I have seen this video a few times. It still amazes me how quickly we can be convinced, with a group mentality, to view someone as "good" or "bad." This shows how easily hate and racist ideals are passed down through families. A few simple comments and the children started to fight themselves. I love Jane Elliot and am so glad she has done this work and shares it with us.
I have viewed this video numerous times throughout my career and still am amazed at the instant change in the students as they chose to show hate and disregard for their classmates. Even when the tables were turned and students had time to reflect on their own feelings of pain and suffering, they responded like their counterparts. The discussion with the students as they reflected on the experiment was priceless, but as Jane-Elliot stated, they were likely to repeat this action when the become adults and follow the actions of Society.
I am astounded that Jane completed this work. It must have been a challenge as the students took on different attitudes towards their classmates during these few days. I also wonder what conversations that may have occurred among the parents who viewed the video.
Elliot was masterful at facility that experiment with her students. You can tell that her students completely trusted her.
This video is really a great example for people that don't understand the impact of microagressions and the constant pressure those who are not in power groups feel. It can feel simple to dismiss being followed around in a store once in a while as not that big of a deal, but when you experience a compounding number of these slights everyday the effect is real - I think the example with the vocabulary cards shows that there are real impacts from this type of treatment, even if it isn't what some would deem overt racism.
It really reminds me to be cautious of how I am making others feel, and that I should always work to empower and elevate others. Being a sports fan, it translates very much to the concept that players who have confidence perform better. I think if people are confident and feel like they belong and are believed in in their classrooms, workplaces, lives then they will be better in each of those spaces.
It amazes me how superiority changes the view of how people see one another and treat them. Superiority has had a huge impact in society where this shows how the real world is. Definitely a video that everyone should watch as it changes your point of view about everything around when it comes to how you view people.
This was my first time seeing this video. I am also astounded at how quickly these, otherwise friends, turned on each other so quickly. They had definitely been taught through societal norms that it's okay to mistreat someone who is different from you. Then to see the difference in their academic performance on the different days was sad. I hope they carried that lesson with them as they returned to their homes. I feel like it was also a lesson for the parents who were watching.
It wasn't the parents that were watching. It was the children themselves -- years later as adults. Part of a full documentary that is linked at the bottom of the last paragraph in that section.
I find the students' reactions interesting. Some of them looked devastated and were clearly having an emotional response to the labeling and mistreatment. I wonder how this lesson impacted them as they grew up. I wonder if they quickly forgot how it felt or if it stuck with them later in life. This was one day of discrimination and microaggressions. They could easily take off the collar. Unfortunately, the discrimination and microaggressions I experience multiple times a day don't every stop. I can't take off my skin. I don't get to reset the day. The trauma is never ending.
I am so sorry.
Wow. What a powerful experiment. I think what's interesting is that every day in our classrooms, some of this is still present, and it may not be based so directly on race but on what is perceived as "smart," or "intelligent" views, values, or cultures. European values or attitudes are still often presented as the standard or superior n thought, education, and modernity while Hispanic, Asian, or African cultures are not allowed the same recognition in value or importance. This has quite a bit to do with the education of our teachers/instructors. We generally reproduce what we learned in our own education, and if our education is limited or lacking in diversity of knowledge and perspectives, then this will influence our instructional approaches. There is a significant lack of global awareness in our higher education instruction.
Since these are not intentional biases, and likely implicit, it's not a reason to "cancel" anyone, but rather than focusing simply on how we approach education in diverse classrooms, I suggest more emphasis be placed on broader educational exposure such as learning more about various cultures and experiences so that we can relate more with students from diverse experiences without stereotyping, prejudice, or discrimination. In other words, we need to pay as much attention to our own education as the education of our students. This includes not just reading books about varied experiences but reading newspapers, blogs, or articles from people speaking from other countries not just in the US not just novels and historical books with classic themes and sharing this with our students.
Let people tell the story of their experiences in their own words, rather than assume we know how they think or feel and tell it for them. As a POC from the Caribbean living in the US, I often feel as if my experience is subsumed under the "African American" or "black" experience without my voice having any say in what my own experience has been. I often feel as if I'm being told what it's like to be black rather than having the chance to share my own feelings about this experience. So, what I'm learning from this video is that we need to not just teach children how to view people as equals, but we need to hear each other's voices and be willing to listen, understand, and relate in order to have deeper, thoughtful, and nuanced, not just reactive conversations about race and culture.
Ann,
I love your idea of "tell your story." Your story is yours alone. We cannot clump all women into the same experience. We speak a lot to this in the recovery field. Some aspects of addiction may look the same, but the lived experience is different person by person.
This is not the first time I have seen this video, but it is absolutely heartbreaking to watch the transformation: to see their faces become crestfallen when the students are told they are inferior. I wish there were a way to really sustain the empathy that comes from being overtly treated in a discriminatory way. We need to work to keep the drive towards anti-racism action alive, and it is sad to me how easily it can go dormant in my own life.