In 1968 Jane Elliott was a teacher who used an experiment to teach her third grade students about discrimination, racism, and prejudice. Mrs. Elliott felt that after Martin Luther King was murdered, she needed to convey a message to her class concerning race. She separated the class into groups according to their eye color. The reasoning behind the experiment was to show tolerance for other races. In 1985, she used the same concept for employees of the Iowa State Correctional Facility. Most of these people already had preconceived issues concerning race and gender equality. The results of the 1985 study have been just as surprising as the 1968 study.
My reactions after watching the students ranged from empathy, tolerance to compassion. The innocence of a childhood before racism can be embedded is what I saw. The idea that training begins at home, therefore hatred for others is learned there. If parents were to teach love and understanding of others, then the experiment would have had a different tone. The kids would not have felt isolated from their peers. However, in 1968, America was in filled with hate and a lack of understanding for others. Most of the children did not understand what …show more content…
The general concept was the same, but this group consisted of mixed races and genders. As adults our perception of others has been instilled in us. The one person that stood out was the white woman who had a superior attitude, which came across as combative. On the other hand, the males in the study seemed to resent her authority, and did not want to follow her directions. Their entire demeanor prior to knowing what the actual exercise was about proved how they deal with others. The lack of respect for anyone in authority that they do not feel that fits into what they deem as appropriate. Consequently, at the end of the exercise their apologies seemed to be