A Critical Analysis Of 'A Class Divided'

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Analysis Paper #2
A Class Divided
1. I think that if I was a participant in Jane Elliott’s exercise, I would burst into tears because she was so harsh. I don’t know if I could benefit anything from the same activity. It was so tough so I would have a negative impression with Jane Elliott at first. Even though I only watched it through the movie, I feel that I cannot stand her activity. Perhaps after I calm myself down, I may change my perspective and feel thankful to Elliott. I think the most important lesson Jane Elliot wanted to teach her audience is that we do not know what other people are suffering until we become them. Everybody has their own value and we all deserve to be treated equally. There should not be discrimination or preference. …show more content…

To unlearn racism is not an easy thing to do. It requires a lot of time and effort because human belief is not something that we could change if we want to. The only way to reframe people’s perception of racism or any kind of discrimination is to let them become a victim of it. Only when people become a victim of discrimination do they realize how painful it is. I believe that Jane Elliott’s teaching method is a good idea to reframe racism. However, there are always two sides of a coin. Jane Elliott’s method also has both advantages and drawbacks. Instead of teaching only theory like other educators would do, doing this is definitely more practical. It instantly shows the participants how it feels like to be segregated. As we saw what happened in the movie, after Elliott’s lessons, her students all changed their attitude from negative to positive. They even came back to thank Elliott after 20 years. Obviously, this is a meaningful lecture for them. There’s also a downside of Jane Elliott’s method; that it’s too harsh. If it weren’t for Jane Elliott, no one would able have a lasting effect. When I saw a participant crying during her lesson, I partly disapproved of her method. I know she had her point but not all of her students deserved to be treated like

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