This was a wonderful depiction of how race has formed and shaped people for centuries. The teacher wanted to teach children how it felt to be superior and inferior to others within their same class room. The part that I found most interesting was when the brown eyed children took five minutes to go through the stack of cards when they were inferior to the blue eyed kids, and the next day when they were superior, it only took them two minutes. That really shows what confidence can do for a child. They perform better if they think that they are adequate enough. Not only can this metaphor be used in terms of race, but also should be looked at in terms of school in general. If teachers are rewarding and encouraging, more times than not, the students will respond well to that, and do better. However, if the children lack confidence in school, they will tend to do worse or "give up" in a sense.
This experiment was pertaining to race, in which at the end of the video you can see how the perception of the children changed since feeling how African Americans felt at that time. In the beginning of the video, the children said that people of a different color were "dumb", "useless", and other various things. Once they were called those exact names, and were treated like "caged animals," they changed their entire outlook about race. At the end, the children were joined arm in arm and saying that we shouldn't judge someone by their skin color.
I think it would very beneficial if more experiments like this were done from that time until now. It takes being put into someone else's shoes for you to change your perception on life. I also wonder how the parents felt on day one, when the brown eyed children had to go through on the first day with discrimination. I think that if something like this experiment were to happen now, parents would cause a huge uproar and the teacher would get into huge trouble. The experiment is very beneficial but a lot of close minded individuals can't see the big picture.
What do you think would have to be done if an experiment like this was done in this day and age? What types of measures would the teacher have to go through in order to not lose his/her job? Do you think this concept of not judging people based on their skin color stuck with these children throughout their life?
Great post! I love the brown and blue eyed experiment. It really is thought provoking, and gets you thinking about the racial biases we aren't even aware of. I like that you mentioned wondering how the parents felt, because that's an angle I never really thought of before. I can't imagine having my child coming home from school crying, telling me that they were being picked on for something they had no control over.
ReplyDeleteYour questions really relate to our class discussions well. I do think that this concept stuck with the children throughout their lives. I would love to hear from them 20 or 30 years later, to see if it did have an impact on their lives, and how they brought up their children because of that experiment. I think that this study could be done in this day and age with a communication class. I would like to see if we still fall prey to the feelings of being unequal when we know that it's just an experiment and it's not real. We can act like we don't let these racial or cultural biases affect us, but I feel as though they're still there regardless.
Have you ever been in a situation with a different group of people where you found yourself judging them based off of the stereotypes you heard in the past? And then when you got to know them you were like "wow, that's not accurate at all!" I'm curious to see how these stereotypes and racial biases will unfold in the future. Will they stay the same? Or do you see it getting any better?
Very interesting blog post, it really got me thinking about everything.