Social Differences And Reflection: A Class Divided

Reflection on "A Class Divided" Discrimination has been prevalent in many cases throughout U.S. history and still is today. People do not always realize the effect that discrimination and their actions can have on the group they chose to discriminate against. It can cause them to feel lesser of themselves simply due to the fact, that they are different. This feeling of difference was made very clear in the film “A Class Divided.” In this experiment, the way the children viewed themselves and others was directly related to what group they were a part of. In the social construct of reality, how we were raised, and what we are raised to believe; affects how we present ourselves and how we perceive others. In the experiment, the children were …show more content…
A child’s social identity became impacted because of what group they belonged to. One child even hit another because he called him “brown eyes.” He hit him because in his mind, the “brown eyed” group which was the minority group, meant that you were more stupid compared to the “blue eyes.” A child with blue eyes felt like they did not belong in a group with the “brown eyes” because of their social identity. Social interaction also played a major role in this experiment. By interacting with one another, people design rules of beliefs and behaviors. The “blue eyes” through interaction, created their beliefs that their group was superior to the “brown eyes” group. It was also the say when the roles were reversed and the “brown eyes” were the majority and the “blue eyes” were the minority. Based on the children’s grouping, they were allowed more rewarding things or less rewarding things. If one was a part of the majority, they were allowed five more minutes at recess and could use the drinking fountain. All the children wanted to be in the majority group because they had more social benefits and privileges. The authority that the children had, enabled them to act and treat others a certain way. However, when the roles were reversed, they thought it was unfair how they were being treated and began to understand the effects of …show more content…
I believe that everyone is created equal as I have been taught this through my upbringing as well as being a student. However, I know people who are of discriminatory nature based on how they were raised. I think that discrimination in all aspects is neither acceptable nor healthy. As in this experiment, it caused the children to think negatively about themselves for the mere reason of their eye color. I think that this experiment should be shown to all students to make them aware of the effects that discrimination can have on individuals. Watching this experiment would enable them to think before they display discriminatory actions or beliefs against