This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Friday, March 11, 2011
PERIOD 3 - CLASS DIVIDED
You have been watching the documentary, "A Class Divided." Please post a reflective comment about the film and make sure to comment on at least one other student's post. Finally, what did you personally take away from the film?
35 comments:
Isaiah M
said...
The movie " a class divided" is a very excellent movie that shows how one cannot judge another based on the color of their of their skin, eyes,hair etc. at the end of the movie, i learned that its very easy to judge people based on those attributes but you cannot and should not do so unless you have gone through what they have gone through and seen the things that they have had endure. I also learned that you cannot form a profile on someone based on what other people tell you, you have to know the facts and also realize that we are all human beings who come in different colors.
I thought it was very brave of Mrs. Ellis to take teaching the younger children to not be racist and to always keep their minds open to everybody's differences. It shows how a couple of innocent third graders completely turned their backs on their classmates when faced with the issue of diversity. In the experiment, one eye color was always better than the rest so therefore that made you as a being better then the rest of the classmates. Personally I learned that you really cannot and shouldnt judge someone based on their exterior and physical appearance. It is very easy to think you are better than someone else just because someone else tells you that and because youre the "superior" race. I agree a lot with what Isaiah is saying in his comment. You cannot form an honest opinion on someone just from what you hear. You have to get to know them before judging.
The documentary, “A Class Divided”, showed people who never had a problem with being treated poorly because of discrimination what it was like to be. The minorities were looked down upon because they were different. Mrs. Ellis was able to do this to her class by telling them that the blue eyed kids were superior over the brown eyed kids for one day and vice versa on the next day. I think that more people should have to be apart of the activity or at least watch this video in order to make sure that no one else will ever be discriminated against.
I applaud Mrs. Ellis for conducting the little experiment she did with her third grade class. I think it's very important to educate children that racism and prejudice is wrong at a young age so they can be brought up with those values. The more you educate younger generations about how those things are wrong, the less likely it is to come about in the future in my opinion.
I thought that the movie "a class divided" was a fantastic film, and should be seen by everyone in order to help reduce the racism and prejudice going on around the country. Mrs. Elliot did a great job of showing the students in her class that even if a person is different than you, it doesn't mean that they are any better or worse of a person. This movie also teaches the important lesson that you can't possibly understand what it's like to be discriminated against until you have been put into a similar situation.
I really like the point that Isiah made about how it is easy to judge someone by their skin color, but you should not judge that person until you have gone through the same things that they have.
I think what Mrs. Elliot did was very helpful in explaining to the children what discrimination is. By separating her class into the blue eyed group and brown eyed group, she was able to stimulate how even young children can discriminate against others. I think her class learned a lot about how it is wrong to discriminate against other people. Also, I thought it was good that she showed each other what it is like to be in someone else’s shoes. Once the kids learned how bad it felt to be discriminated against, it changed their views on discrimination.
I agree with Natalie's post. I also think that teaching the younger generations certain things such as discrimination can help to reduce it from happening in the future.
I thought the experiment done in the film "Class Divided" was a fantastic way to show the harmful effects of discrimination in the world. I think that Mrs. Elliot had every right to conduct the experiment regardless of what her co-workers thought. I think that maybe what could be more effective is try this out on a little bit of an older group of kids, and for a longer period of time. I think that one school day is too short, because the children know that at the end of the day it would be over and everything would be back to normal. For the African Americans, this was not the case. The discrimination was endless, and there is still some today. I think that it would benefit the world greatly if all children were forced to walk in someone else's shoes for a little while.
I agree with Natalie's post one hundred percent. The only way to stop prejudice and discrimination in the future is by doing exercises like Mrs. Elliot did in her 3rd grade classroom today. People will be much less likely to dish it out if they have had a taste of it themselves.
The experiment Mrs. Elliot performed in her thrid grade classroom was necessary and should be used as and excercise today to provide a constant reminder to every human being that they are all the same. This experiment allows one to feel what someone with a different physical trait feels and also shows how peoples lives are different sometimes because of a simple thing like eye or hair or skin color. I think it would be good for a lot of people who have never been a minority to experience this because I think it is necessary in determining the person truly can be.
