Monday, February 27, 2012

PERIOD 3 - CLASS DIVIDED

You have been watching the documentary, "A Class Divided." Please post a reflective comment about the film.  What did you personally take away from the film?


34 comments:

Taylor Monahan said...

I was absent this day.

Olivia Tortolini said...

I found this film to be extremely interesting. I had never thought of or knew of anyone doing an activity like this to prove a highly important point. I, personally, wish I could have gone through it so that I could have gotten the same experience those kids had. Of course I am not racist nor do I discriminate against people, but I think that activity proved an amazing point and really showed people how the blacks felt even though it did not compare to the pain and torture they actually went through. After watching this film I appreciate everybody even more for who they are, and understand that every single person is different and unique in their own way, and they have the right to be who they are/want to be. Nobody deserves to be judged or discriminated against, so the fair thing to do is treat people the way you want to be treated and accept everyone for who they are. If more people do that, then they will get the exact same in return.

Julie Spiegel said...

I think that this film was extremely important to watch. Usually when I think of discrimination I think of adults treating other adults badly, but never have I thought about children doing this. I was shocked watching an innocent 3rd grader say awful words. It didn’t necessarily make them bad kids for saying these things because it is all they have ever known and been taught. The teacher showed them the truth and made the kids realize that people shouldn’t be treated differently based on looks. If she hadn’t done this exercise with these kids then they would have grown up as adults thinking these discriminating thoughts and pass them on to their children. Now they can pass on that no matter what people look like they should all be treated as an equal.

I agree with Olivia's comment. I think that this film really showed the kids how the african americans felt at the time and now they are able to see that everyone should be treated as they would want to be treated

Max Pabon-Young said...

I found the messages being portrayed in the film to be quite powerful. I at times, find my generation fails to appreciate all of the blood sweat and anguish that had befallen our ancestors. A film like this one really makes one think," do my actions desecrate or support the efforts of the past"? I find it almost astounding how much a child's brain albeit underdeveloped works much like a sponge. Given that mentality a child truely does reflect the ideals of their parent or gurdian. It was this concept that allowed ignorence to breed ignorence and allowed evil to fluorish. Those same minds of great potential gone to waste simply because complexion and vile ignorence became the catalyst for a darkness that plagued and still plagues our world.

Max Pabon-Young said...

I agree with Olivia, I also wish to have had the opportunity to undergo this experiment. It's one this to symbolically "walk" in one's shoes imagine being the actual barer.

Ali Potts said...

I thought the video "A Class Divided" was very surprising but interesting to watch. The exersice really helped these young kids understand racism and see the perspective of the inferior side, which helped them really change their outlooks on different races. I think that this experiment helped change descriminating thinking over time. Since children are the future and they learn from hands on exercises like these and this was a lesson that became personal it stuck with them for life which later led to them teaching their kids that and so on. I also think this lesson could have really been for anyone not only kids, it could change the thinking of older adolescents and adults as well.

Shaina Lariviere said...

The childrens' march, was inspirational. from an African-Americans' point of view i never really thought about how many hard ships my people had to go through in order to get where i am. To tell you the truth when i was little i never knew about colored people, i never knew about discrimination, i just thought that everyone liked each other. Not untill i got older did i understand how people can treat others the way they did. Those kids stood up for their rights. The believe in a brighter and more prosperous future. They came, they saw, the conquered. I wish people today had that kind of motivation.

shaina agrees with max said...

I agree with max. max says things in a way that make everything sound right and i just completely agree with the whole. I would have more to say if i could build on anything but max covered it all. :)

Ben Mugi said...

This documentary was really interesting. The teacher is an absolute genius for coming up with such a great excercise to prove such a valid point to those little kids, and for a fact they will be impacted by what they went through. I wish more schools did some sort of an excercise to show and prove such a vaild lesson life. As a minority i know what it is like to be discriminated. This exercise is a good lesson for the majority of the population to learn. Children should learn at a young age what it feels like to be discriminated that way it will prevent them from discriminating others in the future


I agree with Olivia that nobody deserves to be descriminated against, and if we treat each other all equal then we'll get treated the same in return if not better.

Jeremy Lurier said...

After watching this film I began to think about the difference between racism and ignorance. The children is the film appeared racist, but did not know any better than their parents' teachings. Unfortunately a majority of the children had racist parents who raised their kids with the mindset that African Americans and Native Americans are lower than whites. Therefore I couldn't blame the kids for what they believed because they didn't know any better.

I agree with Olivia's comment on the idea that everybody needs to appreciate everyone for who they are. People are too judemental in this world which only makes us less strong as a population.

Veda Awasthi said...

