blue eyes brown eyes experiment ethical issues

Select from the 0 categories from which you would like to receive articles. Ethical issues were 1/3 of the participants refused to take the head off the rat . That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. She told her students that she had made a mistake the previous day and that brown-eyed students . In doing the research for my book with scores of peoples who were participants in the experiment, I reached out to Elliott. The subjects were 164 students enrolled in eight sections of an introductory elementary education course at a state university. She decided to continue the exercise with her students after lunch. American Psychological Association, 4. "Let me look at you," Elliott said. Brian, the Elliotts' oldest son, got beaten up at school, and Jane called the ringleader's, mother. The next day, Elliott reversed the roles. What Was The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Experiment? Zimbardocreator of the also controversial 1971 Stanford Prisoner Experiment, which was stopped after college student volunteers acting as "guards" humiliated students acting as "prisoners"says Elliott's exercise is "more compelling than many done by professional psychologists. To most people, it seemed to suggest that racism could be reduced, even eliminated, by a one- or two-day exercise. (Byrnes & Kiger, 1992). The first day of the experiment she convinced the children that blue-eyed people were smarter, better and would have more priorities. Order original essays online. Would you like to get this essay by email? The brown-eyed students also exercised a certain level of power over the blue-eyed students when they put the armbands on them. Some people feel we can't move on when you have her out there hawking her 30-year-old experiment. Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? But not Elliott. Professor of Journalism, University of Iowa. (2022, Apr 06). These are the sources and citations used to research Jane Elliott's blue eye brown eye case study is/isn't more ethical than Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment. I felt like quitting school. Kids on top would tease the children who were deemed as the inferior group. The experiment known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. (In later versions of the exercise, children in the inferior group were given collars to wear.). Thus, the dominant group, supported by the authorities, will always have the upper hand. Weve been here before, with unsettling and disturbing results. Before proceeding with the test, she began with random questions to fully understand the children's perception of Negroes. She gave the blue-eyed students an armband so other students could more easily identify them, and then she told her class that it was a scientific fact that people with brown eyes are smarter than those with blue because their bodies had more . In fact, most of the initial response was negative. It makes you proud. She has spoken at more than 350 colleges and universities. Knowing that her experiment would have consequences, Jane remained committed to her course. "Blue-eyed people sit around and do nothing. With this experiment she wanted to let the blue-eyed people (white people) feel how it is to be in low power position. See Page 1. In the most uncomfortable moments, Elliott reminds the students of violent acts caused by racism or homophobia. "This here is Jane Elliott," I said. ", Elliott says the role of a teacher is to enhance students' moral development. You give them something nice and they just wreck it." Throughout the investigation, the classroom represented a real-life scenario in which the unprivileged and minority members of the society are treated as out-groups making them susceptible to discrimination. The experiment is to help the children to understand about prejudice and discrimination. those with brown eyes (or hazel eyes). Fourteen years later, the students featured in The Eye of the Storm reunited and discussed their experiences with Elliott. Right off the bat, she picked me out of the room and called me Barbie, Pasicznyk told me. Why are we still talking about this experiment over 50 years later? Thats what it feels like when youre discriminated against., -A child participant in the Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes experiment-. "You have to put the exercise in the context of the rest of the year. ", Others have praised Elliott's exercise. ", Absolutely not. "We'll just be a couple of minutes. Many of them noted that when they hear prejudice and discrimination from others, they wish they could whip out those collars and give them the experience they had as third graders. The Associated Press followed up, quoting Elliott as saying she was "dumbfounded" by the exercise's effectiveness. "No person of any age [was] going to leave my presence with those attitudes unchallenged," Elliott said. She and Darald split their time between a converted schoolhouse in Osage, Iowa, a town 18 miles from Riceville, and a home near Riverside, California. "I think third grade was too young for what she did. "Would you like to come on the show?" In Zimbardo's experiment the conditions were much more controlled for later study but the r. The results were the same. . Jane Elliott has done a lot of reflection about the consequences of the minimal group experiment. Pasicznyk joined 75 other employees for a training session in the companys suburban Denver headquarters in the late 1980s. She has since refused to answer any of my inquiries. The blue-eyed participants faced discrimination for two and a half hours. "On an airplane, it is," Elliott said to appreciative laughter from the studio audience. The Blue Eyes Brown Eyes exercise is now known as the inspiration for diversity training in the workplace, making Jane Elliott one of the most influential educators in recent American history. Terms of Use This paradigm helps understand the current problems related to discrimination. Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER! hide caption. Jane Elliot and the Blue-Eyed Children Experiment. "It's the same thing over and over again," Cross says. Could you?". They were forced to sit on the back rows and had to use a . The study also violates the American Principles of Psychologist codes of conduct making its replication or further investigation unethical. When some of the . "You know, sweetheart, you haven't changed one bit. Jane Elliott, shown here in 2009, remains an outspoken advocate against racism. ", A chorus of "Yeahs" went up, and so began one of the most astonishing exercises ever conducted in an American classroom. The people of riceville did not exactly welcome Elliott home from New York with a hayride. The idea of white privilege is closely tied to Elliotts initial question to her students. Elliot's approach to the experiment involved creativity in which the pupils' age and ability to comprehend discrimination was taken into account. Two education professors in England, Ivor F. Goodson and Pat Sikes, suggest that Elliott's experiment was unethical because the participants weren't informed of its real purpose beforehand. As for the criticism that the exercise encourages children to distrust authority figuresthe teacher lies, then recants the lies and maintains they were justified because of a greater goodshe says she worked hard to rebuild her students' trust. The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves, students with blue eyes and those with brown. Sign up for Politics Weekly.]. All the work should be used in accordance with the appropriate policies and applicable laws. . Initial Reaction to the Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Exercise. 980 Words. The brown-eyed children felt suddenly that they were discriminated, while the blue eyed started seeing them as inferior. One example that has been in place for many years is the blue-eyed/brown-eyed experiment. Looking back, I think part of the problem was that, like the residents of other small midwestern towns I've covered, many in Riceville felt that calling attention to oneself was poor manners, and that Elliott had shone a bright light not just on herself but on Riceville; people all over the United States would think Riceville was full of bigots. Elliott started to see her own white privilege, even her own ignorance. The demonstration has since been taught by generations of teachers to millions of kids across the country. Researchers later concluded that there was evidence that the students became less prejudiced after the study and that it was inconclusive as to whether or not the potential harm outweighed the benefits of the exercise. As a result of those divisions, you see racial discrimination or even terrorism. She gave all of the students simple spelling and math tests two weeks before the exercise, on the days of the exercise, and after the exercise. Now, almost four decades later, Elliott's experiment still mattersto the grown children with whom she experimented, to the people of Riceville, population 840, who all but ran her out of town, and to thousands of people around the world who have also participated in an exercise based on the experiment. The brown-eyed children began to act aggressive and mean towards the blue-eyed children. That got the other teachers angry. Jane Elliott (ne Jennison; born on November 30, 1933) is an American diversity educator.As a schoolteacher, she became known for her "Blue eyes/Brown eyes" exercise, which she first conducted with her third-grade class on April 5, 1968, the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Elliott said that blue-eyed people were less intelligent and less clean. "We are repeating the blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise on a daily basis.". The kids in the bottom group became timider and kept to themselves. That same year, Elliott was invited to the White House Conference on Children and Youth to conduct an exercise on adult educators. The Brown Eyed / Blue Eyed Experiment. Elliott instructed the blue-eyed kids not to play on the jungle gym or swings. 10," Elliott said. Introduction. "She taught in this school for 18 years." ISBN 9780520382268. "Mention two wordsJane Elliottand you get a flood of emotions from people," says Jim Cross, the Riceville Recorder's editor these days. As a journalism professor and author of a book on race that spans more than 50 years, Ive watched these developments with great concern. