A class divided is a documentary that was filmed in 1968 by frontline about Jane Elliott an elementary school teacher and how she proposes an experiment to her students to help them understand what discrimination means in society. Jane Elliott begins the experiment by asking her class about National Brotherhood week, and what it means and how there are people in american who aren 't treated like brothers, the students respond to her question by saying that blacks and indian americans are not treated as brothers by everyone else. She goes on by suggesting that over a two day period, the class will be split into blue-eyed and brown-eyed students and that on the first day of the experiment, the blue-eyed people are better than the brown-eyed people.
…show more content…
Elliot throughout the day points out the flaws that the brown-eyed children have and enlist the blue-eyed children to back her up and give her examples of the deficiencies that they carry out throughout their behavior. One of the shocking things is how quickly and easily the blue-eyed children slip into the roles of bully, informer and bigot. One child suggests that Elliott should keep the yardstick close by so that she can deal with unruly brown-eyed kids. Some children call others “brown eyes” in a way that one child explicitly compares to the use of the n word against African Americans. She does the same experiment the next day but then makes the brown-eyed people the ones with privilege and the blue-eyed group the one with defects, she then watches how the elementary students become vicious, bullies, and racist against one another because of their eye …show more content…
It is seen throughout the film how being the group on top, the group with power gives the students a different perception upon their classmates of the opposite color. The children turn into bullies, discriminators against the other group. Power, changes the attitude of young children and gives them the adult ideas of discrimination, racism, prejudice and it allows them to treat others unfairly due to an aspect that cannot be changed. There was other examples of power such as Jane Elliot herself she was the one in charge of choosing the dominant group so we can say she was the one who was always in
Elliot throughout the day points out the flaws that the brown-eyed children have and enlist the blue-eyed children to back her up and give her examples of the deficiencies that they carry out throughout their behavior. One of the shocking things is how quickly and easily the blue-eyed children slip into the roles of bully, informer and bigot. One child suggests that Elliott should keep the yardstick close by so that she can deal with unruly brown-eyed kids. Some children call others “brown eyes” in a way that one child explicitly compares to the use of the n word against African Americans. She does the same experiment the next day but then makes the brown-eyed people the ones with privilege and the blue-eyed group the one with defects, she then watches how the elementary students become vicious, bullies, and racist against one another because of their eye …show more content…
It is seen throughout the film how being the group on top, the group with power gives the students a different perception upon their classmates of the opposite color. The children turn into bullies, discriminators against the other group. Power, changes the attitude of young children and gives them the adult ideas of discrimination, racism, prejudice and it allows them to treat others unfairly due to an aspect that cannot be changed. There was other examples of power such as Jane Elliot herself she was the one in charge of choosing the dominant group so we can say she was the one who was always in