General Reactions

 

Describe your initial reaction to this video. What did you learn?

         -I have seen this video probably five times since I decided to become a teacher, and it still shocks me every time. It is actually terrifying to see children, who were on such good terms with each other, turn into monsters who had such hatred against each other.
 

What scene or scenes do you think you'll still remember a month from now and why those scenes?

         -One of the scenes that I have remembered every time is when both groups are sitting at the table with the teacher doing flash cards. Whichever group is seen as better that day, always completed the flash cards faster, proving that how you are seen or where you come from can have a barring on how you see yourself and your education abilities. 

 

Did any part of the film surprise you? Do you think someone of a different race, ethnicity, or religion would also find it surprising?

         - Yes, a part of the film did surprise me. I am still stunned at how well the children controlled their actions. Yes, they were terrible to each other, but even though the teacher on a day had the “lesser eyes”, they still treated her with respect. The adults were more out of control than the children, and we wonder why our children act the way they do. Adults set the example.
 

What was the exercise that Elliott designed a response to the children's question, "Why would anyone want to murder Martin Luther King?" Did the film provide an answer to the question? Can you answer the question?

         - Mrs. Elliott said that her class had been reading about and talked about racism since the first day of school. Martin Luther King was one of their heroes of the month and there was no way to explain what had happened to third graders. Yes, this film provided an answer to the question. Elliott needed to explain to the children what it felt like to be hated and mistreated because of the color of their skin. Her dividing the kids into two different groups based on their eye color was great because it is not a characteristic that people are usually discriminated for, and by having the students take turns in both being “better” and “less”, she was able to get her point across on how some people in the world feel every day.

 

Impact of Discrimination

 

What did the children's body language indicate about the impact of discrimination?

         - The children’s body language indicated the wrongness of discrimination. All of them, once explained, understood the importance of treating everyone with respect. The children realized through Elliott’s experiment how it emotionally feels to be treated differently from others around them. Some of the children were more impacted in a negative way than the others. Although all of them had the same outcome, some of them had a hard time with the results of wearing the collar or having blue or brown eyes, whichever were worse during those moments.
 

How did the negative and positive labels placed on a group become self-fulfilling prophecies?

         - The negative and positive labels placed on a group became self-fulfilling prophecies because they had to experience what it feels like to be hated because of how they look. As these children became adults, they made sure they treated everyone with equal respect or with the respect they deserved. They even made sure they were to model the same positive behavior with their children as they grew up.
 

In the prison seminar, one of the white women asserts that all people face some kind of discrimination. Another woman challenges her, claiming that whites can't really know what it's like to face discrimination every minute of every day. What do you think?

         - I also agree that some white people could not possibly know how it feels to face discrimination every minute of every day. Yes, people of color could show them how it feels, but it would be nothing compared to having to live in it since birth and throughout their daily lives. I also agree that people face some kind of discrimination in their lives, but again, not to the extent that people of color had to experience it.
 

Both Elliott and her former students talk about whether or not this exercise should be done with all children. What do you think? If the exercise could be harmful to children, as Elliott suggests, what do you think actual discrimination might do?

         - Yes, I think that this exercise can be implemented throughout classrooms all over the world. I agree that, although all teachers should be capable of teaching and explaining this exercise, not every teacher is capable of handling each and all children properly during this exercise. This is a delicate matter and all children should be taught with extreme care.
 

 

What features did Elliott ascribe to the superior and inferior groups and how did those characteristics reflect stereotypes about blacks and whites?

         - The superior group began to treat the inferior group badly by picking on them and calling them names because they were told that they were better than the other group. The inferior group began to feel ashamed of themselves and their grades began to drop because they were told that they were not better than their fellow classmates. They were told that they were ugly, they smelled, and no one wanted to be around them, so they began to act in the way they thought they were. Elliott told all of them after the exercise was completed, that this was how the black people were treated.
 

How did Elliott's discrimination create no-win situations for those placed in the inferior group? How did she selectively interpret behavior to confirm the stereotypes she had assigned?

         - Elliott’s discrimination created a no-win situation for those placed in the inferior group because they began to believe what she said about them as inferiors. Because they believed these negative things about them, they began to express it in their behaviors by performing poorly, not be able to play with the superior kids, by feeling like they didn’t belong or treated like dogs. Elliott selectively interpreted behaviors to confirm the stereotypes she had assigned by observing how the children reacted to each group. 
 

It's easy to understand why third-graders might not refuse to obey their teacher, but when the exercise is done with the prison guards, why don't any of the adult’s object?

         - When the exercise is done with the prison guards, none of the adults objected because they were afraid as adults with reputations and status’s to respond, agree or disagree with each other because of how touchy the topic was. As adults, we are looked upon in negative ways if we agree to disagree with such a topic. Although they may have wanted to respond with how they really feel, no one wanted to be remembered as the person who cares about blacks or whites in a negative way. On the other hand, children don’t think about how others feel in the same manner as adults. Children just want to be accepted for who they are and to be able to talk to, play with, or be friends with who they want.
 

At recess, two of the boys from different groups get in a fight. Elliott asks the one who was teased if responding with violence made him feel better or made the teasing stop. What does the answer suggest about the use of violence as a political strategy? At the time, who was using violence for political purposes and why?

         - The boy that responded with violence said it didn’t make him feel any better and it didn’t make the teasing stop. This behavior and response suggest that violence is not the answer to any problem. As for a political strategy, this will also apply. Violence isn’t the answer to any problem. Yes, responding to a situation with violence may ease a bit a steam, but in the end, the problem is still there, and worse then what it was. Now you have to deal with the problem and the fact that you’re now know for the person that reacted with violence. 
 

How is the blue eyes/brown eyes exercise related to the Sioux prayer, "Help me not judge a person until I have walked in his shoes"?

         - This prayer is the acknowledgment of those that understand that the lives of those being treated negatively because of the color of their skin or for any reason that makes them different from those that think they are superior in any way, is indeed an awful life to live. This prayer is a realization of understanding the power in treating others the way you would want to be treated. The blue eyes/brown eyes exercise relates to this prayer to allow others to experience the feeling of being treated in a negative and degrading way. If I could just walk in the shoes of one that lives this life on a daily basis, I’m sure that I would never want to treat anyone or anything in a negative way.

 

Summary

         - There is no doubt that discrimination is a huge part of our world today. It can dictate so much, and half the time we do not even realize it. There is a strong possibility that it will never go away completely, but I believe we can always lessen it. As for teachers, I think that we should be the last people to hold any kind of prejudice against anyone. All of our future students deserve the same amount of attention and expectancy of success from us.