One Teachers Experiment

On Wednesday I watched the Frontline video titled "A Class Divided". It was about one teachers experiment with her third grade class. She wanted to see if she could get her class to turn against each other because of their eye color. She wanted them to experience how it felt to be a Native American, or African American, or any other minority. She watched as her third grade class turned on each other because some of them were wearing collars.

This movie really showed me how easy it would be to instill hatred into a child, hatred that could turn into prejudices, which could change a country. It made me think about what could happen if every elementary school in the country taught all brown eyed children that they were better than all blue eyed children. Could it end up in a genocide like it did in Nazi Germany? It is not impossible. The experiment in this movie took place over a two day period and just in the first day there was violence, and these kids are only in the third grade. Just think about what could happen if they were grown adults.

Another thing that hit me in this movie was what happened on the first day, the day that blue eyed people were better than brown eyed people. At recess one of the brown eyed little girls cried, and one of the brown eyed little boys was almost in tears. There was so much hopelessness in the faces of the brown eyed children, and only after a few hours. I began to understand why the Jews stopped fighting and why the African Americans stopped fighting. They all felt like it was a hopeless situation. That no matter what they did it wouldn't help their situation.

I think that this exercise should take place in every third grade class in the country. Whether it is an all black school, all white school, catholic, or private school. If every school did this there would be so much more understanding, and I truly believe that children are our future, so what if we taught them not to hate. To show them how it feels to be on both sides. Our country could be a better place.

On the Way!!

This is my first blog ever and it just proves to me that I'm on my way!