A Class Divided

As individuals, we are diverse based on the background, experience, ability, race, language, etc. which impact the lens through which we view others and ourselves. As diverse individual, we may belong to dominant or non- dominant groups. Thus, either we have power and privilege or we experience discrimination and oppression. Further, we are shelled with diversity, ethnicity, and multiculturalism issues. Counselors have some ethical primary responsibilities to respect the dignity and promote the welfare of the client (A.1.a), “honoring diversity and embracing a multicultural approach in support of the worth, dignity” and “promoting social justice” (Herlihy & Corey, 2014, p. 3)

In the past, counselors have lacked the knowledge and skills to interpret ethical guidelines in multicultural counseling. The ethical guidelines dictate how a counselor should have the necessary tools when conducting a counseling session. There is a shortfall of training and education when dealing with race, ethnicity, and cultural backgrounds in today’s society. Ethics is a hot topic for counselors, partially because there are so many different situations that can be affected by ethical behavior. These situations can range from betraying the clients trust to injustice. There tends to be a lot of ambiguity for how to handle a situation ethically since there are a lot of

(INTERVIEW WITH JANE ELLIOT) http://www.newsreel.org/transcri/essenblue.htm The children learned that discrimination has a tangible affect on their performance in everyday activities. Elliott has gone on to do the exercise with numerous adults and almost without exception the participants' abilities, such as reading and writing, are grossly affected.      Jane Elliott's approach is especially relevant today.

During the second day of the experiment, the roles were reversed. The brown-eyed children being told and treated like they were the superior group (1985). The results of this experiment proved interesting as it revealed how quick and easily groups can be discriminated against based on differences alone. Not only did the in-groups and the out-groups start treating each other terribly, but the kids who were in the out-group developed low self-esteem which caused them to do worse on their class assignments, get temperamental, defensive and fought with the other group. The results during role reversal were the same. Jane Elliot later commented during the experiment she "… watched what had been marvelous, cooperative, wonderful, thoughtful children turn into nasty, vicious, discriminating, little third-graders in a space of fifteen minutes” (1985). The children’s academic performance greatly

It appears to be that the discussion of race and class in America has become amplified, especially in the last couple of years. For many, it is a touchy subject that hits close to home. With the presence of social media and news that feeds off of racial tension in America, the issues are polarizing and difficult to productively discuss. America’s handling of race and class relations is generally not something to be proud of, and there exists a long history of issues with race. It is clear that there is a lack of understanding and empathy of what others experience toward those who are oppressed. So often it is too easy to dismiss another human’s experiences as reality if one has had no prior encounter with the same challenges. Race is easy to sweep under the rug, but we must address the problem, and it is not a one size fits all solution. It is a problem that has been years in the making and continues to have an enormous impact on our human capital from an economic standpoint. And most of the time, there is a correlation between race and class.

On April 5 1968 Jane Elliot preformed the historical experiment in her 3rd grade classroom separating blue-eyed and brown-eyed children. After the death of Martin Luther King her students raised quiestions and she wanted to think of a way to make her students understand what minorities in the U.S feel like. Jane believed that her students would understand what it felt like to be discriminated against by separating them by their eye color. She asked her students if they wanted to be treated like a person of color for a day, judging their peers by the color of their eyes. The students went along with it and that coined the experiment that would later be known as “A Class Divided”.

In a powerful experiment we were able to see through the eyes of a kindergarten children prejudice dynamics. In a famous experience by Jane Elliot she separated her class between blue-eyed and brown-eyed students. Professor Elliot had separated her students by making one eye group inferior to the other making them have certain benefits and better treatment than the other group of students. Eventually, the students were switched the following day. This experiment have showed this group of kindergarten students how colors and discrimination affected the minority population. After this successful experiment with the kindergarten student’s professor Jane Elliot had done many other experiments using adults using the a similar technique blue-eyed

Jane’s special project sparked when she told her young class of eight and nine year olds that blue-eyed people were smarter and were better than brown-eyed people. Blue-eyed children were allowed an extra five minutes at recess, could have extras at lunch, got to sit in the front of the classroom, and were greatly applauded for their successes. On the opposite spectrum, brown-eyed students were forced to wear navy fabric collars in order to be easily identified. The groups were forced into segregation and were not allowed to play with one another out on the playground. Even when a brown-eyed student is tormented, the exercise continues; it is all a part of the experiment. The next day, the children switched roles, allowing them to all comprehend the degrading and humiliating emotional aspects of being an “outsider”.

