Sample Solution

The YouTube video “A Class Divided” documents Jane Elliott’s social experiment conducted in an Iowa third grade classroom to demonstrate the impact of discrimination. During this exercise, she divided her students into two groups based on their eye color and then assigned each group different privileges. The results indicated heavy emotion from both sides with children exhibiting body language that showed a deep understanding of the implications of discrimination.

From the video, it is clear that the students felt uncomfortable when told they were considered either superior or inferior based solely on something as superficial as eye color. Those classified as “superior” displayed signs of guilt and discomfort while those labeled “inferior” exhibited signs of sadness, confusion, and anger (Elliott et al., 1988). With some children outright refusing to accept the terms set by Elliot including one student who declared he did not like being called a blue-eyed person thus showing clear displeasure with what was occurring.

This simple yet powerful exercise also revealed how quickly stereotypes can develop among individuals even at such a young age; numerous subjects noted how they previously never noticed differences between people until now (Elliott et al., 1988). This further illustrates how deeply ingrained societal bias can be instilled in us from early stages onward leading to prejudicial behavior which subsequently has far-reaching consequences for those affected by it .

In conclusion, this video provides meaningful insight into how discrimination impacts individuals both psychologically and emotionally. It demonstrates that despite being only 8 – 9 years old these children were able to comprehend powerful underlying message conveyed through role playing activities which demonstrated its far reaching effects throughout our society today .