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. On the first day, she told the children with blue eyes they were superior: smarter and more well-behaved than the children with brown eyes. School ought to be about developing character, but most teachers won't touch that with a ten-foot pole.". Everyone's tired of her. Thats how it started, and thats how it went all day long. 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. (2013). American Psychological Association, 4. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . All rights reserved. Let's just move on. ", That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. 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. Mental Floss, 4. If you have ever heard of the self-fulfilling prophecy, these results may not come as a surprise. 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. 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 . Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. One of the blue eyed even went to hit a brown eyed just for the fact that he was brown eyed. Still, Elliott said the last few years have brought out America's worst racist tendencies. 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. Dick DeMarsico/New York World-Telegram & the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection/PhotoQuest/Getty Images, Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. What Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? Looking back, I think part of the problem was that, like the residents of other small midwestern towns I've covered, many in Riceville felt that calling attention to oneself was poor manners, and that Elliott had shone a bright light not just on herself but on Riceville; people all over the United States would think Riceville was full of bigots. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. In a grassy front yard down the block is a hand-lettered sign: "Glads for Sale, 3 for $1." They are steeped in centuries of economic deprivation and cultural appropriation. The Associated Press followed up, quoting Elliott as saying she was "dumbfounded" by the exercise's effectiveness. She began this work in Open Document. The idea was simple but profound. Back in the classroom, Elliott's experiment had taken on a life of its own. She could feel a chasm forming between the two groups of students. 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. One even wrote a lipstick message with racial slurs. Jane Elliot's experiment involves cheating and intentional misinterpretation of facts. Questioning authority The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. The blue-eyed students, when told they were superior and offered privileges such as extra recess time, changed their behavior dramatically and their attitudes toward the children with brown eyes. Cookie Settings, Kids Start Forgetting Early Childhood Around Age 7, Archaeologists Discover Wooden Spikes Described by Julius Caesar, Artificial Sweetener Tied to Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds, Rare Jurassic-Era Insect Discovered at Arkansas Walmart. 10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today. However, both Mary and Zeke have brown eyes. Jane Elliott, shown here in 2009, remains an outspoken advocate against racism. March 26, 1985. (She prefers the term "exercise.") ", When I met Elliott in 2003, she hadn't been back to Riceville in 12 years. The students who had blue eyes were told that they were better and smarter than their inferior brown-eyed peers. With over 2 million YouTube subscribers, over 500 articles, and an annual reach of almost 12 million students, it has become one of the most popular sources of psychological information. Their 12-year-old daughter, Mary, came home from school one day in tears, sobbing that her sixth-grade classmates had surrounded her in the school hallway and taunted her by saying her mother would soon be sleeping with black men. This bibliography was generated on Cite This For Me on Monday, March 7, 2016. Jane Elliott, a teacher and anti-racism activist, performed a direct experiment with the students in her classroom. Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment Ethical? The people of riceville did not exactly welcome Elliott home from New York with a hayride. Normally, blue-eyes isnt an insult. Ethics + Religion; Health; Politics + Society; . Theyd have to use paper cups if they drank from the water fountain. The minimal group paradigm has shaped an entire methodology in social psychology. Answer (1 of 3): My guess is that is doesn't really represent racism but classism. Jane would get invited to go to Timbuktu to give a speech. A columnist at a Denver newspaper called it "evil. The Blue Eye/Brown Eye was an experiment performed by Jane Elliot in 1968 on the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. The latter felt discriminated against by the other brown-eyed children. We walked into the principal's office at RicevilleElementary School, Elliott's old haunt. Undeterred, Elliott tried to appeal to Pauls self-interest. The episode features with new footage of the students, who are now adults. "We are repeating the blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise on a daily basis.". She also made the brown-eyed students put construction paper armbands on the blue-eyed students. On the first day of the two-day experiment, Elliott told the . Thats what it feels like when youre discriminated against., -A child participant in the Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes experiment-. "Let me look at you," Elliott said. hide caption. On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. those with brown eyes (or hazel eyes). If brown-eyed children made a mistake, Elliott would call out the mistake and attribute it to the students brown eyes. But not Elliott. 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. "They shot that King yesterday. I'm tired of hearing about her and her experiment and how everyone here is a racist. Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images ISBN 9780520382268. In the 60th year beyond Brown vs. Board of Education, Frontline is making available their classic 1985 documentary, " A Class Divided ," about the experiment and what happened later. With a couple of basic and arbitrary examples, Elliott made the case that brown-eyed people were better. The Brown Eyed / Blue Eyed Experiment. Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. To most people, it seemed to suggest that racism could be reduced, even eliminated, by a one- or two-day exercise. I got to have five minutes extra of recess." Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? Stripping away the veneer of the experiment, what was left had nothing to do with race. When Elliott first conducted the exercise in 1968, brown-eyed students were given special privileges. SpeedyPaper website, please click below to request its removal: Liked this essay sample but need an original one? The goal of the minimal group paradigm is to establish subjective differences and create a climate of favoritism. Folks leave their cars unlocked, keys in the ignition. 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 felt superior and had the support of the authority figure (the teacher). At her lunch break that day in the teacher's lounge, she told her colleagues about the exercise. One scholar asserts that it is "Orwellian" and teaches whites "self-contempt." ", Walt Gabelmann, 83, was Riceville's mayor for 18 years beginning in 1966. Elliott separated her all-white class of students into two groups: blue-eyed children and brown-eyed children. "She taught in this school for 18 years." Elliott said that blue-eyed people were less intelligent and less clean. This way, she successfully created two distinct groups in her classroom: The consequences of the minimal group became evident very quickly. The brown-eyed children didnt want to play with the blue-eyes during recess. There are risks to those inoculations, too, but we determine that those risks are worth taking. 