proposal

 

        Could you imagine coming into school one day and being separated from your friends because of your eye color? If Jane Elliot was a teacher at our school, the possibility of that happening would be very high. Jane Elliot is 87 years old and has been working on this experiment since April 5th, 1968. This date might not seem significant to many, but to her this was her wake up call to make change happen. Martin Luther King Jr was killed on April 4th of 1968 and his death was the spark of her experiment. 

Jane Elliot has gone to multiple different schools to apply this experiment. Some schools offer it during the day and others offer it as an “extra credit” opportunity but the students are never given many details of what their day with Jane will hold. In other videos of this experiment that I have watched, the students are assertively greeted by Jane and are asked their names and eye color. If their eye color is blue, they are given a green bib and then are asked to go sit in a separate room from the people with brown eyed people. From then, the blue eyed people are put on the hot seat and are instigated by Jane while the brown eyed students are just watching it all happen quietly. The reactions to the people within the experiment vary depending on what is said and how big the groups are. Jane’s message that she wants everyone to take from the experiment is that we should treat everyone with respect and equality because there is no difference between us no matter what we look like. 

Though it is unfortunate, this topic is something that is still very relevant today. An example of something similar to this would be the Black Lives Matter movement that took place over the summer and is still taking place now. In comparison to Jane Elliot’s experiment, the movement wants change in how black and non-white people are treated. Martin Luther King Jr was killed because he was a black man who wanted change and a while a person didn’t like that, so they killed him. That is a common trend as to why the BLM started. 

I think this experiment is important to bring to others attention now because there is so much division in our country and even in our towns and schools. Since politics drive most conversations now- we are divided in two groups because we can’t all agree to disagree. But people and children’s lives should not be a debate no matter what the conversation is- especially if the only reasoning for hatred towards another is their skin color. We should unite as one and put aside our differences so we can accept and love one another to make some positive changes.

I might not have a personal connection to this topic because I am a white female- but after watching multiple videos of Jane Elliot’s experiment, my perspective has changed greatly. It would be interesting if this experiment happened today at our school, but for many reasons I do not think that would happen. 

The reactions in this experiment also helped me learn more about people and their reactions to certain situations. In the end of some of the videos, the student involved in the experiment explained how it affected them and changed them for the rest of their lives. This experiment helped the white students and adults change their perspective on how they treated others in their futures.