This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
"Eye of the Storm" - Period 6
Today, we watched the documentary, IN THE EYE OF THE STORM. What did you learn from this film?. Post a reflective comment about the film and make sure to comment on one other student's post.
I thought that the "Eye of the Storm" movie was really interesting. It showed how succeptible a child is to the influence of others, and how easily they accept ideas presented to them. It showed, on a small scale, how racism and prejudices are created and spread. The children easily turned malicious and turned on each other for no reason other than what the teacher had told them. Likewise, we are all influenced by other's ideas, and that is how hate can be generated. The idea is not to generate hate though, and this movie helped to show the importance of teaching good values and morals so that love and equality will conquer hate.
MR. GALLAGHER, I'm leaving my house in about 2 minutes to go to the IMAX midnight release of Watchmen. Yes, I'm going 6 hours early. So you see, I won't be home till 3 AM and there's no other comments here yet for me to reflect on.. so I am left with no choice but to reflect on my own comment. You should still give me credit for this,please..
Gayle- What you said was thought provoking and interesing; you make awesome points.
I thought it was very brave and thoughtful of the teacher to conduct this experiment. I believe that since she did this with thrid graders they could really get in to it because they dont really have the power to rationalize things like older students would have, therefore those students wouldn't have taken this as much to heart as the younger students would have. She seemed to have possibly made a huge impact on these children. If they had not gone through this they would never really have known what it would have felt like to be anything other than white, because it was obvious that they did not have any real interaction with other races. So they could not have ever really known what other races feel like in day to day life. I agree with Gayle about how this shows that the children are very susceptible to outside ideas. it was amazing how they turned on each other so quickly once they were given an increase in power.
I agree with Gayle. I believe that "The Bear Story", "In the Eye of the Storm", and 'After The First" are all trying to prove that society effects people's decisions. The teacher in the "Eye of the Storm" tries to show her students that discrimination is wrong. After switching up the roles of the superior eye color, certain children act in much different ways than before. The documentary showed how one boy got in a fight with another boy because he had a different eye color. Similarly, in "The Bear Story", the bear begins to act like a human after being told to act that way. The "Eye of the Storm" is used to show how even average 3rd grade students can be majorly impacted by changes in society.
I agree with Liz that the teacher was very brave to do such an experiment, and it was very enlightening to see how quickly the children turned on each other, and demonstrated how large of an impact the idea of inferiority is to everyone. The teacher probably ensured that these children won't be racist, because of the hurt the kids felt when it was directed at them. I also agree with Gayle about how open the children seemed about racism and prejudice, and I think if this experiment was tried with all children racism and prejudice could be eliminated.
I thought the film "Eye of the Storm" was so interesting to watch. It showed how once people feel that they have an advantage over other people, or superior characteristic (even if it may be eye-color), they use that to not only boost their own egos but to put other people down. It was interesting to see how quickly this changed the behavior of the third graders, just being told that their eye-color made them smarter and better than the other kids. It not only affected their attitudes towards the children of the opposite eye color but also their academic performance, even though there was no real change from one day to the next. I agree with Liz that the teacher was brave for conducting this experiment, because I imagine that in the time of its release many people did not agree with her ideas. I am interested to see the follow-up film to see if her lessons stuck with those children after those two days of class.
Kelsey i completely agree with you when you said that once someone has the slightest advantage over someone else they use it to boost their own egos and drop the other person so that they are lower then them. I feel like that this happens on a daily bases where someone will put someone else down to cover up their own insecurities about themselves. This film does a really good job showing that.
I think there was a lot to be learned from this film. The reaction from the children towards the situation was very informing. It was really surprising to me that despite the children knowing ahead of time that they were all equal and that this was just an experiment they still felt hurt by being the under dogs and felt power from being told they were better then someone else. The affect the teacher had over the kids was shocking because she could manipulate them so easily just with her tone of voice. This film has taught me that our younger generations are so easily affected by what we tell them and that no matter what age being on top always feels better then being told your lower then somebody else.
