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 Blue Eyes and Brown Eyes Experiment. The blue eyes brown eyes study was a study on group prejudice and discrimination conducted by Jane Elliot. 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. 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. Brown-eyed people, she told the students, are smarter, more civilized and better than blue-eyed people. "Probably because they have been taught how they're treated in this country that they have to understand us. However, both Mary and Zeke have brown eyes. I think it can. Not a day goes by without me thinking about it, Ms. Elliott. One of the main ones was the fact that their right to withdraw was taken away from them. Yet what Elliott did continues to stir controversy. Junior high, maybe. Students in the inferior groups were more likely to get a worse score. (She prefers the term "exercise.") In this photograph from Sept. 13, 1965, Black children on their way to school in New York City pass by segregationists protesting integrated busing. 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. At her lunch break that day in the teacher's lounge, she told her colleagues about the exercise. And the exercise continued in a similar fashion to how it was executed the day before. Jane Elliott's Blue-Eyed versus Brown-Eyed Students experiment was conducted to determine whether racism was a learned characteristic. 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 . Children often fight, argue, and sometimes hit each other, but this time they were motivated by eye color. One caller complained that white children would not be able to handle . 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. She and her husband, Darald Elliott, then a grocer, have four children, and they, too, felt a backlash. Elliott was not. Elliott rattled off the rules for the day, saying blue-eyed kids had to use paper cups if they drank from the water fountain. She has spoken at more than 350 colleges and universities. Watch it online right now! (Byrnes & Kiger, 1992). We dont have to learn about those who are other than white. Much like the Zimbardo's Stanford Prison experiment where students were divided by either being the jailer or the jailed. Its goal was to demonstrate what prejudice was to her third grade class. 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 . "Not one of them reprimanded her for that or even corrected her. Elliott started to see her own white privilege, even her own ignorance. 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 . 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. The killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, was a seismic event, a turning point that compelled many Americans to do something and do it with urgency. The three outcomes are: (1) virtually all of the subjects reported that the experience was Facilitators should be aware that Jane Elliott's focus on white people can lead viewers to the wrong impression that people of color are passively molded by white people's behavior when, in actuality, people of color can and do respond to racism in a variety of ways. But Elliotts experiment had a more sinister impact. Locals say that drivers don't signal when they turn because everyone knows where everyone else is going. That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. The results showed a . They are steeped in centuries of economic deprivation and cultural appropriation. Thousands of educators across the United States folded the experiment into their curriculums. In this article, we'll explain what happened during the experiment and discuss its consequences. Undeterred, Elliott tried to appeal to Pauls self-interest. Even though some of the children said yes, Elliott pushed back. "It's the same thing over and over again," Cross says. Two education professors in England, Ivor F. Goodson and Pat Sikes, suggest that Elliott's experiment was unethical because the participants weren't informed of its real purpose beforehand. You can contribute to that positive change by watching the documentary. Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? Little children don't like uproar in the classroom. 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 eyes/brown eyes experiment, which could last one to three days, was at a glance similar to other human-potential-movement workshops of the era, including Werner Erhard's est training . ", Then, the inevitable: "Hey, Mrs. Elliott, how come you're the teacher if you've got blue eyes?" people are better than blue-eyed people. Malinda Whisenhunt? Elliott asked. This bibliography was generated on Cite This For Me on Monday, March 7, 2016. "On an airplane, it is," Elliott said to appreciative laughter from the studio audience. These differences lead to war and hate. She also made the brown-eyed students put construction paper armbands on the blue-eyed students. The first day of the experiment she convinced the children that blue-eyed people were smarter, better and would have more priorities. It is quite powerful to watch. Three sections were selected to be administered the simulation . Blue eyes, brown eyes: What Jane Elliott's famous experiment says about race 50 years on. She also assumed that none of the children had interacted with black people and that the only place they could have seen them is on television. In 1970, a documentary about the exercise was released. But not Elliott. THE ANGRY EYE , a 35-minute video, features Jane Elliott conducting her Blue Eyed/Brown Eyed exercise with college students. 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 . Even family members can turn against each other if some authority suddenly decides that those differences are a problem. The idea was simple but profound. Let's just move on. Order original essays online. How do you think the world would change if everyone experienced the perils and setbacks that come with prejudice and discrimination? Thats how it started, and thats how it went all day long. Why Did Jane Elliott Choose Eye Color To Divide Her Students? "I think third grade was too young for what she did. The episode features with new footage of the students, who are now adults. The Hangout Bar & Grill, the Riceville Pharmacy and ATouch of Dutch, a restaurant owned by Mennonites, line Main Street. Today, increased migration means more opportunities for people from different backgrounds to interact with each other, which is often a source of conflict. Or alternatively you may decide to keep them in ignorance of what is happening. Ms. Elliott, now 87, said she started teaching about racism on April 5, 1968 the day after the Rev. For many, the experiment went horribly awry. ", When I met Elliott in 2003, she hadn't been back to Riceville in 12 years. Pasicznyk joined 75 other employees for a training session in the companys suburban Denver headquarters in the late 1980s. Kellen Castineiras PSY Dr. Gail C. Flanagan February 6, 2022. . Why'd they shoot that King?" She nodded. Privacy Statement Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd. "Eye color, hair color and skin color are caused by a chemical," Elliott went on, writing MELANIN on the blackboard. This paradigm helps understand the current problems related to discrimination. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 prompted educator Jane Elliott to create the now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise ." 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. How can we teach kids to be more like him? American Psychological Association, 4. It has everything to do with power.. She said she watched and was horrified at what she saw. . Immediately after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Professor Jane Elliott used the minimal group paradigm to perform an experiment that would teach her students about race discrimination. 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. 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. Today, she says, it's still playing out as the U.S. reckons with racial injustice. Did they know what it was like to be discriminated against? Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue-eyed kids to wear one. Now 45, she had been in Elliott's third grade class in 1969. Blue-eyed children got five extra minutes of recess. I felt like quitting school. Proceeding with the experiment, Elliot divided the children into two groups each with nine pupils. I got to have five minutes extra of recess." Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. "That's what I tried to teach, and that's what drove the other teachers crazy. 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 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. I felt mad. After recess that day, the brown-eyed children complained that they were . The blue-eyed girl apologized. The Blue-Eyes, Brown-Eyes Experiment. In 1970, she demonstrated it for educators at a White House Conference on Children and Youth. Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. If you white folks want to be treated the way blacks are in this society, stand. All the work should be used in accordance with the appropriate policies and applicable laws. 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. Not only were they fewer in numbers, but the authority figure was against them. "You know, sweetheart, you haven't changed one bit. Ethics + Religion; Health; Politics + Society; . In Zimbardo's experiment the conditions were much more controlled for later study but the r. The anti-racism sessions Elliott led were intense. ", A former teacher, Ruth Setka, 79, said she was perhaps the only teacher who would still talk to Elliott. This time, the participants werent a bunch of elementary school children they were young adults. 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. Why do researchers use correlational studies? ISBN 9780520382268. As a result of those divisions, you see racial discrimination or even terrorism. "Hey, Mrs. Elliott," Steven yelled as he slung his books on his desk. 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.
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