Need to respond to the below discussion in reference to this video https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/class-divided/?
1) Brianna Andrews
Jan 23, 2023Jan 23 at 4:08pm
While watching the video my first impression was honestly overwhelming sadness. Hearing the third-grade students use derogatory terms in such a casual and comfortable manner made my heart break as those students have listened to those derogatory words and terms so many times before that they are comfortable using them. Watching Jane Elliott separate the students and observe their behaviors and the way they performed educationally was extremely surprising to me that there was such an unprecedented change in behaviors. At the beginning of the experiment, the students had their friends with such a slight change of separation friends turned on friends and by the end of the day the friends were so mad and angry at each other. I also did not expect educational changes within the student’s schoolwork to be affected by the experiment. Hearing the students speak about how they felt while being in the “less than” group, I think really showed the students how discrimination really affects people. Discrimination is still very prevalent in today’s society. Discrimination today can be seen everywhere in fashion and on the job force. The fashion industry shows discrimination by not having shade ranges for “nude” clothing and makeup shades. Even though the fashion industry’s discrimination might not be dangerous or seem that bad for most people when people are constantly seeing one shade range everywhere it gets unknowingly implemented to feel like that shade might be more important. Discrimination is everywhere in the job force. Most companies do not have an equal number of nationalities and races within the company. I know people personally who decline to put a race on job applications and have noticed they get more job interviews and that is obvious discrimination. Discrimination does not have any positive outcomes in any situation and every person needs to work on ending it completely. 2) Collapse SubdiscussionAndres Perez-Cintron
Andres Perez-Cintron
11:17amFeb 10 at 11:17am
What is most surprising, for me, about the experiment was how quickly the children’s attitudes and behaviors towards one another changed under the collar experiment. When their teacher chose one group as superior to another, the children from the superior group immediately treated the lesser very poorly. It was also surprising how those from the lesser group felt that their poor performance was because they were disadvantaged and how that changed when they were treated as the superior group, specifically their assignment with the flashcards and how quickly they were able to complete their assignment.
The experiment shown in this video is also a really good way to illustrate discrimination in the world today. Unfortunately, this country still suffers from this horrible affliction of discrimination and more relevant to today, is how it continues to play out in several very public instances, especially in cases of police brutality that have ignited the country in outrage. It’s awful to see that this mindset, this way of thinking and behaving still exists, that people judge one another simply by appearance, culture, gender, race, or religion, just to name a few examples. To be able to sum a person up with only a glance, and to not allow oneself to see past the above examples or to allow oneself to ignore the beauty or intelligence that a person may hold is indefensible. I personally have not dealt with instances of outright discrimination, but I could hardly imagine what it must feel like, the kinds of emotions that one would feel being reduced or relegated without a second thought as to who that person truly is on the inside.