After watching Jane Elliot’s blue-eyed/brown eyed experiment, I have mixed emotions towards the ethics of it all. I can easily see why someone would feel this experiment is unethical to perform on such young students. During the film, we see that this lesson causes the children to feel insecure and unimportant during the 6 hour school day. Some children even get into a fight during recess. If I was a parent I would not want my child to feel vulnerable or insecure, especially in a classroom setting.
On the other hand, I feel this experiment creates a great opportunity to open children’s and adult’s minds. This experiment provides a powerful glimpse into the life of discrimination, and a chance to walk in someone else’s shoes or moccasins as Jane Elliot would put it.
I believe that this experiment is a powerful tool when teaching about racism in our culture. Although Jane Elliot was cruel and sometimes out of line with the third graders, her adult workshop seemed extremely effective even if it became a little dicey at some points. All in all, I do believe the end justifies the means and this lesson should be taught as long as it does not get out of hand.
It certainly raises interesting ethical issues. I think I come down on the side of doing it, but with more parental involvement, and possibly even the option of opting out if it is obvious a student would be put in jeopardy. Sometimes talking just does not do the trick and people need something much more experiential to understand what discrimination is all about...
ReplyDeleteI think it was really rude of her to not include the parents. They trust her with their kids everyday. I would be really upset if I found out something like this happened while my child was in school.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree that if I was a parent to a child in this class and was not aware of the experiment the teacher was conducting I would have an issue with it. However I also agree that this is an experiment that should be implemented into the school systems today to help bring awareness to younger children of discrimination and racism. I feel if we start it with the youth early, it will help in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI also feel it was not right to not include the parents. These kids are extremely young, and I feel that is taking advantage of them. I do understand why one would not want the parents involved for the sake of conducting the experiment without issues with a parent. Yet overall I feel it was unethical for I would also be upset if my kid was involved and I didn't know about it.
ReplyDeleteI think you brought up a lot of good points, it is an issue of ethics and the children became very hostile towards one another which is unfortunate. I agree with Miranda too though! The parents should have been more involved, but all in all, this experiment did provide a valuable lesson of 'walking in someone else's moccasins'.
ReplyDeleteI see where you would be weary of the ethical issues. If I were a parent, I think I'd probably be more iffy about it than I portrayed in my blog. I agree, however, that it creates a great opportunity for students and adults. I wish we could do something this rash in modern day society, but I fear peoples' minds aren't as open to this kind of exercise or experiment.
ReplyDeleteI would say that Elliot's experiment was ethical. I agree that it was very harsh for such young child and I too would not want my children to be treated like that if I didn't know the results of the experiment. Since it definitely opened eyes to many adults and children, Elliot's experiment was acceptable in my opinion. I agree that the end justifies the means and as long as this experiment doesn't get out of hand by someone who doesn't know how to control it then this experiment is ethical.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the experiment was unethical according to today's standards. Even if it would get a point across more effectively, we may be damaging these kids in other ways. I also believe that she could have gone about the experiment differently in the way that she could have taught them to accept the other kids instead of putting them down herself.
ReplyDeletei also feel that this experiment would be very unethical to perform in today's society. even though i tend to agree that sometimes the best way to get a point across is by being a little cruel and harsh because its hard to understand something this serious unless experienced first hand.
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