I completely agree with basically all of these posts. However Kelsey and Savina both agree on the fact that once a being is given the slightest advantage over someone/something else, they use it to boost their own egos and make it noticed that others not as fortunate are weaker and lower then they are. This was quite clear in the movie, for once the children with the superior eye color were told over and over again how much smarter they were, it was quite evident how they reacted upon this aknowledgement.
Each day the teacher told her class that one eye color was superior, either brown or blue. When it was the students turn to be superior, it was clearly shown how easily and quick it was for friends/fellow classmates to turn against eachother. There is even a part when the teacher begins to ask two of the boys why they started to fight at recess, and their answer was that the superior boy began to call the "less superior" boy a "brown eye" and continued to provoke him.
Through the entire film I was just completely shocked about how the children could react so quickly, just by telling them that they were more intelligent. It just shows how easily the human mind can be triggered into thinking almost anything.
I also agree with Liz in saying how brave the teacher was. At the time she did the experiment is when many people where HIGHLY judgemental and easy manipulated. She took a big step into displaying the big picture and I have a lot of respect for her. I am also very excited to watch the follow up video.
I really liked the "Eye of the Storm", and I think it taught us alot about how easily children were drawn to believe such things about different skin colors and races. I think that the teacher had alot of courage to take such a big step, and proceed with this experiment as so many people were against it. Children are taught to act this way by the people that surround them, and even if it doesnt make much sense, they naturally follow what their parents teach them. However, once the teacher conducted the experiment and made them understand and feel the pain that the people of other races had to go through then, they seemed to have different thoughts and ideas. In the end it was worth it, and the children were truly able to learen something from this experience, and this would stay with them for their rest of their lives. I agree with Gayle on how she said "on a small scale, how racism and prejudices are created and spread". This is very true, as it is much easier for one to spread racism and prejudices rather than to stop one from being racist or prejudice.
This movie really stuck with me today. I thought the teacher did a great job at showing the kids in the class what it feels like to be hated upon and neglected like black people were back then. It was amazing how easy it was to make the kids turn on each other just because the teacher said they were lesser beings simply based on eye color. I thought Gayle made a good point about how this movie did a good job at teaching people good values and whatnot.
I thought this movie showed how easy it is for people to be racist in society. As soon as one group of kids believed that they were superior, their whole attitudes changed. For example, the one boy called another boy "brown eyes" in a derogatory manner, but the day before he would never even have given a thought about what the boy's eye color was. I think it also had a very negative affect on the kids who were considered "inferior." For example, the one kid just put his head down on the desk and looked very depressed when he found out he was inferior to the other group. I also agree with what Liz and others have stated about the teacher being very brave to do this experiment. I thought it was shocking to find out that she was criticized by fellow teachers and parents, and that her children were also forced to suffer. The teacher did a great thing with this experiment, and I don't think she should have been punished for it.
I was really fascinated by the "Eye of the Storm" movie. First, the kids knew that blacks and indians were treated differently. The children really took on the roles of being mean to the other children when their eye color was better and superior. Then the blue eyed kids said on their way to lunch that they should inform the lunch ladies and punish them if they try anything. One kid called another brown eyes so the kid hit him. If kids at such a young age can understand that being singled out because of a color of eyes or skin is wrong and hurtful then why do so many people do it. They became discriminating 3rd graders in around 15 minutes. One girl said it was like having your best friends taken away. The children all became great friends and laughed and hugged when they were all done. I think that this movie illustrates the importance of not judging a book by its cover and stresses the importance of equality. I applaud the teacher for doing this and being proud of it after her husband was kicked out of his shop and her children were harassed at school. I agree with Gayle that it is trying to teach the importance of good values and morals so that love and equality will conquer hate. Young kids are the future and if we teach them love over hate now the future will hold better things. I also agree with Kelsey because I am also very excited to see the follow ups with the kids as they are adults and see how it impacted their lives.
This film was awesome. I never thought it would that easy to convince kids that they were superior just because of their eye color. The film showed that children absorb everything that adults try to influence them with. The kids embraced the idea that they were better than the other kids and used it to make fun of and think down upon the other students in the class. It was amazing to see that just because the teacher said they were inferior that the kids thought they weren't as intelligent and did worse in school and blamed it on their eye color. I was surprised that the teacher was willing to do this kind of experiment during a time when it was ok to be racist and to think that white people were superior.