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. In 2001, she was still trying to make a change. On Monday, Elliott reversed the exercise, and the brown-eyed kids were told how shifty, dumb and lazy theywere. She says its because racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and ethnocentrism are mean and nasty. To begin with, Jane Elliot's experiment involved deception in which the children were made in believing that change in eye color influence intelligence. One of the ways Hitler decided who went into the gas chamber was eye color, Elliott said in a later speech. Elliott? "Do blue-eyed people remember what they've been taught?" Mental Floss, 4. Things even got violent at recess. Many critics that the children were too young to understand the exercise. Thousands of educators across the United States folded the experiment into their curriculums. Problems with this research were that it went against a lot of ethical issues. All rights reserved. The three outcomes are: (1) virtually all of the subjects reported that the experience was One teacher ended up displaying the same bigotry Elliott had spent the morning trying to fight. Barbie had to have a Ken, so Elliott picked from the audience a tall, handsome man and accused him of doing the same things with his female subordinates, Pasicznyk said. I was stunned. In 1968, schoolteacher Jane Elliott decided to divide her classroom into students with blue eyes and students with brown eyes. In a similar vein, Linda Seebach, a conservative columnist for the Rocky Mountain News, wrote in 2004 that Elliott was a "disgrace" and described her exercise as "sadistic," adding, "You would think that any normal person would realize that she had done an evil thing. The blue-eyed children were told not to do their homework because, even if they answered all the questions, theyd probably forget to bring the assignment back to class. ", A former teacher, Ruth Setka, 79, said she was perhaps the only teacher who would still talk to Elliott. The experiment, known as Blue Eyes Brown Eyes experiment, is regarded as an eye-opening way for children to learn about racism and discrimination. ", We backed out. Although Jane Elliot's intentions were to teach the youngsters about racism, ethical issues related to the simulation were raised. In the 60th year beyond Brown vs. Board of Education, Frontline is making available their classic 1985 documentary, " A Class Divided ," about the experiment and what happened later. Jane Elliott at Riceville, Iowa, Elementary School in 1968. Elliott was featured on nearly every national news show in America for decades. "Probably because they have been taught how they're treated in this country that they have to understand us. The day after Kings murder, Jane Elliott, a white third-grade teacher in rural Riceville, Iowa, sought to make her students feel the brutality of racism. The episode features with new footage of the students, who are now adults. Despite the adaptation of the experiment in psychological studies, Jane has been widely criticized for her unethical conduct and promotion of discrimination among children. Elliott is nothing if not stubborn. And Im only doing this as an exercise that every child knows is an exercise and every child knows is going to end at the end of the day., We learn to be racist, therefore we can learn not to be racist. In present society, psychological experiments are guided by honesty, truthfulness, and accuracy. Is your time best spent reading someone elses essay? She learned that the responses from the children were negative and more generalized about what they thought about black people. Blue Eye/Brown Eye is an experiment performed by Jane Elliot in 1968 on the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated to demonstrate what prejudice was to her third grade class. They killed hundreds of thousands of people based on eye color alone, thats the reason I used eye color for my determining factor that day., Elliott divided the class into children with blue eyes and children with brown eyes. On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. They embraced the experiments reductive message, as well as its promised potential, thereby keeping the implausible rationale of Elliotts crusade alive and well for decades, however flawed and racist it really was. Dick DeMarsico/New York World-Telegram & the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection/PhotoQuest/Getty Images, Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. It's the Jane Elliott machine. I think it can. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd. Need an original essay on Essay Sample: Ethical Concerns in Jane Elliot's Experiment? Provide your email for sample delivery, You agree to receive our emails and consent to our Terms & Conditions, Order an essay on this subject and get a 100% original paper. The tallest structure in Riceville is the water tower. When the exercise ended, some of the kids hugged, some cried. "It would be hard to know, wouldn't it, unless we actually experienced discrimination ourselves. She continued to conduct the exercise with her third graders. Professor Jane Elliott performed a group experiment with her students that they would never forget. Little children don't like uproar in the classroom. The roots of racism and why it continues unabated in America and other nations are complicated and gnarled. We have to let people find out how it feels to be on the receiving end of that which we dish out so readily.". The next day, Jane made it known to the students that she had made a mistake and that the brown-eyed pupils were better and smarter than their counterparts. The students were surprised, but they didnt argue. As a school teacher in the small town of Riceville, Iowa, Elliott first conducted the anti-racism experiment on her all-white third-grade classroom, the day after the civil rights leader was killed. Melanin, she said, is what causes intelligence. Danko, M. (2013). When my grandchildren are old enough, I'd give anything if you'd try the exercise out on them. SYNOPSIS OF BLUE EYED. She asked the other teachers what they were doing to bring news of the King assassination