Teacher's bias experiment offers us hope Teacher's bias experiment offers us hope
April 1, 2003
BY DESIREE COOPER
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Jane Elliott's heart was heavy as she drove to teach her third-grade class in Riceville, Iowa. It was April 5, 1968, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been murdered the day before. As a white educator, she understood King's fight for equal rights, but she doubted that the children in her small, homogeneous town ever would.
So she decided to show them firsthand what it was like to be black in America. She divided her 28 students by eye color. For the first day, Elliott explained, the brown-eyed children were better, smarter, nicer and neater than blue-eyed children.
When a blue-eye forgot to push in his chair, Elliott would say, "See? I told you that blue-eyed people were sloppy and had a disregard for nice things. Look at the way that blue-eyed person left his chair out." If a brown-eye gave the wrong answer, she'd say something like, "See? Even when brown-eyed people aren't sure, they give it a good try.
That's why brown-eyed people go further in life." The next day, the experiment was reversed. The brown-eyes who'd been on top suddenly were demoted. "I watched what had been marvelous, cooperative, wonderful, thoughtful children turn into nasty, vicious, discriminating little third-graders in a space of 15 minutes," Elliott told PBS's "Frontline."
A taste of race But something more unexpected happened that week. "Almost without exception, the students' scores go up on the day they're on the top, down the day they're on the bottom," Elliott said.
"We sent some of those tests to Stanford University, to the psychology department, and . . . they said that what's happening here is kids' academic ability is being changed in a 24-hour period."
Elliott, who is now in her late 60s, has done the experiment with children and adults in Northern Ireland, Germany and the Middle East. She says it illuminates the subtle but devastating effects of racism. For her, it's a compelling argument in favor of affirmative action.
When people argue that it's white males who are being discriminated against, "I say, 'Fine,' " Elliott said. " 'Will every white person in this room who would like to spend the rest of his or her life being treated, discussed and looked upon as we treat, discuss and look upon people of color . . . please stand?'
And I watch. And wait. And the only sounds in the room are those made by the people of color as they turn in their seats to see how many white folks are standing. "Then I say, 'Do you know what you just admitted? You just admitted that you know that it's happening, you know that it's ugly and you know that you don't want it for you.
So why are you so willing to accept it for others?' " Perhaps we accept it because it seems so impossible to overcome. Not good intentions, not even color-blind criteria, seem to adequately address the lasting effects of deep-seated cultural bias.
But one need only listen to Elliott's students talk about how she opened their eyes to the effects of racism toknow that there is hope. If not today in the halls of justice, then in the halls of education, where the first battles for equality were fought, and where the final battle to overcome ignorance will be won.
"Frontline" documented Elliott's experiment in 1970, then returned 14 years later to hear the students reflect on its impact. To watch the show or read a transcript, go to www.pbs.org and search for the title, "A Class Divided."
Contact DESIREE COOPER at 313-222-6625 or cooper@freepress.com.
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