A Class Divided Summary

In the PBS documentary A Class Divided third grade teacher Jane Elliot tried an experiment to let a class of her third graders experience discrimination. For Jane Elliot’s third grade class in a small town in Iowa discrimination was unheard of because there was only white Christians living in the town. She separated her class based on eye color, so one day she made the kids with blue eyes be superior and the kids with brown eyes be inferior. She did multiple test to see if the way they were treated changed the way they learned. The next day she switched it, so the kids with blue eyes were now inferior and the kids with brown eyes were superior. Then she did the same tests as the day before to see if the previously inferior kids improved and if the previously superior kids scores deteriorated. Then in the present time of the documentary being made she tried the same technique with adults. This experiment would be considered a controlled observation which is setting up a scenario and seeing how people will react.

She made the brown eyed kids wear collars so they could be easily identified. Elliot did multiple things that at the time society was doing to African Americans. She made the brown eyed kids not drink from the fountain, there was no going on the swing set during recess, and the brown eyed people could not go back for seconds at lunch. Elliot did a few simple tests with flashcards and timed each group of kids. The blue eyed people did significantly better than the brown eyed people. The change in the way the kids taught each other was evident. The blue eyed kids treated the brown eyed kids like they were less than them. The next day Elliot switched the roles. She made the brown eyed kids superior and the blue eyed kids inferior. She set up the same rules as the day before. She did another set of tests to see if the fact that the roles are switched would make a