Eye of the Storm Jane Elliot 1970

Summary

In a small Iowan town, teacher Jane Elliot conducts a powerful experiment on her third-grade class to teach them about prejudice. By assigning superiority based on eye color, she simulates discrimination, causing a shift in behavior and attitudes. The exercise, which initially favors blue-eyed children, is reversed the next day, making brown-eyed children superior. This dramatic role reversal helps children understand the pain of being judged and treated unfairly based on superficial differences, highlighting the destructive nature of discrimination.

Takeaways

• 🏫 The setting is a school in Rville, Iowa, where a third-grade teacher, Mrs. Jane Elliot, conducts a lesson on discrimination.
• 👁️ The teacher uses eye color as a basis for discrimination, initially favoring blue-eyed students over brown-eyed ones.
• 👑 Raymond, a blue-eyed student, feels superior and enjoys the privileges given to blue-eyed children.
• 😔 Sandra and other brown-eyed students feel hurt and discriminated against, experiencing the negative effects of prejudice.
• 📺 The experiment is documented by ABC News, highlighting the town's lack of diversity and its impact on understanding broader social issues.
• 🗣️ Mrs. Elliot uses the classroom to teach about prejudice and discrimination, emphasizing the importance of empathy and understanding.
• 🔄 The roles are reversed the next day, with brown-eyed students being favored, demonstrating the arbitrary nature of discrimination.
• 🧠 The children's behavior changes dramatically within the experiment, showing how quickly discrimination can affect social dynamics.
• 📉 The academic performance of the 'inferior' group improves when their status is changed, indicating the power of perception on ability.
• 🤝 The lesson concludes with a discussion on the unfairness of discrimination, aiming to instill values of equality and respect in the students.
• 🌟 The impact of Mrs. Elliot's teaching method is profound, leaving a lasting impression on the students about the nature of prejudice.

Q & A

What was the main purpose of Mrs. Jane Elliot's classroom experiment?

Mrs. Jane Elliot's experiment aimed to teach her third-grade students about prejudice and discrimination by creating a situation where blue-eyed children were treated as superior to brown-eyed children, and vice versa, to make them understand the feelings of being discriminated against.

How did the students react to the discrimination based on eye color?

Initially, the blue-eyed students felt superior and enjoyed the privileges, while the brown-eyed students felt inferior and unhappy. However, as the experiment progressed, both groups became uncomfortable and realized the negative effects of discrimination.

What privileges were given to the blue-eyed students during the experiment?

The blue-eyed students were given extra recess time, allowed to go first for lunch and seconds, permitted to use the drinking fountain directly, and allowed to sit in the front of the classroom.

What were the brown-eyed students required to do as a result of the discrimination?

The brown-eyed students were required to wear collars to identify them, stay in during recess, use paper cups instead of the drinking fountain, and were not allowed to play with the blue-eyed students on the playground.

How did the students' behavior change during the experiment?

The students' behavior changed dramatically. Those who were considered superior became more assertive and even aggressive, while those who were considered inferior became more submissive and less confident.

What was the impact of the experiment on the students' academic performance?

When the brown-eyed students were considered inferior, their performance on a card pack activity was slower. However, when their status was reversed, and they were considered superior, their performance improved significantly, showing that their self-perception affected their learning abilities.

What did Mrs. Elliot reveal to the students at the end of the experiment?

At the end of the experiment, Mrs. Elliot revealed that she had lied about the superiority of blue-eyed people and that the color of one's eyes does not determine their worth or abilities. The purpose was to teach them that discrimination is unfair and wrong.

How did the students feel after the experiment was over?

The students felt relieved and some expressed that they felt better, as if they were back home, indicating that the discriminatory environment created during the experiment was uncomfortable and distressing.

What was the overall message that Mrs. Elliot wanted her students to take away from the experiment?

The overall message was that discrimination based on superficial characteristics like eye color, skin color, or any other physical attribute is unfair and harmful. It is important to treat everyone equally and not judge them based on their appearance.

What was the community's reaction to Mrs. Elliot's experiment?

The script does not provide explicit details about the community's reaction, but it implies that the experiment was a significant event that provoked thought and discussion about prejudice and discrimination among the students and possibly the community.