Elliott was even brought on The Tonight Show to talk about her experiences. ", The two hugged, and Whisenhunt had tears streaming down her cheeks. She noticed that student relationships had changed; even if students were friendly outside of the exercise, they treated each other with arrogance or bossiness once the roles were assigned. Despite the adaptation of the experiment in psychological studies, Jane has been widely criticized for her unethical conduct and promotion of discrimination among children. The test violated the principle of respect for people's rights and dignity. Undeterred, Elliott tried to appeal to Pauls self-interest. Blue Eyes vs. Brown Eyes Experiment. ", 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. She says its because racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and ethnocentrism are mean and nasty. 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 American Psychologists Principles and code of conduct state that in cases of deception, experimenters should take into consideration the potential harmful effects to participants. Hire a professional with VAST experience! In the documentary, she said that she conducted the original blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment to make a positive change. Two students even got into a physical altercation. 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 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. We dont have to learn about those who are other than white. 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 . 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). "Things are changing, and they're going to change rapidly if we're very, very fortunate," she said. Elliott asked her students to write about their experiences for the local newspaper. In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. ", 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. 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. January 1, 2003. She asked them if they would like to experience what it felt like to be in a person of colors shoes. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise continues to be relevant. Elliott's friends and family say she's tenacious, and has always had a reformer's zeal. The goal of the minimal group paradigm is to establish subjective differences and create a climate of favoritism. 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. 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. Consequently, the brown-eyed children started using blue-eyes as an insult. PracticalPsychology. But in reality, I found in researching for my book Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes that the experiment was a sadistic exhibition of power and authority levers controlled by Elliott. The contents of Exploring Your Mind are for informational and educational purposes only. ", 2023 Smithsonian Magazine In the case of any doubt, it's best to consult a trusted specialist. "They are cleaner and they are smarter.". However, in this classroom, having blue-eyes had become a condition of inferiority. Kors writes that Elliott's exercise taught "blood-guilt and self-contempt to whites," adding that "in her view, nothing has changed in America since the collapse of Reconstruction." Kids on top would tease the children who were deemed as the inferior group. If you are the original author of this essay and no longer wish to have it published on the "We want to see Room No. Jane Elliott (ne Jennison; born on November 30, 1933) is an American diversity educator.As a schoolteacher, she became known for her "Blue eyes/Brown eyes" exercise, which she first conducted with her third-grade class on April 5, 1968, the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Why'd they shoot that King?" Now, almost four decades later, Elliott's experiment still mattersto the grown children with whom she experimented, to the people of Riceville, population 840, who all but ran her out of town, and to thousands of people around the world who have also participated in an exercise based on the experiment. 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. Knowing that her experiment would have consequences, Jane remained committed to her course. Theyd have to use paper cups if they drank from the water fountain. At the time, she was a third-grade . people are better than blue-eyed people. 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. 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. SpeedyPaper.com 2023 All rights reserved. Elliott said that blue-eyed people were less intelligent and less clean. 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. The secretary on duty looked up, startled, as if she had just seen a ghost. She wanted to show her students that an arbitrarily established difference could separate them and pit them against each other. American Psychological Association, 4. Later, it would occur to Elliott that the blueys were much less nasty than the brown-eyed kids had been, perhaps because the blue-eyed kids had felt the sting of being ostracized and didn't want to inflict it on their former tormentors. 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. She slumped. Below, . The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves - those with blue eyes and those with brown. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. 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. "Brown-eyed people have more of that chemical in their eyes, so brown-eyed people are better than those with blue eyes," Elliott said. ", Elliott defends her work as a mother defends her child. In doing the research for my book with scores of peoples who were participants in the experiment, I reached out to Elliott. It is quite powerful to watch. "Eye color, hair color and skin color are caused by a chemical," Elliott went on, writing MELANIN on the blackboard. Most Riceville residents seem to have an opinion of Elliott, whether or not they've met her. 980 Words. We have to let people find out how it feels to be on the receiving end of that which we dish out so readily.". She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. Multi-Problem Adolescents: An Increasing Problem, Professor Jane Elliott performed a group experiment, the current problems related to discrimination. The Blue-Eyes, Brown-Eyes Experiment. Open Document. Elliot said that when the children were given the test on the same day that they were in the superior group, they tended to get the highest scores. They wouldnt be allowed second helpings for lunch. The selection was based on the color of the eye for each group. The subjects were 164 students enrolled in eight sections of an introductory elementary education course at a state university. [White people] on the other hand, don't have to understand them. Given the ethical concerns, will you still rely on a quasi-experimental research design as a source of information in counselling psychology? . Focusing on ethics the experiment violated some of the principles and codes of conduct established by the American Psychological Association. Racism is not genetical. Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment Ethical? Written and verified by the psychologist Francisco Roballo. 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. 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. Professor Jane Elliott performed a group experiment with her students that they would never forget. These initial criticisms didnt stop Elliott. Grasping for a scientific explanation, she ended up claiming that melanin makes eyes darker, and makes . She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show five times. 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. Ethical issues were 1/3 of the participants refused to take the head off the rat . It occurs to me that for a teacher, the arrival of new students at the start of each school year has a lot in common with the return of crops each summer. "She stirs people up. She compromised the APA's Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard because she lied, after that she recanted the lies and kept as they were justified because of her greater purpose. Things even got violent at recess. 10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today. Jane Elliots work and experiences have made her an authority on education and anti-racism. But Elliotts experiment had a more sinister impact. Advertising Notice "I think third grade was too young for what she did. Today, increased migration means more opportunities for people from different backgrounds to interact with each other, which is often a source of conflict. . Privacy Statement To get her points across, Elliott hurled insults at workshop participants, particularly those who were white and had blue eyes. The more melanin, the darker the person's eyesand the smarter the person. Jane Elliott has done a lot of reflection about the consequences of the minimal group experiment. 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. ABC broadcast a documentary about her work. 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. Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. Elliott asked. "She taught in this school for 18 years." 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 It's the Jane Elliott machine. Elliott started to see her own white privilege, even her own ignorance. However, both Mary and Zeke have brown eyes. hide caption. The results showed a reversal effect in which the blue-eyed students showed signs of inferiority and low self-esteem. Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment Ethical? The demonstration has since been taught by generations of teachers to millions of kids across the country. Answer (1 of 3): My guess is that is doesn't really represent racism but classism. Elliott had hoped that this experiment would help the children to better understand the feelings of discrimination that certain groups feel on a daily basis, but what she didn . At lunchtime, Elliott hurried to the teachers' lounge. Initial Reaction to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Exercise. "I know who she is. I often think about Paul Bodensteiner. . Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd. Hundreds of viewers wrote letters saying Elliott's work appalled them. Elliott created the blue-eyes/brown-eyes classroom exercise in 1968 to teach students about racism. The mainstream media were complicit in advancing such a simplistic narrative. She has spoken at more than 350 colleges and universities. In present society, psychological experiments are guided by honesty, truthfulness, and accuracy. Elliot's approach to the experiment involved creativity in which the pupils' age and ability to comprehend discrimination was taken into account. After recess that day, the brown-eyed children complained that they were . Want a quality guarantee? You didnt understand the directions. After the exercise white college students in . . Separate the class into two halves - those with blue eyes and those with brown. Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER! Blue-eyed students slumped in their chairs, as though . And you'll always have it. The study also violates the American Principles of Psychologist codes of conduct making its replication or further investigation unethical. This meeting, along with other clips of the exercises impact on education, is featured in a PBS documentary called A Class Divided. 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. I felt like quitting school. Abstract The effectiveness of a well-known prejudice-reduction simulation, "Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes," was assessed as a tool for changing the attitudes of ncnblack teacher eduction students toward blacks. The Hangout Bar & Grill, the Riceville Pharmacy and ATouch of Dutch, a restaurant owned by Mennonites, line Main Street. They are steeped in centuries of economic deprivation and cultural appropriation. If you have ever heard of the self-fulfilling prophecy, these results may not come as a surprise. 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. This was the smaller group. The children said yes, and the exercise began. How can we teach kids to be more like him? "Why?" The second day, Elliott reversed the groups. Blue-eyed people would get 5 extra minutes on the playground and blue-eyed people could not talk to brown-eyed people. She also made the brown-eyed students put construction paper armbands on the blue-eyed students. She told them that people with brown eyes were better than people with blue eyes. I have brown eyes. . But when she discovered that I was asking pointed questions of scores of her former students, as well as others subjected to the experiment, she made an about-face and said she no longer would cooperate with me. The anti-racism sessions Elliott led were intense. "Malinda? Classroom experiment. I felt mad. But Paul, one of eight siblings and the son of a dairy farmer, didnt buy Elliotts mollification. Though Jane's actions were justifiable because she was not a psychologist, her experiment cannot be replicated in the present society. On the first day, the blue-eyed students were informed that they were genetically inferior to the brown-eyed students. "Do blue-eyed people remember what they've been taught?" ", Others have praised Elliott's exercise. When Elliott conducted the exercise the next year, she added something extra to collect data. One of the blue eyed even went to hit a brown eyed just for the fact that he was brown eyed. "Black children grow up accustomed to such behavior, but white children, there's no way they could possibly understand it. As the morning wore on, brown-eyed kids berated their blue-eyed classmates. Blue Eyed vs Brown Eyed Study Conducted by Jane Elliott Presentation by Bree Elliott Ethics Background The Results In 1968, when Dr. Martin Luther King Junior was assassinated, Jane Elliott was the teacher of a third grade class in the town of Riceville, Iowa.