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. In present society, psychological experiments are guided by honesty, truthfulness, and accuracy. Mental Sandboxes and Their Usefulness in Today's World, The Law of Reversed Effort: When Taking Action Isn't the Best Option. The next day, Elliott reversed the roles. The study also violates the American Principles of Psychologist codes of conduct making its replication or further investigation unethical. "You can see the look on their faces. They also harassed them constantly. Proceeding with the experiment, Elliot divided the children into two groups each with nine pupils. 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. "I think third grade was too young for what she did. Even though the response to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise was initially negative, it made Jane Elliott a leading figure in diversity training. 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. Before she could answer, another boy piped up: "If she didn't have blue eyes, she'd be the principal or the superintendent.". When some of the . 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. SYNOPSIS OF BLUE EYED. One key assumption is that the sample population represents an actual society. Focusing on ethics the experiment violated some of the principles and codes of conduct established by the American Psychological Association. The results showed a reversal effect in which the blue-eyed students showed signs of inferiority and low self-esteem. 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. Sorry, but it's not possible to copy the text due to security reasons. That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. The video . "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. The students initially involved wished that everyone could participate in an exercise like this. She has appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" five times. The first day of the experiment she convinced the children that blue-eyed people were smarter, better and would have more priorities. PracticalPie.com is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program. When the exercise ended, some of the kids hugged, some cried. 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 her article, Peggy McIntosh compares the "white privilege" to an invisible set of unearned rewards and . "We give our children shots to inoculate them against polio and smallpox, to protect them against the realities in the future. 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. On the first day of the experiment, she declared the brown-eyed group superior and gave them extra privileges like seconds at lunch, extra recess time, and access to the new school playground. She attended a oneroom rural schoolhouse.Today, at 72, Elliott, who has short white hair, a penetrating gaze and no-nonsense demeanor, shows no signs of slowing. She told them that people with brown eyes were superior to those with blue eyes, for reasons she made up. "It's the same thing over and over again," Cross says. 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. According to the article is Jane Elliot's experiment to small degree effective. The publication of compositions which the children had written about the experience in the local . After the exercise white college students in . "We want to see Room No. You should be happy! he asked. 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. According to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, 2010 the experiment also violates the principle of Integrity. Order original essays online. The ethical concerns arising from the experiment are consent and deception. 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 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 . Lasting Impact of Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment, Words are the most powerful weapon devised by humankind. Typical of their responses was that of Debbie Hughes, who reported that "the people in Mrs. Elliott's room who had brown eyes got to discriminate against the people who had blue eyes. This was the smaller group. . Some guidelines for avoiding or reducing this effect are: In conclusion, Jane Elliotts experiment demonstrates the fragility of coexistence and cooperation. You must get the parents first. But the protests happening now have given her hope. [White people] on the other hand, don't have to understand them. 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. I want to know why youre so willing to accept it or to allow it to happen for others., The first reaction I get from teachers, who see this film or from hearing, hear me discuss what I do say to me How can you do that to these little children? Back when she introduced the experiment to her Iowa students more than five decades ago, at least one student had the audacity to challenge Elliotts premise, according to those who were in the classroom at the time. ", Others have praised Elliott's exercise. At points, you are likely to feel uncomfortable. She learned that the responses from the children were negative and more generalized about what they thought about black people. 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. She has since refused to answer any of my inquiries. 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. The May 25 killing of George Floyd set off weeks of nationwide protests over the police abuse and racism against black people, plunging the U.S. into a reckoning of racial inequality. Kids on top would tease the children who were deemed as the inferior group. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 prompted educator Jane Elliott to create the now-famous "blue eyes/brown eyes exercise.". Jane Elliott has done a lot of reflection about the consequences of the minimal group experiment. In doing the research for my book with scores of peoples who were participants in the experiment, I reached out to Elliott. Why Did Jane Elliott Choose Eye Color To Divide Her Students? Jane Elliott and Dr. On April 5 1968 the day after the death of Martin Luther King Jr Elliott decided to show her students how easy it was to be influenced by racism. Elliott was featured on nearly every national news show in America for decades. It is a must . 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). There is a way to avoid editing or writing from scratch! When Elliott conducted the exercise the next year, she added something extra to collect data. Amitai Etzioni, a sociologist at George WashingtonUniversity, says the exercise helps develop character and empathy. 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. What Was the Purpose of the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? She pointed out flaws in a student and associated it with . Jane Elliott's Blue-Eyed versus Brown-Eyed Students experiment was conducted to determine whether racism was a learned characteristic. (2022, Apr 06). Today, she says, it's still playing out as the U.S. reckons with racial injustice. Ethical issues were 1/3 of the participants refused to take the head off the rat . white chapel funeral home auburn ny,