Brown-Eyed/Blue-Eyed

All right folks, here's what's been on my mind...

A couple of days ago, I attended an orientation meeting for new and returning substitute teachers in my school district. A lot of things were covered in the meeting, but what stuck with me the most from that day was a video clip of a Dateline special about racism, and a brief incident that occurred shortly afterward that got me a little steamed.

I still need to watch the remainder of the special, but here's the gist of it for anyone who hasn't heard about this: on the evening Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated (April 4th, 1968, for you historical types), a third grade teacher named Jane Elliott decided that it was time to teach her students about discrimination in a more aggressive manner than she had ever done before. On the following day, she asked her students what they thought about how they should treat people of other races (black people, specifically). Many of them said that blacks do not deserve to be treated the same as whites. This discussion went on for a few minutes, without anyone really speaking out against these prejudiced statements. She then informed her students that blue-eyed people were superior to brown-eyed people. "Brown-eyeds" were instructed to wear these black collar things so that they could be identified as brown-eyed from a distance (a la The Star of David). As the day progressed, the blue-eyed children made fun of the brown-eyed children, called them mean names, and mistreated them in general. The brown-eyed children became very mopey and subdued, causing them to perform simple classroom tasks and games much slower than usual, with less satisfactory results. On the second day, Ms. Elliott reversed this experiment (brown eyes were superior this time around). The results were exactly the same, but with the opposite children. On the third day, Ms. Elliott asked her students if they felt that they were being treated reasonably, and they all answered (in unison) with a resounding "NO!" She went on to point out that judging others by the color of their skin is not so different from judging them by the color of their eyes. These students never forgot this lesson.

I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I found myself becoming very emotionally affected by this video. It was saddening, even frightening, to witness ( A ) just how quickly people are willing to jump on a bandwagon just because someone tells them to do so, ( B ) how much of a difference in behavior and performance discrimination causes, and ( C ) how we pass our prejudices on to our children, who claim whatever adults tell them as fact. This experiment did a wonderful job of illustrating everything that is wrong with discrimination, and made it perfectly clear that there's really not a single aspect of it that isn't detrimental to learning and living peacefully.

The video ended, and we were asked to discuss a few key points amongst ourselves. Not two minutes after the video had finished, I overheard another substitute teacher behind me making a comment (in a disapproving tone, mind you) that was something along the lines of, "our school district has been getting very... dark. It's just scary."

Really, folks?

Did you not just watch the same thing I just watched? Honestly, I felt like I had just watched someone drink a bottle of vodka right after an AA meeting. I turned around to see who was speaking, and was dismayed to see that it was, in fact, a woman I've known through the school for years and have always looked up to. I've always strongly believed that the only cure for ignorance is education, but apparently not even 40+ years of education was enough to cure this particular case of ignorance. I understand that she was probably just speaking without really thinking, and that she would probably retract her statement if someone were to confront her about it. But I feel that it is irresponsible of an educator to be in the habit of such carelessness, especially after observing such a prime example of how negatively such statements affect those on the receiving end.

I've given this incident a lot of thought, and I feel like I've begun to understand some important things. In many ways, adults are just big children. Some of them learn to form their own opinions based on logic and common sense, while others stick to their same old archaic views simply because that's what they know, that's what's convenient. You're rarely going to hear someone admit that they are prejudiced. I can't think of too many people who are self-proclaimed bigots. Sometimes we're too wrapped up in our own oblivious comfort zones to realize that we're the problem. It's never us, it's someone else. "Oh, racism is terrible and all, but how typical of that black guy to eat a watermelon covered in hot sauce."

Okay, I'm rambling. I'm going to end this post with a quote that I feel pretty much sums up the moral of this story.

"You must be the change you want to see in the world." -Ghandi

What more can I say? This Ghandi dude knew where it was at.