Maria Rivera

EDU 280 1004

April 7, 2013
Discrimination or Mistreatment of Others
In the mid-70s, my grade school peers and I participated in a two-day exercise in which
we were separated by the color of our eyes. The class was told on the first day that the blue-eyed
children were far superior to the brown-eyed children. The brown-eyed children (myself
included) were given a piece of brown color fabric that was tied around their left wrists so if
seen from a distance, it will be known you are a brown-eyed, Ms. Bell, our third grade teacher
said. To our horror, the blue-eyed children were treated to ice cream sandwiches at recess while
we, the brown-eyed children, watched seated on the benches marked BROWN-EYED-- the
blue-eyed children take small deliberate bites of their ice cream sandwiches in a taunting manner.
On the second day of the exercise, the brown-eyed children were told that they were the majority
in the class, therefore the superior eye color. The blue-eyed children were given a piece of blue
fabric to tie around their wrists so if seen from a distance, it will be known you are a blueeyed. Every classroom hiccup from a non brown-eyed child was followed with a See? Blueeyed children are in fact inferior! The brown-eyed children were treated to an ice cream
sandwich at recess and given an extra 5 minutes of playtime. The blue-eyed childrens --seated
on the benches marked BLUE-EYED--mouths were agape, after hearing of the extra time for
recess being given to the brown-eyed children.
Our teacher was repeating the blue eye/brown eye race experiment done by Iowa teacher
Jane Elliott in 1968. My participation in that experiment had a profound impact on me. There are
perhaps ethical concerns with repeating this, but I believe that it could continue to have a
profound effect on childrens lives. I would check with administration before running something

like this, and I would get permission from every parent. I dont know if lower elementary
students are cognitively ready for this experiment, so I believe I would restrict this to middle
school. I also believe that it should only be a one day experiment, because I would not want any
child to go home feeling inferior. I do not recall how I felt when I went home, nor do any of my
peers I have contacted. We all, however, remember the lesson we learned. I believe that this
lesson could be done effectively within a two hour time frame.
Hatred is Learned
The following activity is modified from one found on the RaceBridges for Schools
website. It is called Learning from Biases, and it demonstrates that people can be led in such a
way that we either connect with our unconscious biases or avoid them. Using the bias of race,
half of the students would be given a card stating Think of someone from {ethnic/racial group}
who angered or frightened you. The other half of the students would receive a card stating
Think of someone from {ethnic/racial group} who produces role models of leadership.
Students will be given a few moments to write their responses. Once this has been completed, an
anonymous photo of someone from the targeted group will be shown to all students, and they
will be asked to write two to four words describing that person. A few students will then be
selected to share their opinions. The teacher will then lead a discussion asking students why their
descriptive words are so different. The teacher will ask all students who wrote positive words to
raise their hands, and then ask the same of the students who wrote negative words. It will then be
revealed to them that they were asked to think about the ethnic/racial group in different ways
before they were shown the picture. They will be asked if they feel that they were led to think a
certain way.

After a discussion, students will be asked how they might use this knowledge to avoid
letting biases affect their attitudes towards those who are different in the future. This will be
revisited at intervals throughout the year to see if the lesson has had the desired effect, which is
to lessen bias.