I think this activity was an amazing experient and something all children should go through. It was even more significant during that time because discrimination against minorities was very common. I think that people feel that they understand how it feels to be discriminated and to be judged but unless you go through the experience first-hand you never truly know how it feels. When the students came back for the reunion I thought it was interesting how they found themselves remembering the experience from 3rd grade during their everyday lives.

I agree with Olivia. It is always important to treat everyone fairly even if they are different than you or have different opinions.

Juliette Lloyd said...

I think that this film was really interesting, yet shocking. I was surprised at how quickly the kids were able to turn on each other and be convinced of another's superiority was disturbing. I was initially affected by hearing the offensive comments that the children were saying. I have a lot of support for Mrs. Elliot because of the way she handled herself in spite of the town's dislike. Even though she faced a large amount of resentment, she was able to continue the activity for nine years. And, the activity clearly worked because of the comments that those same children said years later. During the activity the brown eyed kids were quick to switch places with the blue eyed kids and put a collar on them even though they understood the feeling of withstanding persecution, even if it was for a short amount of time. I want to become a teacher and after seeing this video, I knew immediately that I'd want to do an activity like this. It's one thing to be told about something, but an entirely different concept to actually have a first person experience.

Juliette Lloyd said...

I agree with Julie when she said that she never thought of kids in reference to racism. It's sad that some kids are brought up to think like that, which makes Mrs. Elliot even more commendable because of her ability to contradict the current way of thinking.

Ali Strand said...

After watching "Class Divided" I felt disturbed. It was shocking how fast these kids were able to slip into a superior/inferior role, how fast they were able to turn on their friends. I think it was an extremely valuable lesson that Ms. Elliot taught those 3rd graders. They'll never forget how it felt to be discriminated against and because of this, they'll never discriminate against others.

I agree with Olivia. Nobody deserves to be judged or discriminated against. We should just accept people for who they are.

Tim Jerome said...

I thought this was an interesting story. This was a good experiment that had an impact on the children she taught. It is hard for kids in 3rd grade to understand what racism and discrimination is like unless it is against them. Sure those kids once in their lives had racist and discriminatory feelings towards blacks. They got what it was like to be discriminated against and none of them liked it. The greatest lesson in life is being treated the way you treat someone else and learning from it so you will treat everyone with respect and care.

Tim Jerome said...

I agree with what Ben said. She came up with a great lesson that changed how the kids thought about racism and discrimination.

Sadie Smith said...

I thought this was an amazing experiment that Mrs.Elliot performed. It showed just how much racism can effect our society but also how easily it can be somewhat reduced. I'm glad she continued this experiment for many years because I think it was an extremely valuable lesson for the children to learn.


I agree with Olivia. I wish that I could have had the opportunity to go through this experience as a kid. Although I also do not discriminate against people nor am I racist, I do think it would help me better understand the discrimination African Americans went through.

Colleen Mulcahy said...

This is the second time that I have seen this film in high school but it is the first time that ive seen the reunion and what Mrs. Elliott did with the prison workers. I think that I took a lot more out of this viewing than the other because I saw how the 'experiement' effected the children later on in their lives and also how it can effect older people as well. I think that the film shows a lot about human nature and how if you are told by an authority figure that something is wrong or different you will think that it is wrong or different. One has to form their own views and opinions in order to make decisions about how they will treat people.


I also agree with what Julie said- I never thought about how discriminating kids can be. A lot of people like to think that kids will love others no matter what - theyll play with others no matter what.. but the film showed us differently

Jodie Shrier said...

After watching A Class Divided I was shocked to realize how much power a teacher truley has. Although the kids were at such a young age, and at a point in their life where they would never expect to be told a lie from a teacher or false information. This proves how much power one person can have on a group of children, who had no erason to ever question an authoritative figure.


I deffinatley agree with Veda that this is an expirament we should all go through and have to expirience ourselves

Ali Bracey said...

I thought the film and Mrs. Elliot's activity was extremely powerful. The children had grown up accustomed to racism, from their elders and parents, but they never experienced it first hand. It opened their eyes to how they treat others, and how it feels to be discriminated against. Having had this activity at a young age, instilled life lessons that they were able to carry on as they grew up.
I agree with Ali and how easy it was for the kids to feel superior/inferior. Once the people were told they were better, they quickly accepted this role and acted more powerful.

Matt Demers said...

I thought this film was very interesting. The exercise was very unique and I was surprised at how it even affected the adults the same way it affected the children. It gave me a different perspective on things and showed how much children are influenced by what goes on around them and what goes on in their homes. It also showed that there are many different levels of discrimination and that it doesn't have to just be based on the color of someones skin.

