The movie “The Class Divided” was a very inspirational movie because it taught a lesson on discrimination and racism. The film covers Jane Elliot experience with the “eye-color” exercise and it shows how the participants responded to being a victim of discrimination. The teacher who came up with the exercise was a third grade –teacher that wanted to explain to her kids the reasons behind Martin Luther King death. She divided each class she taught up by their eye color and treated them according to whatever eye color was more superior that day. Her lesson influenced and inspired the younger kids and older adults because it taught them a life learning lesson that could stick with them for years to come. The movie “A Class Divided” was basically …show more content…
As, I began watching the movie my whole opinion had changed and I ended up being wrongs , she started out by breaking the kids up into two groups , the blue-eyed people , and the brown-eyed people. On the first day of the experiment which was on a Tuesday, she told the blue-eyed people they were smarter, better, and they had more advantages than the brown eyed people. When it was lunch time Ms. Elliot told the blue-eyed people they could go back for seconds and instantly you can see the brown-eyed people were upset. At recess two particular children name Russell and John had been best friends but one had called the other “brown-eye”. The little boy ended up hitting his best friend because he felt like he was calling him stupid and when they were discussing it in class , one of the students said “that’s like calling black people niggers”. After, that Ms. Elliot started asking him questions like “Did it help by hitting him? Do you feel better now? Did it make you feel better inside?” and the little boy responded “no” to all the questions. With this being said, the kids automatically started putting two and two together and realized that violence wasn’t the right answer, violence doesn’t solve anything, and that you shouldn’t call people names. The second day she ended up switching the roles, now …show more content…
Even though racism isn’t as bad as it was then but it is evident even in today’s world that it still exist. It really can make people feel lesser that what they are and just overall make them feel bad. No one wants to be treated like an outcast, we all just want to be treated equal in value. A relevant social work issue that I saw in the film was an example of how a racist person might come into your office one day but you just can’t turn them down because of your personal values. As a social worker it’s up to us to help the different types of people overcome their personal issues and we have to realize everyone was raised differently than others. When Ms. Elliot was doing the exercise you can see the kids and adults struggle with being discriminated against because they weren’t use to it. No one wants to feel like less than what they are because it starts to takes an effect on them. For example, when the students received good feedback from the teacher their test scores went up but when she gave them negative feedback they went down. Emotionally, for me the film was very inspirational seeing little kid learn how to treat people at a young age. Most of their parents probably were white and or racist and for Ms. Elliot to instill in them what it meant to treat each other equally was amazing. It influenced me because as a mother I have to teach my daughter certain things while she is younger
It shows that there is no difference between white and colored people, but it’s so hard for people to get past the physical features to realize that we are all equal. Ethel was right when she said two colored men would help two white women, and those white men knew she was right. Those men knew Ethel had a point and now they had no choice but to help her and her friend. When Ethel was in the hospital, she had two doctors who mistreated her leg injury. Her wound was severely infected because the two doctors never helped her, and her leg could have been amputated.
The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered (in April 1968,) Jane Elliott’s third grade students were confused and upset. Growing up in a small, all-white town, they were not exposed to racism, and did not understand the meaning of it. Therefore, Jane Elliot decided to show her class what discrimination feels like. She informed the class that they were going to change the way things were done. The students were then divided by eye colour-blue eyes and brown eyes. The blue-eyed children were praised, and told that they were smarter, nicer, and better than the brown-eyed children in every way. Throughout the day, they were given special privileges that the brown-eyed children did not receive. Those privileges included extra recess time, access to the jungle gym, a second helping of food at lunch, sitting at the front of the classroom, and being allowed to participate in class discussions. In contrast, the brown-eyed children were forced to wear brown collars around their necks. They sat at the back of the classroom, and their behaviour and classroom performance was constantly criticized by the teacher. The students from the superior group (even those who were usually sweet and tolerant) became mean, and began to discriminate against the inferior group. The students from the inferior group would struggle with class assignments, and perform poorly on tests. On the second day of the experiment, the roles were reversed, making the brown-eyed children superior to the blue-eyed children. The results were similar, but the brown-eyed students didn’t treat their blue-eyed classmates quite as bad as they had treated them. When the exercise ended, the students hugged and cried with each other. Jane Elliott once said: "After you do this exercise, when the debriefing starts, when the pain is over and they're all back together, you find out how society could be if we really believed all this stuff that we
The movie Crash educates the viewers on the effects of racism, and the negativity it places in our society. The interpersonal communication that was played out throughout the movie, made me more conscientiously aware, of how I interact with different ethnicities, so as not to offend
Life lesson were often tough by older, wiser or formally educated people within the community. This idea still holds true today, especially in low-income communities as illustrate in the short story “The Lesson”. I am led to believe that story took place in low income community in the early sixties as African American moved to find better opportunity. Therefore, in sixties opportunity not for everyone especially low-income and color people. They are discriminated by color in the society of white people who are rich. Color people children like Sylvia, who believe that she does not belong in the society because of her family income. And her family cannot give her higher education as white family give to their children. The only possibilities she can have higher education if the communities have no race between colors also with their low-income. However, we all deserve to have equal right in United States, no matter what class we are also our color. We sh...
