I loved this lesson and thought it was interesting to watch Elliot divide her class and watch them discriminate one another. Just the day before they were best of friends, then the next two days were torture for each group, the brown eyes and the blue eyes. We were asked questions about our reaction to the video and what scenes we would remember months/years from now. I enjoyed her method and how she taught such young children about discrimination. Not only did she teach them, she made them feel it.
EDUC 2120 - Lesson 5 – A Class Divided
General Reactions
Describe your initial reaction to this video. What did you learn?
I was surprised that the teacher would use this method with third grade students at first. The teacher that uses this method for her students, did really well. It put the students in the other’s shoes to show them how it feels to be discriminated against, even if it was just eye color. They were taught by their teacher that the opposite color of theirs was mean, disrespectful, not smart, etc. I learned that no matter how young a student is, you can teach them discrimination in a way that will affect them for their whole lives. Discrimination is meant to be understood, not just taught. We need to understand what goes on and how a person feels when someone is being discriminated against, and this teacher did just that with her third grade students.
What scene or scenes do you think you’ll still remember a month from now and why those scenes?
I’ll probably remember this whole video, honestly. It just amazes me how a two/three day exercise can have such an impact on little children as much as it did. The scene I will probably remember most is just how the children are feeling whenever they realize what discrimination actually feels like, how they can’t be friends with their best friends anymore because of their eye color. Their reactions are pitiful. Even the group that was superior were even a little upset about the whole thing, only because they weren’t able to be with their friends anymore. The reactions of each student were different, and their comments afterwards just shows how much an impact that the exercise made on them. They were so happy when it ended that they could be friends with each other again.
Did any part of the film surprise you? Do you think someone of a different race, ethnicity, or religion would also find it surprising?
I definitely found most of the video surprising. It’s really surprising how Elliott used the same method on adults as she did on her third grade students and it worked the same way as it did on them. I figured the adults would stand up against her, for themselves, more than they did. I do believe that if others of different races, ethnicities, or religions see this video they would be surprised also. We don’t usually think that a video would make such an impact and open up your eyes as much as this one did. We don’t usually put ourselves in others shoes, and yet we always say that we know how that person feels when they’re being discriminated against, when really, I don’t think we do.
What was the exercise that Elliott designed a response to the children’s question, “Why would anyone want to murder Martin Luther King?” Did the film provide an answer to the question? Can you answer the question?
Elliott’s exercise was to divide the class between brown eyes and blue eyes. She thought instead of talking about why someone would murder Martin Luther King that she needed to show how discrimination feels instead of just talking about it to her students. Discrimination is talked about, but never showed in the way that she showed it. Her exercise helped tremendously, for her students and her viewers. I never specifically heard the answer to the student’s question, but she showed them. It was all about discrimination.
Impact of Discrimination
What did the children’s body language indicate about the impact of discrimination?
After the teacher had split up the class based off of the student’s eye color, and were discriminated against, they each felt sad, upset, dumb, etc. They felt as if they weren’t good enough. As for the other students, they felt superior to the others. They felt like they had done something right. They felt smarter, better looking, the best. After each child was discriminated against, they felt as if they had lost their best friend and if something was wrong with them. Now knowing how discrimination felt, they would be better towards other people and wouldn’t look on the outside, but instead, on the inside. Although they were only discriminated against the color of their eyes and not their skin color, they felt like they could connect to the ones who have been discriminated against because of their skin color. When Ms. Elliott did this method with her students, I don’t think she was expecting the reactions she got. She said they turned from being the sweetest kids to the meanest in not even a 24 hour time period. She had never seen them this way. I think this method taught them, and left an impact on them tremendously, to not look at outer appearances of anyone. Your skin, hair and eye color don’t define who you are on the inside.
How did the negative and positive labels placed on a group become self-fulfilling prophecies?
The students who were getting discriminated against that day, when taking their test, they didn’t do well. The second day, when those same students were on top of the other group, their grades increased tremendously. Same with the other group of students. They scored better on the day that they were superior to the other group, than on the day that they were being discriminated against. Their attitudes each day had a lot to do with how well they scored on their tests. The students said they did better as the group superior to the other, because they felt they were better than them, and they were smarter. When they were the group being discriminated against, they said they didn’t feel like they could do as well because they had been upset that whole day because they didn’t feel like they were good or smart enough.
In the prison seminar, one of the white women asserts that all people face some kind of discrimination. Another woman challenges her, claiming that whites can’t really know what it’s like to face discrimination every minute of every day. What do you think?
I agree with the other woman that claims whites don’t face discrimination like blacks do. Yes, we might face some kind of discrimination, but not anything like other skin colors do. Way back when, whites were on top of everything. Blacks couldn’t do anything. They were discriminated against everyday of their lives, and some probably still are today. So, no, I don’t agree with the white woman that says white people know what blacks went/go through.
Both Elliott and her former students talk about whether or not this exercise should be done with all children. What do you think? If the exercise could be harmful to children, as Elliott suggests, what do you think actual discrimination might do?
