For Tuesday May 24 -- Discrimination

In Tuesday's class we will be watching part of a well-known documentary on discrimination and racism called "A Class Divided". Here is an introduction to the film (read it):

On the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in April 1968, Jane Elliott's third graders from the small, all-white town of Riceville, Iowa, came to class confused and upset. They recently had made King their "Hero of the Month," and they couldn't understand why someone would kill him. So Elliott decided to teach her class a daring lesson in the meaning of discrimination. She wanted to show her pupils what discrimination feels like, and what it can do to people.

Elliott divided her class by eye color -- those with blue eyes and those with brown. On the first day, the blue-eyed children were told they were smarter, nicer, neater, and better than those with brown eyes. Throughout the day, Elliott praised them and allowed them privileges such as a taking a longer recess and being first in the lunch line. In contrast, the brown-eyed children had to wear collars around their necks and their behavior and performance were criticized and ridiculed by Elliott. On the second day, the roles were reversed and the blue-eyed children were made to feel inferior while the brown eyes were designated the dominant group.

What happened over the course of the unique two-day exercise astonished both students and teacher. On both days, children who were designated as inferior took on the look and behavior of genuinely inferior students, performing poorly on tests and other work. In contrast, the "superior" students -- students who had been sweet and tolerant before the exercise -- became mean-spirited and seemed to like discriminating against the "inferior" group.

"I watched what had been marvelous, cooperative, wonderful, thoughtful children turn into nasty, vicious, discriminating little third-graders in a space of fifteen minutes," says Elliott. She says she realized then that she had "created a microcosm of society in a third-grade classroom."

We will focus on the first two parts. If you want to prepare in advance, feel free to watch it. Here is the transcript (you don't have to print it out).

Here's some vocabulary you need to know before coming to class:
no-win situation
self-fulfilling prophecy
body language
discrimination
merit
prejudice
privilege
racism
stereotype
brotherhood
Here is a FILE you need to print out before class on Tuesday.

Thank you for your patience regarding the technical difficulties we have faced this semester. I know it is difficult to hear in room 104. So HERE is the video for you to download in advance. Everyone needs to get it for the final exam anyway.