Brown Eyes Blue Eyes Assignment In The 1970s

Brown Eyes Blue Eyes Assignmentin The 1970s The Publicity That Ms

Brown Eyes Blue Eyes Assignment: In the 1970's, the publicity that Ms. Elliott was getting with her exercises with school children did not make her popular in her home town. When she walked into the teachers' lounge the day after her Tonight Show appearance, several other teachers walked out. When she went downtown to do errands, she heard whispers. When her oldest daughter went to the girls' bathroom in junior high, she came out of a stall to see a hateful message scrawled in red lipstick for her on the mirror.

After viewing the video, answer the following questions with at least 250 words: Do you think discrimination is still as prevalent as it was in the 70's? In what way did the children treat each other negatively? Use one quote from one of the children and briefly discuss what it means to you. What did you learn from the video?

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Brown Eyes Blue Eyes Assignmentin The 1970s The Publicity That Ms

The Johnny Johnny exercise conducted by Jane Elliott in the 1970s remains one of the most powerful and insightful demonstrations of the effects of discrimination and prejudice. Elliott, a schoolteacher, created a classroom experiment to teach her students about the real-life impacts of discrimination based on race and arbitrary differences. The exercise involved dividing students into groups based on eye color—blue eyes and brown eyes—and assigning privileges or deprivations to emulate racial discrimination. This activity vividly demonstrated how quickly prejudice could influence behavior, attitudes, and self-esteem, offering profound lessons on empathy and social justice.

The social context of the 1970s was marked by ongoing racial tensions and a lack of widespread understanding or acknowledgment of systemic discrimination. Elliott’s refusal to shy away from controversial topics in her teaching, thoughbold, met with resistance from her community. Teachers and parents were often uncomfortable or hostile about her unconventional methods, which challenged existing societal prejudices. The negative reactions she faced upon returning to her hometown underscore how deeply ingrained discriminatory attitudes were and how resistant some communities were to confronting them. The social backlash highlights that discrimination was not merely a personal prejudice but a systemic issue rooted in societal norms, institutions, and collective identities.

The exercise revealed how children, when subjected to discriminatory treatment based on arbitrary characteristics like eye color, began to treat each other with hostility, bias, and diminished empathy. Children in Elliott’s experiment displayed behaviors that mirrored racial prejudices—excluding, teasing, and disrespecting those labeled as inferior. For instance, one child said, “Brown eyed people are dumb,” which exemplifies how stereotypes and unfounded judgments can lead to dehumanization and prejudice. This quote illustrates the destructive power of stereotypes to influence perceptions and behaviors quickly and irreversibly. It made me reflect on how easily biases can form and how their reinforcement can cause profound harm, especially among impressionable youth.

From the video, I learned that discrimination is a learned behavior that can be unlearned through awareness and empathy. The experiment demonstrated that prejudice, even when rooted in arbitrary differences, can lead to real psychological and social consequences. The empathy gained by experiencing discrimination firsthand is invaluable in fostering understanding and social cohesion. It also underscored the importance of active efforts in education and society to challenge stereotypes and promote inclusivity, aiming to break the cycle of prejudice that perpetuates discrimination in various forms today.

References

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