Blog Post #6 in response to Question F

 I found Jane Elliott’s classroom experiment to be fascinating. I think it was a brilliant idea to conduct such an experiment mirroring discrimination in our society to 3^rd graders. I was actually surprised to see how easily the brown-eyed children accepted the circumstances of their subordinate status on the first day. When Elliott laid out the ground rules to the brown-eyed children regarding less recess time and that they must use cups instead of the water fountain, I was surprised that none of the brown-eyed children spoke up to point out that the rules weren’t fair, instead they just seemed to bow their heads and pout. Additionally, it was interesting when Elliott told the students to turn to a page in their book and said, “Everyone ready, everyone but Laurie, she’s a brown-eyed.” I think it was crucial for the sake of the lesson that Elliot called Laurie out and also pointed out that she was a “brown-eyed,” as if to imply she was slow or stupid and it was a result of her eye color. As Elliott noted, it was amazing how quickly the blue-eyed children adhered to their dominant status and began using it as a form of power over the brown-eyed children. For example, a blue-eyed boy was teasing a brown-eyed boy at recess. Before the experiment, these two boys had been long time friends, but the experiment had caused a shift of equality, placing one superior to the other. The brown-eyed boy got very angry when the blue-eyed boy teased him, calling him a “brown-eyed.” One student in the class pointed out that this example was the equivalent of calling a black person a racial slur. It impressed me how brilliant these young children were to be able to make such comparisons. Additionally, the results of the students’ spelling, reading, and math scores 2 weeks prior, during, and 2 weeks after the experiment were astonishing. The students’ scores went up on the days when they were considered the dominant group, down the days when they were the subordinate group, then maintained higher levels the rest of the year after they had been through the experiment. I don’t think that Elliot was overly cruel to the subordinate group during her lesson because I think the times she was a little cruel only furthered the concept she was trying to teach the children. 14 years later when she had her students come back to reflect on the experiment, it was amazing how well they were able to recall the feelings they experienced during it, even though it was so long ago. One of her students pointed out that he thought her lesson, or lessons with the same concept should be taught in every school across the nation to children at a young age. I completely agree because I think this lesson sends a powerful message not only in regards to racial discrimination, but numerous other types of discrimination that are frequently encountered in our society.