Elliott was super smart to even come up with idea of this method to teach discrimination and what it feels like to her third grade students. I do believe that children should know what it feels like to be discriminated against. If they know, they wouldn’t want anyone else to feel their hurt like they did, so they wouldn’t try to hurt anyone else in that kind of way. This exercise might be hurtful to students at the time, and maybe even afterwards, but now the child will know what it feels like to be picked on, be let down, be put down, left out, and discriminated against. Children are quick learners and I believe that if children were taught this at an earlier age, they could teach the later generations the same method that was taught to them, and there would be less discrimination in the world. I’m not saying that it will end, but I believe that there would be less of it.
What features did Elliott ascribe to the superior and inferior groups and how did those characteristics reflect stereotypes about blacks and whites?
Whoever Elliott put as the superior group at the time, they made fun of the other group. They were discriminated against by just their eye color. This is how the blacks felt when the whites would discriminate against them because of their skin color. The way that each groups reacted, when being the inferior group, they all were upset and was laughed at, which is how the blacks felt when they were around whites at the time.
How did Elliott’s discrimination create no-win situations for those placed in the inferior group? How did she selectively interpret behavior to confirm the stereotypes she had assigned?
The inferior group at the time was made fun of. They were the different ones. If the superior group was asked why they didn’t like the other group, they couldn’t really answer. Basically, their response was because they’re brown or blue eyed (whoever was the inferior group at the time). The blacks were treated this way everyday then, because of their skin color. The whites who had something against them, didn’t know why they didn’t like them, they just heard what they were supposed to be like, and believed the people who told them such things.
It’s easy to understand why third-graders might not refuse to obey their teacher, but when the exercise is done with the prison guards, why don’t any of the adults object?
I was surprised that more prison guards didn’t object to Elliott. I guess the inferior group didn’t feel like they could object since Elliott just stepped in and took over. They felt like if they were to interrupt her, than they were going to get yelled at by Elliott. The superior group didn’t want to speak up because they were comfortable in their position, and didn’t want to risk being talked down to by Elliott.
At recess, two of the boys from different groups get in a fight. Elliott asks the one who was teased if responding with violence made him feel better or made the teasing stop. What does the answer suggest about the use of violence as a political strategy? At the time, who was using violence for political purposes and why?
When the little boys answer was “no”, this just shows how violence isn’t the key to handling a situation involving discrimination. Violence doesn’t help anything, nor does it make you feel better about yourself. It simply just makes you madder than you were before. At the time, whites would use violence against blacks because they thought that they were more powerful. They wanted to show them that they were better and would be able to handle them in any situation.
How is the blue eyes/brown eyes exercise related to the Sioux prayer, “Help me not judge a person until I have walked in his shoes”?
This exercise teaches those students to not judge someone by his/her eye color. Before this exercise was done with the students, all of them were best friends, but because they were all split up into two different groups, they were forced not to play with, eat with, or associate with another person from the other group in any way. The Sioux prayer is basically saying exactly what Elliott did with her students. Elliott made her blue eyed students feel discriminated against the same way as she did the brown eyed students the first day. While the brown eyed students were upset about being the inferior group, the blue eyed students felt like they were on top of everything. They just felt better overall. Elliott taught her students not to judge others from their outer appearance that it doesn’t make them who they are on the inside. And if a person acts a certain way, don’t judge them by that either because you haven’t experienced what they have, and until you do, keep quiet.
Summary
This lesson was very interesting to me. I just found the whole video interesting. I was surprised that a teacher would use such an exercise with young students as she did. Her exercise really did show discrimination and taught the children how it feels to be discriminated against. I feel like students now should be taught, not only what discrimination is, but what it feels like also. Showing kids what it feels like to be discriminated against, will teach them that discriminating others will hurt and upset them. I believe children are fast learners and are better understanding about peoples’ feelings than adults, but that’s just my opinion. Teaching children this lesson, will teach them not to look on the outside and judge others, but get to know the person before they decide anything.
Research Question
What are some activities that modern teachers could use to teach discrimination to their students?
Reference(s):
http://humaneeducation.org/blog/2014/01/20/6-activities-exploring-prejudice-discrimination/
Research Analysis
There are many activities that modern teachers could use in their classroom today. “Dare to be Different” activity covers the questions about prejudice, discrimination, and at the end of each lesson, each student is taught about the issues of discrimination and what people go through and are encouraged to be different for a day. Each child would alter their appearance and “dare to be different”.
Another activity is called “Me Against My Brother: An Exploration of Genocide”. This activity teaches children about genocide. Students would explore the broader impacts of genocide and how to prevent genocide in society today.
The next activity is called “More Than a Label”. In this activity the students are encouraged to examine why and how they choose their beliefs. Each student would think about why they have those certain attitudes they do about different people and things that goes on in their lives that they don’t fully agree with, and how to reduce bigotry in their lives and society.
“Racism Alphabet” is another activity that teachers could use to teach discrimination. Students are to explore all the different examples of racism that go on in this world. They are to write a short story about the examples they found and how they could help prevent racism in society today.
Research Summary
All the activities that I found while researching my question were all great ideas for almost all ages. I do believe that no discrimination activity could be more influential on a student than the “A Class Divided” video. I think as teachers, though, we should try to use a lesson about discrimination, just so our students could see what discrimination is all about. I will probably use one of these activities in the future, because I believe they would be really helpful when teaching about discrimination to my students.