I also agree with Natalie. It is very important to educate people at a young age because they learn to be prejudice at a young age. I think third grade is a perfect age group because their social skills are developed enough to learn that discrimination is wrong.
I agree with Jenny in the sense that the experiment should also be performed over a longer period of time so people can really understand how much time it took for people to finally realize what the black race in America had been going through daily. Our class say how violence errupted just during a school day in a third grade class due to discrimination as well as verbal bullying with the adults after about and hour. There are no positive effects of discrimination.
I thought the idea to separate the class based on eye color was very smart of the teacher. Although it was nowhere close to the discrimination faced by blacks, those with eye color deemed superior where given oppurtunities not available to the inferior. By showing children the power and damage segregation and discrimination can cause, the teacher was able to teach the a lesson with regards to treating other people that the students have kept as a mindset for over 15 years.
I agree with Ivette, I thought Mrs. Ellis was very brave to put her third graders through the experiment. I think it's important to teach kids about diversity and racism at a young age so they understand the world better. If more children are taught about diversity at a younger age, it will reduce racismin the future.
In regards to isaiahs comment, I agree with him entirely. No one should have to ever undergo that kind of discrimination ever, regardless of how it is justified. This experiment does prove that people are easily drawn into discrimination as a way to identify themselves with a particular group.
I thought that Mrs. Elliot was very smart in the way that she appraoched the problem of discrimination to her 3rd grade class. Her experiment was very effective to the 3rd graders and i think that the outcome she was hoping to get from the experiment she got.What I took away from the film was that discrimination is discrimination, no matter who you teach it too or how old they are it's all the same
I agree with Jenny that doing this experiment to an older group of kids would have also been very effective and interesting, and making it last longer than a day.
Mrs Elliot was such an inspiring person. She took on a really big challenge in an effort to prove a point that she believed in. she is such a convincing person. I felt bad for the group of blue eyed people because she was being so disrespectful and rude to them because they were inferior to brown eyed people. However, she was able to make the group of brown eyed people believe that too and that was really interesting.
I agree with Gaby and Natalie and also believe that teaching the wrongs of prejudice is very influential at a younger age. People taught at a younger age are more likely to be less ignorant and more accepting at an older age. I am really inspired by Mrs Elliots actions
The Frontline special on a class divide was an brillant representation on the actual need to teach people how it feels to go through something like a day in a black person's life before the 1960's. Even though we as the viewer were not part of the discussions and experiments, the program was able to get across that feeling of hatred and anger that racism carries. I wish that as kids we had gone through this same experiment, and had gotten a better picture of what the victim of racism or discrimination feels like. A have to say that the best part of this was when they preformed the experiment on adults, the one woman that kept arguing with Mrs. Ellis truly never caught on to the experiment. I noticed that when she returned from lunch, she had taken off her jacket as well as the green collar, while all the rest kept theirs on. Excellent program, should show it to all Freshman their first day in High School.
In the documentary "A class divided" people who normally never felt discriminated against in there lives, truly felt what it was like to be discriminated against for nothing but a physical trait. I think this experiment is a great way of giving people perspective on how awful and unfair being descriminated against truly is.
In the documentary "A class divided" people who normally never felt discriminated against in there lives, truly felt what it was like to be discriminated against for nothing but a physical trait. I think this experiment is a great way of giving people perspective on how awful and unfair being descriminated against truly is.
In "A Class Divided", Mrs. Ellis is able to educate adults in the same manner in which the 3rd grade class was. I was surprised that the adults were as receptive to what was happening. It was very bold of her to take a position in raising awareness in the time period. I agree with Isiah that judging somebody on what others say is inconsiderate and ineffective. There is no difference between employing racism and judging based on eye color. Her experiment really helped people understand the civil rights movement.
I agree with Isaiah's post. You really shouldn't form an opinion about another individual without knowing them well. Everyone has their own struggles in life and unless you've spent a day in their shoes, you have no idea what that is like. This movie goes beyond racism. It's also about just plain treating people right.
This video showed how even people that seem to be innocent and nice can be abusive if they are given the right and the power. Mrs. Ellis did a great job teaching the kids, and making them feel what the people that suffered with prejudice felt. This video was inspiring and shows a lot aboput human nature.
