The video's results did not surprise me. I think that it explained things in a way that made sense to those who may struggle to understand bias and why it can be dangerous and harmful.
I have watched this video in the past and have used it in teaching bias; the one aspect that always sticks out to me is the speed in which the children's attitudes, confidence, and arrogance changed. Imagine how easy it is for parents and family to influence young minds when a teacher can produce these results in 15 minutes.
What a simple yet powerfully effective exercise this was to raise the children's awareness of bias, prejudice and racism..... learning awareness and developing empathy through their own experience in this brown eyed - blue eyed experiment. I found myself tearful at times watching the immediate effect when the children were divided and told to treat each other differentially, categorizing "inferior/superior" traits randomly based on eye color..... at times I was taken aback and felt a sense of surprise and glee at how the easily children learned what it was like to be discriminated against and could then quickly recover and understand how wrong it is.... they developed empathy about racial discrimination based on having experienced eye color discrimination, both as the discriminator and the recipient of discrimination. Again, such a simple yet powerful exercise, very moving, very effective. It should be done much more often, perhaps with adults too.
Having to make a choice between following directions – compliance with authority and the external benefits that brings - and doing what you know is right – going against the norm with the external challenges that go with that – is very difficult, especially for children. One can see that struggle occuring with one of the boys as he resists the premise of the experiment. What a brilliant and compassionate teacher; the students trusted her to guide them, which she did quite well.
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I have watched this video in the past and have used it in teaching bias; the one aspect that always sticks out to me is the speed in which the children's attitudes, confidence, and arrogance changed. Imagine how easy it is for parents and family to influence young minds when a teacher can produce these results in 15 minutes.
What a simple yet powerfully effective exercise this was to raise the children's awareness of bias, prejudice and racism..... learning awareness and developing empathy through their own experience in this brown eyed - blue eyed experiment. I found myself tearful at times watching the immediate effect when the children were divided and told to treat each other differentially, categorizing "inferior/superior" traits randomly based on eye color..... at times I was taken aback and felt a sense of surprise and glee at how the easily children learned what it was like to be discriminated against and could then quickly recover and understand how wrong it is.... they developed empathy about racial discrimination based on having experienced eye color discrimination, both as the discriminator and the recipient of discrimination. Again, such a simple yet powerful exercise, very moving, very effective. It should be done much more often, perhaps with adults too.
Having to make a choice between following directions – compliance with authority and the external benefits that brings - and doing what you know is right – going against the norm with the external challenges that go with that – is very difficult, especially for children. One can see that struggle occuring with one of the boys as he resists the premise of the experiment. What a brilliant and compassionate teacher; the students trusted her to guide them, which she did quite well.