A Class Divided

A Class Divided was an exercise by teacher Jane Elliott, inspired by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It demonstrated how prejudice and discrimination are learned. Elliott categorized students as blue-eyed or brown-eyed and discriminated against one group while giving special privileges to the other.
The exercise affected the performances and confidence of children. Inter-group fighting also occurred.
== The Exercise ==
The day following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., April 5, 1968, Jane Elliott divided her all-white rural Iowa 3rd graders into two groups: blue-eyed and brown-eyed. Jane taught her class an important lesson in discrimination, giving one group “superiority” over the other.https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culture-in-mind/201405/class-divided-how-we-learn-discriminate On day one, she told the blue-eyed children: “Today you are the best children, the cleverest children. You will be able to go to playtime first. You get the best things to eat at lunch. You get the pick of the best pens in the class room.” https://pharmafield.co.uk/in_depth/a-class-divided-a-life-changing-experiment/ The blue-eyed children were visibly uplifted, and the brown-eyed children appeared sad and lonely. Jane required the brown-eyed children to wear a collar to make them easily identifiable from the blue-eyed children. 
Her exercise quickly revealed changes in the classroom; blue-eyed kids were fighting with the brown-eyed kids on the playground and brown-eyed kids' classwork proved to be minutes slower. On the second day, she switched the superior group, and the brown-eyed children immediately became more confident, the opposite of how they were feeling the day prior. Jane then discussed her exercise with the class and related it to racism.https://pharmafield.co.uk/in_depth/a-class-divided-a-life-changing-experiment/ 
== Results and legacy ==
Jane Elliot's exercise yielded powerful results. The second year she utilized this exercise in her classroom, she administered various tests (spelling, reading, and math) two weeks before the exercise, each day during the exercise, and again two weeks later. Results showed "almost without exception” students’ scores were high when they were on top, lower when on the bottom and maintained a higher level throughout the rest of the year after the exercise.https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/introduction-2/ 
This exercise also proved to be an important lesson for all individuals; “what we believe about ourselves we will become. " Our thoughts and beliefs can become reality and the words we use to describe ourselves will greatly influence our outward behavior. Given the significant impact Jane Elliott’s exercise had had across various populations, it was utilized in for both children and adults in school, colleges, and correctional facilities across the world to teach important the important lesson of racism. In an interview about her exercise, Elliott stated, “the necessity for this exercise is a crime” and said she would have liked to see the necessity for this exercise decrease significantly.
PBS Frontline released a 53-minute documentary on the experiment in 1985. It is available to view online.A Class Divided, PBS.
== References ==
Peters, W. (1987). A class divided: Then and now. Yale University Press.
Category:Stereotypes
Category:Discrimination
Category:Diversity
Category:Race
Category:1960s