Frontline, A Class Divided
Nicole,Talia, Bree,Hannah & Julia
What is A Class Divided
Jane Elliot (the teacher) separates her students based on eye color. She told the class that one eye color was better than the other and that the separate groups could not interact with each other. The next day she switched the eye color that was better and told the class these same guidelines.
What happened at school?
The students started to believe what their teacher said. The kids with blue eyes were bullying the kids with brown eyes on the day that they were superior. The test scores of the blue eyed children went up while they were the superior group and the test scores of the brown eyed children went down. When the brown eyed children were the superior group, their scores were raised and while the blue eyed children were inferior, their scores dropped.
Prison System Employee Experiment
Jane Elliot took her experiment to a prison in Iowa to replicate with the employees. Some employees were superior and some were made inferior. The employees who were inferior began to act out and become upset because whenever they spoke they always said the wrong things and were yelled at.
Discussion Questions
How is this study still relevant today?
How can you as future educators make sure that a specific group isn't feeling inferior in your classroom?