I agree with Isaiah, I liked the video. I also agree that it is very eady to judge people if you are given the power and superiority. This was a great expiriment, and I believe it showed be shown to all classes when learning about the Civil Rigths movement.
I thought the experiment that Mrs. Elliot did was incredibly interesting. It brought to my attention the fact that we are so judgemental of people based on physical attributes. We should never judge someone until we know who they really are. It is so easy to think that we are superior to someone based on appearance but in many cases that is not true. I was particularly astonished by the adults at the end of the movie and their reaction to each other
I agree with Isaiah. We are so ready to judge people purely on appearance and we should not do that unless we have experienced the things that they have.
I thought "A Class Divided" was a great movie in showing how people are quick to judge people based on looks. I thought Mrs. Elliot did a great job teaching the kids about discrimination in a way they would understand and could experience firsthand. I think the kids in the class really learned how it would feel to be judged for their looks by Mrs. Elliot's lesson. I also thought she did a great job teaching her lesson to adults, because I think it put it into perspective for them how wrong it is to judge someone based on their skin, eye, or hair color.
I agree with what Ivette was saying because it was so interesting to see the third graders who had all been close friends, turn their backs on each other and become mean and nasty towards each other. I also agree with Isaiah that you really can't base your opinions on someone based on what other people are telling you about them.
I think the class divided shows a perfect representation of descrimination in the world past and present. The children in power took the power given to an extreme level. Each child was showing the hate that can be inside oneself and unleashing it when in the better position. Despite this when the same children were switched into the poor end of the social ladder, they began to feel the pain shared by so many who have been left powerless. The class definatly learned a lesson and were able to see the dark side of discrimination.
I agree with lipke. The way mrs.ellis was able to teach this lesson to even adults was inspiring. She took the adults and convinced astrong argument that had the people feeling helpless. It was a important message that she was saying and the was she did it was brilliant.
I think that that Mrs. Elliot's lessons were very effective, even against adults. However, I was surprised that she was able to use such tactics for years without being fired. If a teacher were to try this today, the oversensitive side of America would have the teacher fired.
35 comments:
The movie " a class divided" is a very excellent movie that shows how one cannot judge another based on the color of their of their skin, eyes,hair etc. at the end of the movie, i learned that its very easy to judge people based on those attributes but you cannot and should not do so unless you have gone through what they have gone through and seen the things that they have had endure. I also learned that you cannot form a profile on someone based on what other people tell you, you have to know the facts and also realize that we are all human beings who come in different colors.
I thought it was very brave of Mrs. Ellis to take teaching the younger children to not be racist and to always keep their minds open to everybody's differences. It shows how a couple of innocent third graders completely turned their backs on their classmates when faced with the issue of diversity. In the experiment, one eye color was always better than the rest so therefore that made you as a being better then the rest of the classmates. Personally I learned that you really cannot and shouldnt judge someone based on their exterior and physical appearance. It is very easy to think you are better than someone else just because someone else tells you that and because youre the "superior" race. I agree a lot with what Isaiah is saying in his comment. You cannot form an honest opinion on someone just from what you hear. You have to get to know them before judging.
The documentary, “A Class Divided”, showed people who never had a problem with being treated poorly because of discrimination what it was like to be. The minorities were looked down upon because they were different. Mrs. Ellis was able to do this to her class by telling them that the blue eyed kids were superior over the brown eyed kids for one day and vice versa on the next day. I think that more people should have to be apart of the activity or at least watch this video in order to make sure that no one else will ever be discriminated against.
I applaud Mrs. Ellis for conducting the little experiment she did with her third grade class. I think it's very important to educate children that racism and prejudice is wrong at a young age so they can be brought up with those values. The more you educate younger generations about how those things are wrong, the less likely it is to come about in the future in my opinion.
I thought that the movie "a class divided" was a fantastic film, and should be seen by everyone in order to help reduce the racism and prejudice going on around the country. Mrs. Elliot did a great job of showing the students in her class that even if a person is different than you, it doesn't mean that they are any better or worse of a person. This movie also teaches the important lesson that you can't possibly understand what it's like to be discriminated against until you have been put into a similar situation.