I loved this film. I thought that this film really showed the affects in which racism has on other people. However, I must say, that I was heartbroken because of how the children felt. I just thought it way too much for third graders. But, the point was made. I definitely agree with Liz that this teacher was extremely brave in performing such an experiment during this time period. Also, for this teacher, I must say, she was definitely not a bystander and did something about the racism that infected the United States.
The children turning on each other was not shocking to me. Also, these kids were completely aware of what racism and prejudice was because they admitted that they have called blacks "niggers" and Native Americans "redskins", but, I don't think that they understood that racism can mean anything;from the color of your skin to the color of your eyes. Like Caroline, I cannot wait to see how these kids grew up and what thoughts they have towards this experiment once they got older.
Because I have experienced prejudice, I can understand what power and superiority can do to people. Once given the power and the approval of superiority, any person will naturally suppress the "weaker" and the inferior. Soemtimes we say that if the person knows how it feels to be hated, they wouldnt do the same thing and they would be better leaders and whatnot, however, this experiment proved that really, no matter what, once a human is given approval of superiority and power over another person, there will suppression and hatred will be generated from that. That is the sad truth. The only cure is to treat everyone equally and not look at the physical but at the inner person as a whole.
I think that this film showed just how easily influenced children can be. All the teacher had to do was simply tell her class that one group of children was better than another, and each child immediately believed it. They did not question it, they did not rebel against it in any way - they simply allowed themselves to be treated as inferiors. Additionally, those who were superior for the day did not ever hesitate to think that what they were doing was wrong, or how their friends and classmates felt. This film really showed that, especially for developing minds, it is hard to understand how others feel. I agree with John in that it truly was amazing to see how the children reacted based only on what the teacher said. I think that it really shows just how easily German children were brainwashed into truly believing in their superiority over the Jews.
The "Eye of the Storm" was an extremly interesting film. I thought that it was perfect how childeren were used a model of then's racial and prejudice society. It was wild to see how fast the childeren became embellished in the brown eyes versus blue eyes, and how the superior childeren was so quick to make fun of the inferior childeren just becuase of what their teacher told them. I think that this not only shows how easy people can be susceptible to racial views but also how easily people can obey an authority figure.I also agree with gayle becuase shes awesome and that i definitly think that the moral of the movie or what one should take away from it is that somthing should always be done to curb recism and prejudice
The "Eye of the Storm" movie has given me insight about how some other parts of America view racism, especially in the past. We've come a long way since then but the fact that no one actually thought about the affects of racism was quite shocking to me. The children had no idea what racism actually was and seemed to only have been brainwashed into accepting people different from them. I agree with Liz's point that the teacher must have been brave to do this experiment, since it could have had serious repercussions for her. Since the teacher did it with third graders, a time at which humans are still very impressionable she had no problem making them believe that certain characteristics make someone superior. Also, the results of the tests that the kids took when they were "superior" and "inferior" say a lot about how our mind works and how we get our motivation.
I thought that the "Eye of the Storm" showed how much of effect society's thoughts play a part in the thinking of children. In the beginning of the film the children pointed the racism towards African-Americans and Native Americans in the current day society. And I think that it was viewed as accepetable back then, but after the children went through the activity they realized what they were doing from the shoes of the people they were oppressing. I think that the activity definitley had a tremendous effect on the children and definitley made them think twice before treating someone badly.
I agree with Gayle that people are extremely influenced by other's idea and that teaching values, helps form a childs morales and their opinion of other's in life. A teacher in elementry school teaches the child the basic ethics and rules of society, so that the person can be a functional member of society
I think "Eye of the Storm" is an important movie for everyone to see. The lesson is brilliant and unforgettable. I thought watching the children react to the situation was interesting because their minds were so naive and you could see their thoughts as they thought them. It was a viable microcosm of society. I also enjoyed the reflection years later because we could see how the lesson impacted the remainder of their lives. I'm happy Liz mentioned how brave the teacher was because she certainly had a lot of courage to teach this lesson in a 98% white community.
