Divided Class Documentary Summary

570 Words2 Pages

Mrs. Elliot’s students were divided on the way they treated each other. Mrs. Elliot divided the class and labelled two groups of students. One set of students had blue eyes and collars, while the other set of students had brown eyes. Initially, the blue eyes students had privileges that the brown eyes students did not have. These students had privileges such as five extra minutes for recess and they were first to have lunch. Moreover, these students were told that they were better than the students with brown eyes. The students with brown eyes felt inferior and seemed to regret that they were classified as brown eyes. For example, at recess, one of the blue eyes student called a brown eye student names. The brown eye student felt so discriminated that the student hit the blue eye student in his defense. …show more content…

During this time, it was obvious that the students who were initially the ones who were superior became inferior students and displayed inappropriate behaviors towards their peers. Mrs. Elliot described these behaviors as “nasty” and “discriminating”. It seemed so easy for these students to be inconsiderate towards their peers. Therefore, discrimination does bring a negative impact. Another implication of the Divided Class Documentary” was the knowledge that students had regarding the way they treated each other. They were able to identify bad treatment with the way whites treated black. Furthermore, when the students played the roles of black treatment, these students felt rage. It was inconsiderate for these students to be treated as students who were not smart. The idea of discrimination stirred students to think that they were not equal based on the way they were classified. The students who were had power used the power to form segregation and crushed their peers’

Show More
Related

  • The Myth Of Inferiority Summary

    601 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article, “The Myth of Inferiority”, author T. Allen Culpepper writes, “The danger is that the perception of difference between the

    Read More

  • Jane Elliott's Sociological Approach

    884 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • A Class Divided Summary

    303 Words  | 1 Pages

    “A class divided” is a video documentary produced by FRONTLINE which illustrates the story contained in a book originally written in 1971. This book was readapted in 1987 by William Peters with a new title called “A class divided: Then and now.” This video tells the story of a third grade teacher, Jane Elliot, who decided to treat kids with blue eyes as though they were superior to those with brown eyes. It also shows the effect her action had on these students up to date.

    Read More

  • Analysis: Manufactured Feelings, Bad, And Non Verbal Communication

    575 Words  | 2 Pages

    The television show that I will be analyzing is “A Different World” In this TV show historically black college students attend a school named “Hillman College”. This show covers a variety of intersectional ideas and challenges such as socioeconomic, cultural, and professional. In episode 9 from season 2” we will explore the subjects of, Manufactured Feelings, Good Conflict and Bad and Non Verbal communication.

    Read More

  • Minorities in Special Education

    2005 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...er how hard teachers try to make students learn, if the students don’t want to, then they won’t. The only sure fire way to decrease the so-called discrimination is to make students dedicated to learning and thus make it one of their top priorities. If not, then there will continue to be many problems and an increasing number of cases concerning discrimination within the education system.

    Read More

  • James Baldwin A Talk To Teachers

    47 Words  | 1 Pages

    Society falls under both education and discrimination, due to education trying to shape the way society is leading many to face the fact of public humiliation from their ancestors’ history causing mental health problems. In “A Talk to Teachers” by James Baldwin discusses education, society, and discrimination.

    Read More

  • Injustice In 'A Class Divided'

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the video, “A Class Divided”, a third-grade teacher taught her class to not have prejudices by making them go through an experiment were blue eyed and brown eyed people were on top of the classroom and had any benefits. On the first day of the experiment, THE teacher asked one of her students what happened outside to which he responded, “Russell called me a name so I hit him, hit him in the gut”, then the teacher asked him, “Did it stop him, John. Did it help?”, to which he

    Read More

  • Jane Eliott Strategies

    448 Words  | 1 Pages

    The strategy used by third grade teacher Jane Eliott to teach children about discrimination and racism was a great idea. Besides who would be able explain to third graders why Dr. king was assassinated. The children were divided into two groups which consisted of brown eyes and blue eyes. The blue-eyed individuals were instantly happy when they were told they would have playtime first with extra recess time. The brown-eyed people were not allowed to drink from the water fountain nor play with the blue-eyed people on the playground. During recess the brown eyed people expressed how they felt not being able to play with the blue-eyed friends. One child stated that it felt as if his friend was being taken away. A fight was ensued due to the name calling (brown-eyed), one of the children referred being called brown

    Read More

  • A Summary Of Inequality In Canada

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over the years, the society have made us believe that the level of an individual’s educational attainment is a major determinant of the individual’s success and life opportunities. This same educational institution has been a major ingredient in the reproduction of inequality in our society. Beginning from the kindergarten level up to post-secondary level, students are accesses and placed in different categories based on their intellect and academic ability. According to Henry and Tator, (2009), this system of assessment and placement is one of the largest barriers to equity in the educational system. There are suggestions that the psychological assessment and placement of students are concealed with racial, cultural and linguistic biases.