I really like the point that Isiah made about how it is easy to judge someone by their skin color, but you should not judge that person until you have gone through the same things that they have.
I think what Mrs. Elliot did was very helpful in explaining to the children what discrimination is. By separating her class into the blue eyed group and brown eyed group, she was able to stimulate how even young children can discriminate against others. I think her class learned a lot about how it is wrong to discriminate against other people. Also, I thought it was good that she showed each other what it is like to be in someone else’s shoes. Once the kids learned how bad it felt to be discriminated against, it changed their views on discrimination.
I agree with Natalie's post. I also think that teaching the younger generations certain things such as discrimination can help to reduce it from happening in the future.
I thought the experiment done in the film "Class Divided" was a fantastic way to show the harmful effects of discrimination in the world. I think that Mrs. Elliot had every right to conduct the experiment regardless of what her co-workers thought. I think that maybe what could be more effective is try this out on a little bit of an older group of kids, and for a longer period of time. I think that one school day is too short, because the children know that at the end of the day it would be over and everything would be back to normal. For the African Americans, this was not the case. The discrimination was endless, and there is still some today. I think that it would benefit the world greatly if all children were forced to walk in someone else's shoes for a little while.
I agree with Natalie's post one hundred percent. The only way to stop prejudice and discrimination in the future is by doing exercises like Mrs. Elliot did in her 3rd grade classroom today. People will be much less likely to dish it out if they have had a taste of it themselves.
The experiment Mrs. Elliot performed in her thrid grade classroom was necessary and should be used as and excercise today to provide a constant reminder to every human being that they are all the same. This experiment allows one to feel what someone with a different physical trait feels and also shows how peoples lives are different sometimes because of a simple thing like eye or hair or skin color. I think it would be good for a lot of people who have never been a minority to experience this because I think it is necessary in determining the person truly can be.
I also agree with Natalie. It is very important to educate people at a young age because they learn to be prejudice at a young age. I think third grade is a perfect age group because their social skills are developed enough to learn that discrimination is wrong.
I agree with Jenny in the sense that the experiment should also be performed over a longer period of time so people can really understand how much time it took for people to finally realize what the black race in America had been going through daily. Our class say how violence errupted just during a school day in a third grade class due to discrimination as well as verbal bullying with the adults after about and hour. There are no positive effects of discrimination.
I thought the idea to separate the class based on eye color was very smart of the teacher. Although it was nowhere close to the discrimination faced by blacks, those with eye color deemed superior where given oppurtunities not available to the inferior. By showing children the power and damage segregation and discrimination can cause, the teacher was able to teach the a lesson with regards to treating other people that the students have kept as a mindset for over 15 years.
I agree with Ivette, I thought Mrs. Ellis was very brave to put her third graders through the experiment. I think it's important to teach kids about diversity and racism at a young age so they understand the world better. If more children are taught about diversity at a younger age, it will reduce racismin the future.
In regards to isaiahs comment, I agree with him entirely. No one should have to ever undergo that kind of discrimination ever, regardless of how it is justified. This experiment does prove that people are easily drawn into discrimination as a way to identify themselves with a particular group.
I thought that Mrs. Elliot was very smart in the way that she appraoched the problem of discrimination to her 3rd grade class. Her experiment was very effective to the 3rd graders and i think that the outcome she was hoping to get from the experiment she got.What I took away from the film was that discrimination is discrimination, no matter who you teach it too or how old they are it's all the same
I agree with Jenny that doing this experiment to an older group of kids would have also been very effective and interesting, and making it last longer than a day.
Mrs Elliot was such an inspiring person. She took on a really big challenge in an effort to prove a point that she believed in. she is such a convincing person. I felt bad for the group of blue eyed people because she was being so disrespectful and rude to them because they were inferior to brown eyed people. However, she was able to make the group of brown eyed people believe that too and that was really interesting.
