Reflection Of A Class Divided

A Class Divided by Jane Elliot This documentary film covers an experiment conducted by Jane Elliot in her third grade class in 1970. The film is actually a follow-up conducted in 1985 with the students, who are now adults responding to their actions in 1970. This film is directed by William Peters and offers Jane Elliot and her students an opportunity to watch the original experiment and air their views on the same. The overall goal of this film is to explicate how a simple experiment can help children as well as adults understand racism. This film is highly successful in achieving its purpose as is heard from the sentiments expressed by Jane Elliot’s students while discussing the impact the film has had on their lives. The film begins with a reunion of the 1970 class of third graders with their teacher Jane Elliot, 15 years later. They have all matured into adults and are ready to review the experiment that their teacher conducted many years ago in class. The experiment beginning on a Tuesday morning where Jane Elliot introduces the concept of judging people based on their eye color. She then divides the class into two groups: brown-eyed

People’s behavior is different when they are alone as compared to when they are in a social space. The concept of being better than someone else is best explained in a social environment like Jane Elliot’s classroom. If one third grader was told that she was the best and had no one to compare to, their behavior would not have changed. However, the fact that there were other people to compare to increased the behavior changes seen in these children. The blue-eyed boys wanted to show off their characters to the brow-eyed group which was thought to be of a lesser class. The girls in the brown-eyed group felt lonely because their best friends did not want to play with them. The behavior changes were influenced by the social environment they were