I agree with Julie. I was very surprised at how the children when from friends to enemies so quickly just based off of what the teacher was telling them and also how this one experiment in 3rd grade changed how they would view people for the rest of their lives.

Kim Woodcock said...

After watching this, it made me realize how judgmental people of society can be. I had never really thought of how hard discrimination personally affects some people. This showed me how this simple, creative exercise really meant so much. It really did a good job representing how some people were poorly mistreated. This makes me realize that it isn't fair to judge somebody based on any features they have that differ from mine.
I agree with Liv. Everybody should be treated fairly regardless of their background. Her response clearly explained how we are all unique in some sort of way, which stands true on many levels.

Greg Alves said...

I thought that this film was interesting as well as pretty mind blowing. When most of society thinks of discrimination they automatically think racism. This experiment just goes to show that it isn't just about race. The way that the children felt incredibly superior when they were told they were better and how sad and defeated the children that were "inferior" was simply incredible. As Mrs. Elliott said in the film, she saw the change of attitude in about 15 minutes. After watching this film my attitude about discrimination has drastically changed. It makes me think deeper about people and want to understand them more in depth instead of just what I see on the outside.

I agree with Jeremy with what he said about how the kids didn't know any better because of the way they were brought up by their parents. Although they didn't truly know what they were doing, it seemed like they were professional discriminators. It's sad that was the situation for them but that's the way the were brought up.

shaina lariviere said...

I think that this proves the theory that if you tell someone to jump then they will jump. most people think that they have there beliefs under control, but if one thinks like that then eventually everyone els gets convincd to think that way. IF your a child its even easier to do so. IF kids are that quick to change just imagine how quick adults would change. People are the same way in todays society. Take school for example, to anyone who has ever started a rumor, all you have to do is get one person to believe you and you've like a room filled with gasoline, and are prepared to watch it burn. People will believe what you tell the, it gives them a sense of security that they don't have to make their own decisions .

Anonymous said...

Shaina agrees with matt demors, because it shows that someone of another color can be just as empathetic as another, everyone has been discriminated against, it good to have a positive out come from something that was treated as a crime by others.

syd dearmond said...

This film really effected me. I'm so happy that this experiment had such a positive effect for the students. I liked also how the experiment was also done on adults. It was cool to compare the minds of adults and kids. I agree with Jeremey. Most kids know as much as there parents do. What ever the parents believe in so do the kids.

Connor Whamond said...

I know that in the film that she was criticized by some of the people who didn't like it but in the end she truly was a difference maker at a young age for those kids.

Logan desanti said...

After watching this film I found it amazing how those kids who had been friends for years turned on each other right after they heard that they were superior or inferior to the others. This film also portrayed that kids will take any chance they get to feel superior by putting down others. This experiment also served as a microcosm to the world of racism because it shows that if you put a group of people in power they will almost always abuse it.

Rachel Siegal said...

I thought the teacher had an interesting idea. I wonder if the students who were superior the first day could have reacted differently the second day. On the other hand does being prejudiced against first, make the students more likely to be angrier the second day? Or because they know what it feels like, they are kinder.

Rachel Siegal said...

I agree with Ben that children should learn what its like to be discriminated against. Talking about it is not the same as experiencing something like that.

Vanessa Clemons said...

This film had a really big effect on me. Although the kids were quick to turn against each other, I found it amazing how much they learned from the lesson. I don't think that the third graders had a full understanding of discrimination, but they definitely were more aware of it afterwards. This teacher's activity was really powerful to me. In addition to showing kids a new perspective on racism, it also shows that you shouldn't judge people based on how they look because everyone deserves to be treated equally.

I agree with Max. I think that our generation is at times unappreciative of how hard black people have worked to get where they are today.

Michael Fahey said...

This film was one of the most interesting and moving films I have seen in a while. The activity itself is brilliant. I don’t think anyone could have done it as well as Miss Elliot had done it. When she had divided her 3rd grade class between blue eyes and brown eyes you could really pick out the emotions of each kid and how they felt about it. When blue eyes were better, they were more confident unlike the brown eyed kids who were upset and didn't agree with what she was saying because they didn't want to believe it. Same thing happened when she switched them; it was the same results but with the brown eyed kids on top. The whole activity is amazing because it's effective and it really teaches young kids good morals and it allows them to treat everyone with the same amount of respect, like it should be.

Michael fahey said...

I agree with Olivia because I would want to experience what these kids went through. It would just be a change to know what it feels like to be on the other end. I’m not the kind of person who exploits discrimination because I don’t agree with it. Everyone is the same and that’s how people should be treated. It's just not right to give others privileges that others can't have.

Jacob Silverman said...

I was absent this day