Jane Elliott's Experiment

“Social barriers are the main cause of our problem… These barriers include people’s attitudes to disability, and physical and organisational barriers” (Halfhill). There are some things in our modern day society that are just taboo, to some people. A social barrier is a wall keeping people from living their life in a safe and accepting environment. People who are, for example, gay are legally allowed to get married, but does that really mean that they are treated equally? Are they really treated the same as a straight person would be treated? The majority answer is no. Social barriers are a very common issue in our society that can be broken by acceptance, open-mindedness, and even scare tactics.
Something that really keeps people from accepting …show more content…
Elliott went about this in a different manner, using a scare tactic. She took a group of children and separated them based on eye color, blue or brown. Elliott would give the children with blue eyes more recess time and second helpings at lunch. While the blue eye children were getting treated above averagely, the brown eyed kids were getting in trouble for things that the blue eyed children were getting away with. Elliott took things a step farther when she brought this experiment to a high school college credit course, although she reversed the roles for this one. The experiment began with all the blue eyed students being separated into a different room from the brown eyed students. In the room with the brown eyed students, Elliott goes on to tell them to treat the people with blue eyes very poorly and don’t treat them like they would a normal person. Once the students with blue eyes entered the room, Mrs. Elliott and all the brown eyed students began treated the kids with blue eyes very harshly. The instructor, Elliott, began to ask the students with blue eyes to read posters on the wall. If they would say one word in a way in which she did not like, she would make them read it until they got it right. She continues to harass students for not taking notes and even drives people to cry and leave the room. If a student came back into the room from fleeing with overwhelming emotions, she would demand for them to apologize to everyone in the room. This was a very important part of the project because she said “If you walk into that hallway, you know nothing bad will happen to you out there. Well, black people don’t have that option. They have to live through this everyday of their lives without a way to escape”