A Class Divided Analysis

One of the biggest conflicts in American history has involved the discrimination towards a different group from our own, and while people tend to look at it as a thing of the past, it is an ongoing situation that remains today. Discrimination comes off in a negative way towards a specific category of people. In the documentary “A Class Divided”, students are introduced towards a brand new form of discrimination, this time the differences between one’s eye color. The study, created by an elementary school teacher, was done to see if the patterns of discrimination towards the African-American race were shown in the same ways with the discrimination of one’s eye color. From the very beginning of the study, the influence from the teacher on the

The town’s population, at the time, was at around 1000 people, with the entire population being white and Christian. Due to these demographics, the children in the video most likely had no real connection or experience with the people of the African-American race, even though they had already formed opinions about them. When asked about the black race, some of the words that came out of the students’ mouths were that they “didn’t treat black people as brothers” and that “they don’t deserve anything in this world”. The answers were given prior to the study being placed upon the kids within the classroom. Following the short lecture, teacher Jane Elliot split the students into two categories: blue eyes and brown eyes. The blue eyes were told that they were the better and far more superior group, while the brown eyes were said to be the inferior and petty group. The blues eyes, throughout the day, were full of big smiles and had quite a bit of confidence on their side. The browns eyes, on the other hand, felt very discouraged and were continually down on themselves during the course of the

The film surprised me based on the fact that one central leader, Jane Elliot, was able to change the minds of each student within fifteen minutes and turn them on each other based on a new belief that was introduced to them. One thing I won’t forget from the movie is the facial expressions from both the superior and inferior children, where one group showed pride and confidence in their expressions, while the other’s faces were in complete disgust and showed discouragement. When the students come back for a reunion of the study, and talk about whether or not the study should be done with all children, I tend to agree with those who say it should. Just by watching the video, it impacted me in a way that I haven’t thought about involving prejudices before, and it made me aware of the actions and feelings that are created due to those generalizations around me. The features that Elliot ascribed to mainly was how much smarter and well- behaved the superiors were compared to the inferiors, who were looked down upon due to their stupidity and lack of behavior. The way that Elliot pleaded her case against the inferiors made them feel there was no right answer to be given in any argument that involved pleading their own case. She used their frustrations against them to create a sense of tension in the room between the two different groups of people at all times. When