A Look at “Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes”How Far Have We Come?

In April 1968, after Martin Luther King, Jr. was slain in Memphis, the nation grieved as rioting broke out in almost 100 cities. Joining the nation in concern was Jane Elliott, a third-grade schoolteacher in small-town Iowa. As she watched the news about the assassination, she thought about how she could possibly teach her third-grade students about racism. She wanted her students to experience prejudice, not just hear about it. Elliott pondered: What does it feel like? What effects does it have? How can people gain empathy, and how can we learn what the receiving end is like in a world when dishing out prejudicial words and behavior is so common?


That next morning Jane realized that she had planned to teach a lesson on Native Americans, part of the third-grade curriculum. That lesson plan would need to be put on hold. Her lesson for the day would have to have a different focus.

The new lesson was the “Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes” exercise. It lasted for two days, and weaved in and around the standard class schedule. In the 1970 BBC documentary, The Eye of the Storm, the reenactment of the exercise during its third year, shows Elliott talking with her students about how their town often treated people of a different color. The young children shared about how some people—people who were not white like them—were treated, and about the attitudes and negative words that were used.

 Elliott described her experiment. “Would you like to try this?”


“Yes!”


“Well, I am the teacher, and since I have blue eyes, the people with brown eyes will get to go first. You will be special today.” *


Then Elliott inserted her experimental comments into the day’s lessons. The students with brown eyes were declared better, smarter, nicer. They got to go out to recess, use the drinking fountain, and go to lunch first. “Don’t play with those blue-eyed children.”


The children with blue eyes had to put fabric collars around their necks so they could be identified from a distance. As the day wore on, Elliott played the role of criticizing the blue-eyed people in a wide variety of ways and the children with blue eyes—even though they knew they were play-acting— got to feeling We’re stupider, we’re forgetful, we’re slow.

On Day Two of the experiment, the roles were reversed. Blue-eyed children got privileges and compliments. Those with brown eyes were treated with insults and lost out on the nice parts of a day at school.


Elliott was teaching that their actions and feelings were part of a nasty thing called discrimination. She questioned, “Should the color of eyes let you judge whether you are good or bad?”
 
The experiment’s outcomes resulted in preferred students starting to flaunt their superiority and privilege. The collared students reflected notions of not being good enough. The psychological phenomenon of self-fulfilling prophecy played out. On the days in which they were on “top,” students even showed academic improvements. Jane conducted a study of reading performance and was surprised at what she witnessed. She sent her observations of their improved performance to Stanford University for review within the Department of Psychology. Later, in the aftermath, Elliott witnessed her students becoming more empathetic, and discipline improved. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and The Pygmalion Effect | Simply Psychology
Teaching about prejudice would not be easy for herself and her family. Her husband’s business suffered and so did her children, because not everyone in the town thought it was a good idea. She, however, continued to teach this lesson on what became “Discrimination Day” in following years.
Years later, the 1985 documentary, A Class Divided, filmed the fourteenth reunion of those children. The once-third-graders showed up with spouses and their young children. They viewed the film of the original experiment. Their comments confirmed that the memorable exercise had imprinted life-changing attitudes towards people different from them.

The documentary A Class Divided--
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Two more documentary films were produced over time. The Angry Eye came out in 2001 and featured the reflective conversations of college students based on the experiment. Then in 2002, The Stolen Eye revealed the oppression of the Aboriginal Australians.


Over the years, Jane has taken these lessons and the experiences surrounding those exercises around the world. She has conducted workshops for a wide variety of organizations— corporations, prisons, governments, and nonprofits.


In 2010, The Museum of Teaching and Learning partnered with the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance to present a workshop with Jane Elliott. It was called “Teaching for Social Justice,” and was offered as an all-day seminar for educators and business leaders. Elliott herself traveled to Los Angeles to lead the seminar and leaders from both museums were able to participate.

Dyan Venters. Jane Elliott, and Greta Nagel

Jane Elliott is 87 years old now. For years, her life has included months of traveling and talking as an anti-racism activist. Jane represents the energy and creativity that outstanding teachers possess. She still has a home in Stacyville, Iowa, but you might also find her in warmer California during the winter months.

However, questions remain. Are things any different in 2021? Are there other kinds of exercises and lessons that can help people experience the effects of prejudice? Are there other people as determined to help build greater understanding and empathy?


Submitted by Greta Nagel with Dyan Venters


*Note: The Yale University Press 1987 book, A Class Divided: Then and Now by William Peters was based on interviews with Jane Elliott and her reflections on the very first exercise. Her description was not about the later filmed re-enactment and had her permit the brown-eyed children to be the first, “superior” group. The brown and blue order of preference did vary over the years.


An examination of elementary teacher Jane Elliott's educational exercise about discrimination, which she conducts an unforgettable lesson with her third-grade class in Riceville, Iowa.