A Class Divided is a great lesson to teach students in elementary school. I was shocked how labeling the students by their blue eyes and brown eyes really affected their attitudes in the classroom. I found this demonstration so interesting that I have shown it to other people I know. Mrs. Elliot was able to show the effects of discrimination by testing the students ability to complete the "flash card" activity. Can you believe that when the students were labeled in the lower society their speed was slower? But also, when the students were considered the "better people" of the society their speeds were faster. Which everyone knows is silly because eye color does not determine whether you are smart or stupid. From a student's view of this activity I would have hated it just as much as the children in Mrs. Elliot's class. The way she addressed the "blue eye" or "brown eye" people was in a hurtful way. It would have made me realize though how put down I felt and how other minorities must be feeling. Then from the other side of the spectra, if I was Mrs. Elliot and made a choice to teach this lesson to my students I would find it very difficult. It would be hard for my to continuously put down the "lower society" at the given time. I think Mrs. Elliot is such a great teacher. She is able to teach this lesson to her class without going easy on them. If she would have been nice to the students when she hurt their feelings, the message would not have been portrayed nearly as well as. This is because when someone is discriminated against there is no escape. It is like one of her students had said when she met up with Mrs. Elliot years later, "It is like waking up and realizing 'I am a black man.'' Some minorities are aware before they even leave their house that they will be treated differently than the rest of the majority.
My hope in the future, as student, teacher, and individual, is that discrimination is an issue that is talked about. I would love to teach Mrs. Elliot's lesson to a class of mine someday. I would just hope it would run as smoothly as hers did. To Kill a Mockingbird remains in the curriculum still today because it does a great job on covering discrimination in a youthful matter.
The purpose of teaching discrimination or the "So What?" if this lesson would be that it effects each and every one of us.
Take a look at this:
Oprah's MLK Show- Brown vs Blue Eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viRxQ_X3igU&feature=related
(It also includes a white male experiencing life as a black male)
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI like your connections between Jane Elliott's experiment and Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird. I also agree that it would be beneficial for Elliott's lesson to be taught in our each of our current schools. I was wondering, however, if you think it is a feasible lesson for modern classes. More specifically, do you think your administration and students' parents will allow it?
Heather: I also hope to teach a lesson like Jane Elliot's, or something similar to allow students to experience different cultures and/or attitudes, and hope to do it as effectively as she does. She says in the video that not every teacher should teach that kind of lesson. I've been thinking about what kind of preparation we, as teachers, need before teaching that lesson, and how we prepare our students to be receptive to it. I don't have any answers yet! I'd imagine I'd need a few years experience teaching under my belt before trying this, but maybe I'm underestimating myself.
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