I agree with Gaby and Natalie and also believe that teaching the wrongs of prejudice is very influential at a younger age. People taught at a younger age are more likely to be less ignorant and more accepting at an older age. I am really inspired by Mrs Elliots actions
The Frontline special on a class divide was an brillant representation on the actual need to teach people how it feels to go through something like a day in a black person's life before the 1960's. Even though we as the viewer were not part of the discussions and experiments, the program was able to get across that feeling of hatred and anger that racism carries. I wish that as kids we had gone through this same experiment, and had gotten a better picture of what the victim of racism or discrimination feels like. A have to say that the best part of this was when they preformed the experiment on adults, the one woman that kept arguing with Mrs. Ellis truly never caught on to the experiment. I noticed that when she returned from lunch, she had taken off her jacket as well as the green collar, while all the rest kept theirs on. Excellent program, should show it to all Freshman their first day in High School.
In the documentary "A class divided" people who normally never felt discriminated against in there lives, truly felt what it was like to be discriminated against for nothing but a physical trait. I think this experiment is a great way of giving people perspective on how awful and unfair being descriminated against truly is.
In the documentary "A class divided" people who normally never felt discriminated against in there lives, truly felt what it was like to be discriminated against for nothing but a physical trait. I think this experiment is a great way of giving people perspective on how awful and unfair being descriminated against truly is.
In "A Class Divided", Mrs. Ellis is able to educate adults in the same manner in which the 3rd grade class was. I was surprised that the adults were as receptive to what was happening. It was very bold of her to take a position in raising awareness in the time period. I agree with Isiah that judging somebody on what others say is inconsiderate and ineffective. There is no difference between employing racism and judging based on eye color. Her experiment really helped people understand the civil rights movement.
I agree with Isaiah's post. You really shouldn't form an opinion about another individual without knowing them well. Everyone has their own struggles in life and unless you've spent a day in their shoes, you have no idea what that is like. This movie goes beyond racism. It's also about just plain treating people right.
This video showed how even people that seem to be innocent and nice can be abusive if they are given the right and the power. Mrs. Ellis did a great job teaching the kids, and making them feel what the people that suffered with prejudice felt. This video was inspiring and shows a lot aboput human nature.
I agree with Isaiah, I liked the video. I also agree that it is very eady to judge people if you are given the power and superiority. This was a great expiriment, and I believe it showed be shown to all classes when learning about the Civil Rigths movement.
I thought the experiment that Mrs. Elliot did was incredibly interesting. It brought to my attention the fact that we are so judgemental of people based on physical attributes. We should never judge someone until we know who they really are. It is so easy to think that we are superior to someone based on appearance but in many cases that is not true. I was particularly astonished by the adults at the end of the movie and their reaction to each other
I agree with Isaiah. We are so ready to judge people purely on appearance and we should not do that unless we have experienced the things that they have.
I thought "A Class Divided" was a great movie in showing how people are quick to judge people based on looks. I thought Mrs. Elliot did a great job teaching the kids about discrimination in a way they would understand and could experience firsthand. I think the kids in the class really learned how it would feel to be judged for their looks by Mrs. Elliot's lesson. I also thought she did a great job teaching her lesson to adults, because I think it put it into perspective for them how wrong it is to judge someone based on their skin, eye, or hair color.
I agree with what Ivette was saying because it was so interesting to see the third graders who had all been close friends, turn their backs on each other and become mean and nasty towards each other. I also agree with Isaiah that you really can't base your opinions on someone based on what other people are telling you about them.
I think the class divided shows a perfect representation of descrimination in the world past and present. The children in power took the power given to an extreme level. Each child was showing the hate that can be inside oneself and unleashing it when in the better position. Despite this when the same children were switched into the poor end of the social ladder, they began to feel the pain shared by so many who have been left powerless. The class definatly learned a lesson and were able to see the dark side of discrimination.
I agree with lipke. The way mrs.ellis was able to teach this lesson to even adults was inspiring. She took the adults and convinced astrong argument that had the people feeling helpless. It was a important message that she was saying and the was she did it was brilliant.
I think that that Mrs. Elliot's lessons were very effective, even against adults. However, I was surprised that she was able to use such tactics for years without being fired. If a teacher were to try this today, the oversensitive side of America would have the teacher fired.
sorry i was not here the day we did this
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