into their classrooms. SpeedyPaper.com 2023 All rights reserved. Jane Elliott, one of the most controversial figures in U.S. education and diversity training, began her journey to international acclaim in Riceville, Iowa. Folks leave their cars unlocked, keys in the ignition. Elliott pulled out green construction paper armbands and asked each of the blue-eyed kids to wear one. The blue eyes brown eyes study was a study on group prejudice and discrimination conducted by Jane Elliot. "We just want to peek in," I volunteered. people are better than blue-eyed people. Role Theory: Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors. When she went downtown to do errands, she heard whispers. "I don't think this community was ready for what she did," he said. A difference as simple as eye color, defined and established by the authority figure, created a rift between the students. Stephen G. Bloom does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. She told them brown-eyed . "Hey, Mrs. Elliott," Steven yelled as he slung his books on his desk. In this documentary, Jane Elliott, a third grade teacher divided her class into two groups based on their eye color; one group had blue eyes and the other had brown eyes. When Elliott walked into the teachers' lounge the next Monday, several teachers got up and walked out. How can we teach kids to be more like him? Tears formed in the corners of Elliott's eyes. Order from one of our vetted writers instead. Elliot wanted to show that the same thing happens in real life with brown eyed people (minority). The basic idea was to separate the class into two halves - those with blue eyes and those with brown. Elliott was shocked by the results and decided to switch the roles the following day. Ethics + Religion; Health; Politics + Society; . They also harassed them constantly. The brown-eyed children didnt want to play with the blue-eyes during recess. Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. he asked. "Maybe the way to sell the exercise would have been to invite the parents in, to talk about what she'd be doing. The corn grows so fast in northern Iowafrom seedling to seven-foot-high stalk in 12 weeksthat it crackles. "She stirs people up. Jane Elliots work and experiences have made her an authority on education and anti-racism. Perhaps because the outcome seemed so optimistic and comforting, coverage of Elliott and the experiments alleged curative powers cropped up everywhere. Jane Elliott was a third grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa when she developed the Blue Eyed/ Brown Eyed exercise to teach the effects of racism. Back when she introduced the experiment to her Iowa students more than five decades ago, at least one student had the audacity to challenge Elliotts premise, according to those who were in the classroom at the time. She also made the brown-eyed students put construction paper armbands on the blue-eyed students. With over 2 million YouTube subscribers, over 500 articles, and an annual reach of almost 12 million students, it has become one of the most popular sources of psychological information. Jane Elliot, a third-grade teacher from Lowa town, became troubled with the turn of events and knew that something had to be done about racial discrimination (Danko, 2013). The fact that children are easy to manipulate into acting in a particular manner explains Jane's choice of sample. In response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, Jane Elliott devised the controversial and startling, "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Exercise." This, now famous, exercise labels participants as inferior or superior based solely upon the color of their eyes and exposes them to the experience of . It was the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968 that Elliott ran her first "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise in her Riceville, Iowa classroom. Nevertheless, Elliott became as famous as a teacher could become in America. Some guidelines for avoiding or reducing this effect are: In conclusion, Jane Elliotts experiment demonstrates the fragility of coexistence and cooperation. Your Privacy Rights More than 50 years after her famous exercise, Elliott is still fighting. Ms. Elliott, now 87, said she started teaching about racism on April 5, 1968 the day after the Rev. It seemed to evince that all white people had to do to learn about racism was restrain themselves from an impulse to engage in made-up cruelty. Jane Elliott, an educator and anti-racism activist, first conducted her blue eyes/brown eyes exercise in her third-grade classroom in Iowa in 1968. (2013). (2010). Traditionally, society has always treated leadership as a male issue. "It changed my life. Elliott was not. ", Elliott defends her work as a mother defends her child. The Blue Eyes & Brown Eyes Exercise. In explaining the experiment rules to the brown-eyed contestants, she addresses the people of color in the room. Elliott split her students into two groups, based on eye color. I got to have five minutes extra of recess." Exploring your mind Blog about psychology and philosophy. ", That spring morning 37 years ago, the blue-eyed children were set apart from the children with brown or green eyes. "Not one of them reprimanded her for that or even corrected her. Nobodys standing here. She and her husband, Darald Elliott, then a grocer, have four children, and they, too, felt a backlash. [White people] on the other hand, don't have to understand them.

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