    Read More

  • Battle Royal, by Ralph Ellison

    1887 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 1940‘s racial segregation gripped southern American life. The notion of separating blacks from whites created immense tension. Separate water fountains, bathrooms, restaurants, etc. were variables that helped keep races apart. “Jim Crow” laws in the south were intended to prevent blacks from voting. These laws, combined with the segregated educational system, instilled the sense that blacks were “separate” but not equal (174). Many people of color weren‘t able to survive through this time period because of the actions of whites. One individual who overcame the relentless struggles was Ralph Ellison. Ellison, a famous author, depicted racial segregation in the 1940’s through a fictional short story entitled “Battle Royal.” Battle Royal symbolized the actions of what “other” people became accustomed to. Blacks were thought to be socially inferior and live in the shadows of whites. The idea which Ellison uses to paint “Battle Royal” consists of that when one sex or race treats another as an object or animal, both become dehumanized (174). Ellison’s use of hidden meanings conveys his theme more effectively.

    Read More

  • Role Of Education In Waiting For Superman

    1489 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Our belief in the American principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for example, come into conflict with our growing awareness of the unfair treatment afforded Blacks and other people of color... racial minorities are often treated negatively and unfairly merely because of their group membership” (Howard, pg. 94) In other words, there continue to be inequalities between Whites and individuals of color to this day. Moreover, there are individuals, or privileged persons, who are still ignorant to the inequalities. This often leads to microaggressions. “The researchers reported that experience with microaggressions resulted in a negative racial climate and emotions of self-doubt, frustration, and isolation on the part of victims”(Sue, pg. 279). If students are led to feel this way after constant microaggressions, the reaction to perform poorly is understandable. A student’s environment is crucial to success, and if they are not in a safe or comfortable place where they can express themselves, this will reflect in their grades. Geoffrey Canada understood this issue, and that is why in his charter school he demands success and does not give the students excuses to not perform to the best of his or her

    Read More

  • inequality in university

    1356 Words  | 3 Pages

    Equal treatment for members of race and other ethnicities, not white, have remained an unresolved issue in our society for many decades as the cultural white ideology still remains dominant inside certain institutions, especially universities. Racism can exist in many forms such as racial slurs and comments, violence, social exclusion and an undermining of personal intellectual and physical abilities. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the Harvard Educational ...

    Read More

  • Video Analysis: The Angry Eye By Jane Elliott

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the video "The Angry Eye" with Jane Elliott she begins by getting a sample class of college students for her exercise. Ms. Elliott then separates the college students according to eye color to make a dominate, "powerful" group of brown eye colored individuals and a non-dominate group of the remaining eye colors. These two groups are separated once eye color is determined and Jane Elliott briefly explains the role of being the powerful group and treating the other group as inferior and less powerful than they are. The room is then prepared where the brown eyed individuals look in and in a way down on the other group. Ms. Elliott then goes through a multitude of examples in which she scrutinizes the less powerful group to reinforce the fact that because they are

    Read More

  • A Class Divided Summary

    482 Words  | 1 Pages

    The documentary “ A Class Divided” is about a teacher who does an experiment with different groups of people to try and figure out the effect of discrimination on society. She uses her own class of third grade students as well as a group of adults to try and see if age has anything to do with how discrimination affects society. How she does the study is by breaking up the groups into blue eyed and brown eyed people and telling them that one is better than the other. What this showed about human behavior is that if someone is told that they are better than someone they believe it. For instance, when she told the class of third graders that blue eyes where better than brown one of the children made fun of another kid for having blue eyes and this started a physical fight between them.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Dangerous Minds

    1816 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hollywood inflated the audience 's view of the neighborhood as it was shown in black in white, focused on graffiti with sirens in the background, and even entered a drug deal happening in front of the students as they entered the bus. It can be speculated that the living conditions the students live in is what causes them to develop tough attitudes toward life which causes behavior problems. This idea is seen today as well; students are the creation of where they live around. From past experience, I observed that the students that misbehaved and act out were the ones that came from a broken home or live in a rough neighborhood. For example, when Ms. Johnson first entered the class every student was in their own world doing what they wanted to do. None of them payed any attention to Ms. Johnson, but the ones that did were disrespectful by calling her “white bread” (8.00-9.35). In the movie Freedom Writers, the same reactions to a new teacher was expressed by the students (10.15). In both cases the students where minority students that come from low-income families. In both of these movies most of the teacher in the school accepted the student 's misbehavior and did not want to teach them or have anything to do with them. In Dangerous Minds, the students were even referred to as the special kids by the vice principal and by Hal, a teacher

    Read More

More about Divided Class Documentary Summary

Open Document