From observing the thirds graders in Jane Elliot experiment a class divided. It helps you see through the lenses of a group of children who can identify the differences of problem and issues when your labeled as individual who is less than. And it also makes you wonder how racism is brought out of certain groups in this country. The video also demonstrates a certain number of key of key pointers when telling the children right from wrong. When explaining that the children were quite confused why a person who has a different eye color was treated differently in society. The children in A Class Divided demonstrated the characteristics of "Kohlberg’s Moral reasoning stage 3".

Elliott gave an excellent example of prejudice and discrimination to her 3rd grade pupils. She split her class in two groups according to their eye color. She set up the rules since the beginning, where the blue eyes group was superior to the brown eyes group and uses a color collar to make the inferior team more visible. It is heartbreaking to see little kids discriminating against each other within that little time and being mean to their friends. Also we see that the kids who were appraised performed better on their tests and work in general. Elliott repeated the exercise to the employees of the Iowa prison system. The reaction to the employees was similar to the 3rd grade kids. They started to prejudice and discriminate

She wanted to give each student a clear understating how it feels on both sides of the pole. The students immediately turned on their friends, both days, when they were told one eye color group was better than the other. Eliot’s experiment showed how kids are taught racism and how it only took 24hours. She gave them pre-test and post-test that showed that on the days the students with the superior eye color were treated better they scored higher while the secondary students tested poorly. The results were the same for both days. According to Matthew E. Lemberger and Tamiko Lemberger-Truelove, authors of Using the Transcultural Adlerian Conceptualization and Therapy (TACT) Model to Depict the Influence of Race-Based Trauma (2016) they agree with Courtney Heldreth et al., University of California, Los Angeles (2016), on their point that racism causes medical and mental issues on person wellbeing. Lemberger and True-lover notes racism can be seen as traumatic for a person and their growth (Lemberger and True-love, 2016 p.3) whereas Courtney Heldreth et al. claims that postpartum depression symptoms were partially mediated by everyday experience with racism (Heldreth et al, 2016 p.3).

Starting this course in August, I didn’t realize the power that multicultural counseling had instilled in it. The fact that its central focus is around social justice and equality is a characteristic our society much needs today. Throughout the duration of this class, I learned about multicultural counseling as a whole, new theories that can be applied specifically to different racial/ethnic minorities, the ACA code of ethics, and who I want to be as a future counselor.

Mrs. Elliot divided her all white elementary class by eye color. There was a “brown eyes” and “blue eyes” group, which made each group superior or inferior to each other. Mrs. Elliot performed the experiment, because she wanted to teach her students about racism and discrimination that was going on in the county, which was a major responded to the shooting of Martin Luther King in April 1968.Since Mrs. Elliot already divided her student by eye color. I think another way she could’ve divided her class is by hair color and

The video was a very effective introduction to the experiences of prejudice. Jane Elliot's approach allowed the students, who had been friends, to put each other into a category. The children began to turn on one another because of their eye color and in the long run this resulted in one child hitting another, bad attitudes, and hurt feelings. Once the experiment was over the children and adults had realized that discrimmination is real and it can affect every aspect of someones life.

She pointed out flaws of the brown-eyed group and seemingly better traits of the blue-eyed group that made her statement seem correct leading to a generalized prejudice. Elliot then made rules for the groups, including that of recess time, drinking fountain privileges, lunch privileges, and segregation on the playground, giving advantages to the superior blue-eyed group and disadvantages to the inferior brown-eyed group which is a small-scale simulation of societal and governmental oppression of minorities. The kids laughed at the “other 's” misfortune, two kids of each group got into a fight, and hateful things were said by the “good” group while a look and feel of disappointment, shame, and exclusion was shown by the “bad” group. The roles were effectively reversed on the second day by using the same methods. The brown-eyed group were more than happy to give their collars to the blue-eyed group. The situated identities of the children were changed by Jane Elliot, an authority figure, by declaring that people of one eye color were better than people of another. She pointed out flaws and supposed shortcomings that made the one group seem inferior and the other group adopted this generalized view. This turned into discriminatory rules and acts in the class and on the playground.