Class Divided

A 1970's TV documentary that reveals the prescence of racism in young children. This TV documentary shows how parents instilled the practices of racism in their child. Ms. Elliot was a teacher who experimented with this issue. She separated the kids by their eye color. The class was split between brown and blue eyes, each day one eye color having advantages the other did not. This video amazes not only to see the effect of the experiment but also to hear the amount of racist comments that came out of the children's mouth.

Initially, the children believed that they were superior to blacks, saying that blacks were "dirty" and "stupid." However, at the end they realized that they should not judge anyone by their color of skin. The way Ms. Elliot accomplished this task was by putting the children at disadvantages, putting them in a black child's shoes. One day brown eyed people were able to have advantages and then next day blue eyed people were able to have certain advantages. The outcome was amazing! The children who were at disadvantages each day took longer to learn their lesson for the day. One day brown eyed people were "better" and they were able to get through the task in a shorter amount of time than the blue eyed people. Then the next day brown eyed people were considered "the lesser" and took longer than the previous day to get through the task; and vice versa for the blue eyed people. This demonstrated that when the children were looked down upon they were not able to learn as well. Another effect of the experiment was that when the children were divided they felt taken away from their friends, they felt stupid and worthless. They saw what this separation did to them, to their friends and their class as a whole. They learned never to judge a person by their color of skin (or eyes). They realized how everyone is equal in this world.

When I saw this video I was amazed at the words that came out of the children's mouths. They felt "superior" and one even said he felt like "King." I have to believe that their thought process has come from their parents as they are innocent children listening to their parents. I was disgusted to think this was coming out of A CHILD's mouth. This video even took place after Martin Luther King died and the thought of this topic as still being an issue is hard to believe. I showed you this video not only to show you that racism was still out there even after MLK's death but also to show how this teacher's experiment taught these kids the meaning of equality.

I am inspired by this teacher as she has taught the next generation not to judge people by their color of skin.