Hatrack River Forum: A Class Divided

This is topic A Class Divided in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/main/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=033435

Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :

I just saw this film in class and found it absolutely fascinating. For those who haven't seen it, it's an experiment done by a third grade teacher with her class in which she divided the class into blue eyes and brown eyes. The first day the blue eyes were treated as more intelligent, more proper, and generally better than the brown eyes. The second day the brown eyes were the better ones. Apparently it took all of fifteen minutes for these children to go from being pleasent people to small monsters. I found it a very interesting approach to teaching awareness of racism.

[ April 06, 2005, 03:13 AM: Message edited by: ReikoDemosthenes ]

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :

Oh, yes, I have heard of this. And in the Alice series they did something simular involving circles and things and hair colour. It was interesting.

Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :

A teacher in my elementary school did something like that, but it never got beyond the playacting stage.

Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :

This teacher only ran it for two days and then put them all back on the same level and asked them what happened. Later in the show they showed a class reunion of sorts in which they recalled the experiment where they said how they those two days affected their perception throughout their lives.

Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :

OK, here's the new game on Hatrack. For two days, never respond in any way to a post by someone whose screenname starts with a letter between L and P.

Oh, wait ... no ... I meant ...

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

So those of us who call you Scott or Dude are unaffected?

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

No, he said screenname. So if he starts posting under "Dude" or "ScottDude", he'll be unaffected, but otherwise, you just broke the rule! [Wink]

Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :

So did you. [Laugh]

Wait . . . so did I. [Eek!]

Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :

Thank heaven ratraquenhos are so disobedient.

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

[Taunt]

Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :

Oooh, "ratraquenho". I like that one. Better than "ratraquero".

(Unless, you know, "o quenho" is Portuguese for "the sheep" or "the toilet brush", or something.)

[ April 06, 2005, 01:34 AM: Message edited by: Verily the Younger ]

Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :

Civil disobedience!

(knocks over trash can)

(skitters away)

Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :

So technically would I be allowed to respond to myself just for the sake of being responded to?

Or by responding to myself is that technically against the rules?

Then again, none of you can answer my questions since I'm an L, and thus this post has become entirely rhetorical...

Hmm....

Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :

Responding to yourself requires a doctor when it becomes a full conversation.

I don't make the rules, I just break them.

Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :

Oh, I heard about this, but I haven't seen it!

I thought the idea was very interesting, though traumatic to the poor children. But I'd definitely like to see it at one point.

Posted by kaioshin00 (Member # 3740) on :

*nit pick*

quote:
The first day the blue eyes were treated as more intelligent, more proper, and generally better than the blue eyes.

Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :

*facedesk*

*edits*

thanks for letting me know [Smile]

Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :

But I thought that was the point - to induce multiple personality disorder in the children.

Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :

What did the teacher do with children with green or hazel eyes? How eyeist of her not to include them.

Posted by whiskysunrise (Member # 6819) on :

I had a high school sociology teacher do something like that. She did light hair vs. dark hair. It only lasted for about half the class, then we talked about what happend. It was an interesting experience.

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

Elizabeth, I would have gone for eyelitist. [Razz]

Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :

You guys are just being eyeful.

Can these puns get much cornea?

-Trevor

Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :

That was a cornea bit of aqueous humor. Eye'm appalled.

Edit: *Lashes out at Trevor*

[ April 06, 2005, 11:16 AM: Message edited by: advice for robots ]

Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :

Iris you hadn't done that.

-Trevor

Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :

30 lashes for you all.

Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :

Would you all just put a lid on it? [Roll Eyes]

Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :

Belle, it was so kind of you to bat those lashes for us.

-Trevor

Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :

Those have to be the cornea-st puns I've ever seen.

Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :

Thank you, KQ. It is always fun when someone lens me one of their puns. It is a good solution for making contact with me, for sure.

Posted by no. 6 (Member # 7753) on :

It hurts my eyes everytime I come into this thread to read it! It lacks true vision!

Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :

What a myopic view of life you have, no.6!

Posted by Goo Boy (Member # 7752) on :

No, he's right.

I bawl every time I see this thread.

Posted by no. 6 (Member # 7753) on :

What you say is true. I've merely been blinded by your brilliance.

Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :

I saw this a few years ago at AGS...apparently, the woman is still alive and goes around to college campuses giving guest lectures where she does the same thing--she was much more relentless with college students than with small children.

Posted by starlooker (Member # 7495) on :

She's actually coming to my college sometime next week.

Hm. I might just have to check that out.

On the other hand, since I have brown eyes... eh, maybe not.

Posted by Dragon (Member # 3670) on :

*groan* You guys are so punny!

I think I might have to see this movie sometime... sounds really interesting.

Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :

I did a simulation basedon Ancient Roman class structure that was sort of like this. Some kids were the leaders, some were merchants, some were slaves. It was amazing how quickly those leaders started to lord it over the others.

Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :

Stanford Prison Experiment

I've read one or two articles concerning similar studies with comparable results.

-Trevor

Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :

So, is this woman claiming she is the only teacher to have tried this? Simulations like this have been done for years.

Posted by narrativium (Member # 3230) on :

I think all the puns have scrambled my brain. I'm having trouble focusing on anything.

Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :

Well, she started doing it the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assasignated, so if she wasn't the first, she was probably one of the first. At any rate, when it hit the news it was her class.

Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :

starlooker, it sounds like a pretty good experience, but the clip I saw drew racial boundaries and had people of color in the priveleged half. One girl couldn't take it and left in the middle of it.