All in all, the film Crash was an eye opener. Although some scenes quiet drastic, viewers were able to see Americas hidden truths. Not only did we witness racism and prejudices through one lens, but through multiple lens. For example, Anthony and Peter discuss their issues with Caucasians, the pawn shop owner battles with Farad, and Mrs. Cabot angrily confesses her feelings towards African Americans men. This learner is now aware of different cultures and racial struggles. This learning will keep in mind that cultural awareness is vital tool for the field of social work. Great
The movie, Higher Learning, is a film that includes people that have different backgrounds, but yet have the same struggles, whether it is with racism, academics, financial issues. It does a well job of expressing how stressing a situation can be when a student has to deal with the problems of racism while having to also balance school, relationships. Throughout the whole movie there are many examples of the issues the characters have to deal with, but the issues regarding race/ethnicity are presented throughout the movie through stereotypes, hate crimes, and policing of different races.
After watching the documentary, “A Class Divided,” I was very impressed by the lesson that the teacher was performing with her students. Discrimination is an issue that has been around for a long time dating back to slavery and probably before that. Over time, society has become more welcoming but discrimination still exists today and may never completely go away. By doing this exercise with her students, the teacher is changing the world. If a group of ten people went through this exercise, then they learn that everyone is the same and they stop discriminating based on race. Those ten people later go on and tell their children, friends, and family about this exercise and they may also have a change of heart. That number now changes from ten to twenty to thirty. In the documentary, the teacher mentioned that this exercise is hurtful to some people and should not be performed on everyone because of controversial issues and how it can be emotionally traumatizing for some people. A small group still does so much for a society to change and evolve. The brown eye, blue eye method has a large impact and I wish more people knew of it
The book “why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria”, written by Beverly Daniels Tatum, Ph.D., Adresses the situation of racism and how it effects everyone blacks and whites. This Book was intended to inform adults. Adults do not tend to educate their children of the facts of racism and the seriousness of it. Sometimes adults are scared they might create a problem rather then to fix it. Beverly wrote this book to educate educators that way they can better teach or train. In certain situations kids don't understand or know how to react because they have not been told the truth on what was happening. The impact of racism begins early. She uses her own circumstances to connect with her audience using ways that she had to deal with certain racial
This movie has all the prejudice and stereotype that could happen between different races. But they do not show how they used to feel before and how they feel after encountering to different races until they crashing in to them.
"A Class Divided" is a very profound film. In the film, a third grade teacher Jane Elliot decided to show the kids a lesson about discrimination, and she made it in an unusual way. Elliott divided her class according to eye color. At first day, she told that students with blue eyes were smarter than students with brown eyes; they were afforded extra time at recess and other privileges. The next day she switched places, and she told that brown eyed people were smarter than blue eyed people. She carried out the same experiment with adults. She made blue-eyed people feel unintelligent in relation to the brown-eyed people by pointing that how blue eyed forgot things quickly, and did not pay as much attention as brown eyed people. After watching
What is discrimination? Merriam Webster, defines it as “the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people”. But more generally, why does it occur? Is it because of inherent inferiority, or is it simply conformity? These questions are generally unanswered in today's society, but can be understood through careful analysis of what it means to discriminate. The text, A Class Divided, by William Peters attacks this question through analyzing both sides of the discrimination spectrum (ie. the inferior and superior group) from the perspective children. In response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Jane Elliott, a third grade teacher in a predominantly white, middle-class
... supremacist gang, to rioting in an Asian owned grocery store, to finally brutally murdering someone. We observe as family ties become increasingly strained in every way, the viewer can easily conclude that Derek’s racism as well as his eventual influence on his younger brother ultimately contributed to their own downfall. As controversial as this movie maybe for the offensive language and brutal violence, it is a movie that deserves to be seen, and even discussed. It really provides insight into some factors within society that cannot be contained by the law or even deterred by even the harshest punishments. Even though American society is becoming more modernized as time goes by in terms of tolerance, racism will unfortunately always be prevalent in society and inevitably it will also lead some individuals to violently express their distorted mentalities.
We see how minorities can be discriminated against or stereotyped by just a few words that are exchanged. We as people have the opportunity to change, even those who seem helpless such as Derek Vinyard or the police officer. It also goes to show that we should be more conscious as to what we say to others even if it is harmless because it adds to the racism that goes on and it needs to come to an
A group that was a significant part of my high school identity was Student 2 Student, the drug and alcohol-free club at Glenbrook South. The club’s goal was to create a safe and comfortable environment in which students can abstain from the use of drugs and alcohol while connecting with other people who share the same beliefs as them. Through Student 2 Student, I was able to meet others from GBS that I would have never met, and I was fortunate enough to become acquainted with some of the most supportive people in my life. A social club, Student 2 Student survived because of the familial atmosphere that was created within it. There was a bond shared between the leaders and members, allowing everyone to have fun while making healthy decisions
Non judgmental and Compassion was a message in this movie. If more people would have compassion for others we would live in a better world. It is important to be non judgmental because people never know what happens in a person's life to cause them to act out in a certain way. Mrs. Erin Gruwell’s students were separated along racial lines and had few aspirations beyond street survival. Many people warned her that her students were all criminals who couldn’t be taught. With all odds stacked against her, she accepted the teaching position at Wilson High School. Erin Gruwell saw more in the students than a future as criminals and gang members; she saw them as people who have lost their ways in life. Instead of turning her back as society had done, she held out a helping hand. She had compassion and was non judgmental toward the children’s actions and hatred for one another. Being judgmental...