I learned from the video that the problems of discrimination and oppression are not new, as they were serious concerns in the 1960s around the time of Martin Luther King’s death. The third-grade teacher Jane Elliott from Iowa realized the issue, so she decided to conduct an experiment demonstrating to her students what discrimination is and what it feels like. The video taught me that a simple act of judging people and dividing them into groups based on their eye color or any other characteristic could encourage discrimination and oppression of the inferior group. Additionally, the experiment demonstrated that first-hand experience is the best way to learn about a problem and understand a controversial topic.
One of the most memorable scenes in the video was the part where the teacher was explaining the rules of the experiment. She mentioned that the blue-eyed people were not allowed to play with the brown-eyed people and the children seemed shocked and disappointed with the new conditions. I will still remember the scene a month from now because the situation seemed absurd and unfair, despite being a role-playing experiment. The scene reflected the state of modern society, where ethnic or religious minorities do not receive fair treatment and the opportunities they deserve.
There was a moment when the students were reporting their behavior after the first day of the experiment. I was surprised by how regular third-graders turned vicious and angry in a day as they began calling each other names and insulting the opposite group members. Moreover, I found it shocking that the students adapted their behavior and even their capabilities to the stereotypes about their group, while their productivity and academic results improved or deteriorated accordingly. I am confident that people of other races, ethnicities, or religions would be surprised by the situations mentioned above, as the experiment exposed relevant and universal problems that our society often hides or ignores.
The negative and positive labels instilled the ideas about being superior or inferior and became self-fulfilling prophesies after the children learned about their group. The superior group’s test results and grades improved due to their realization of being smarter and better than the other group. The opposite was true about the inferior group’s academic productivity and behavior, as they felt oppressed and doubted their abilities. The superior participants expressed confidence and pride in their status, while the inferior group members looked scared and confused.
According to Elliott’s experimental design, superior groups received multiple privileges as they were better, smarter, and kinder people. Inferior groups were characterized by the teacher as slow learners and disorganized, ignorant people. The characteristics refer to the stereotypes about blacks and whites that were prominent in the 1960s and still exist in our modern society. For instance, black people are often viewed as unreliable, lazy, and poorly educated, while white people are considered trustworthy, hardworking, and intelligent. However, when the roles were exchanged between the groups, the experiment exposed that the behavior depended on the superior/inferior status and bias, rather than belonging to a particular group.
The Sioux prayer might be considered a foundation for the blue eyes/brown eyes experiment, as it teaches people to avoid judging others. The prayer means that people should not discriminate against minorities or certain groups before experiencing the same situations and problems as those groups do. Both the Sioux prayer and the experiment of Jane Elliott aim to teach us about the importance of compassion and empathy. Since the experiment involved the exchange of the superior/inferior roles between the students, it provided the children with the first-hand experience of walking in another person’s shoes.