual rights and welfare to eliminate potential biases. Throughout the day, Elliott continued to give the children with blue eyes special treatment. Jane Elliot's 'The Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment' was unethical in that she created a segregated environment in a third grade classroom. [White people] on the other hand, don't have to understand them. Elliot wanted to show that the same thing happens in real life with brown eyed people (minority). We Are Repeating The Discrimination Experiment Every Day, Says - NPR The blue-eyed brown-eyed experiment was conducted by Jane Elliott, a school teacher from Iowa, in which she separated blue eyed children from brown eyed children and took turns making one of the "superior" to the other. 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. And Im only doing this as an exercise that every child knows is an exercise and every child knows is going to end at the end of the day., We learn to be racist, therefore we can learn not to be racist. Jane Elliott on The Tonight Show on May 31, 1968. One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle . She repeated the abuse with subsequent classes, and finally turned it into a fully commercial enterprise. ", We backed out. Although Jane Elliot's intentions were to teach the youngsters about racism, ethical issues related to the simulation were raised. he asked. Little children don't like uproar in the classroom. What can be changed to make the blue eyes and brown eyes experiment I was stunned. On the other hand, privileged members of the community are treated as in-groups which earn them undue respect and capacity to abuse the less advantaged. Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment Ethical? Elliott instructed the blue-eyed kids not to play on the jungle gym or swings. 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. Is it even possible today? "Hey, Mrs. Elliott," Steven yelled as he slung his books on his desk. ", A chorus of "Yeahs" went up, and so began one of the most astonishing exercises ever conducted in an American classroom. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. "You better apologize to us for getting in our way because we're better than you are," one of the brownies said. Zimbardocreator of the also controversial 1971 Stanford Prisoner Experiment, which was stopped after college student volunteers acting as "guards" humiliated students acting as "prisoners"says Elliott's exercise is "more compelling than many done by professional psychologists. Jane Elliot's experiment explains the reasons for discrimination to a small extent. New York: Elsevier Science. In 1970, Elliott would come to national attention when ABC broadcast their Eye of the Storm documentary which filmed the experiment in action. ", Jane shielded her eyes from the morning sun. And you'll always have it.