20 comments:
I thought that the "Eye of the Storm" movie was really interesting. It showed how succeptible a child is to the influence of others, and how easily they accept ideas presented to them. It showed, on a small scale, how racism and prejudices are created and spread. The children easily turned malicious and turned on each other for no reason other than what the teacher had told them. Likewise, we are all influenced by other's ideas, and that is how hate can be generated. The idea is not to generate hate though, and this movie helped to show the importance of teaching good values and morals so that love and equality will conquer hate.
MR. GALLAGHER, I'm leaving my house in about 2 minutes to go to the IMAX midnight release of Watchmen. Yes, I'm going 6 hours early. So you see, I won't be home till 3 AM and there's no other comments here yet for me to reflect on.. so I am left with no choice but to reflect on my own comment. You should still give me credit for this,please..
Gayle- What you said was thought provoking and interesing; you make awesome points.
I thought it was very brave and thoughtful of the teacher to conduct this experiment. I believe that since she did this with thrid graders they could really get in to it because they dont really have the power to rationalize things like older students would have, therefore those students wouldn't have taken this as much to heart as the younger students would have. She seemed to have possibly made a huge impact on these children. If they had not gone through this they would never really have known what it would have felt like to be anything other than white, because it was obvious that they did not have any real interaction with other races. So they could not have ever really known what other races feel like in day to day life. I agree with Gayle about how this shows that the children are very susceptible to outside ideas. it was amazing how they turned on each other so quickly once they were given an increase in power.
I agree with Gayle. I believe that "The Bear Story", "In the Eye of the Storm", and 'After The First" are all trying to prove that society effects people's decisions. The teacher in the "Eye of the Storm" tries to show her students that discrimination is wrong. After switching up the roles of the superior eye color, certain children act in much different ways than before. The documentary showed how one boy got in a fight with another boy because he had a different eye color. Similarly, in "The Bear Story", the bear begins to act like a human after being told to act that way. The "Eye of the Storm" is used to show how even average 3rd grade students can be majorly impacted by changes in society.
I agree with Liz that the teacher was very brave to do such an experiment, and it was very enlightening to see how quickly the children turned on each other, and demonstrated how large of an impact the idea of inferiority is to everyone. The teacher probably ensured that these children won't be racist, because of the hurt the kids felt when it was directed at them. I also agree with Gayle about how open the children seemed about racism and prejudice, and I think if this experiment was tried with all children racism and prejudice could be eliminated.
I thought the film "Eye of the Storm" was so interesting to watch. It showed how once people feel that they have an advantage over other people, or superior characteristic (even if it may be eye-color), they use that to not only boost their own egos but to put other people down. It was interesting to see how quickly this changed the behavior of the third graders, just being told that their eye-color made them smarter and better than the other kids. It not only affected their attitudes towards the children of the opposite eye color but also their academic performance, even though there was no real change from one day to the next. I agree with Liz that the teacher was brave for conducting this experiment, because I imagine that in the time of its release many people did not agree with her ideas. I am interested to see the follow-up film to see if her lessons stuck with those children after those two days of class.
Kelsey i completely agree with you when you said that once someone has the slightest advantage over someone else they use it to boost their own egos and drop the other person so that they are lower then them. I feel like that this happens on a daily bases where someone will put someone else down to cover up their own insecurities about themselves. This film does a really good job showing that.
I think there was a lot to be learned from this film. The reaction from the children towards the situation was very informing. It was really surprising to me that despite the children knowing ahead of time that they were all equal and that this was just an experiment they still felt hurt by being the under dogs and felt power from being told they were better then someone else. The affect the teacher had over the kids was shocking because she could manipulate them so easily just with her tone of voice. This film has taught me that our younger generations are so easily affected by what we tell them and that no matter what age being on top always feels better then being told your lower then somebody else.
I completely agree with basically all of these posts. However Kelsey and Savina both agree on the fact that once a being is given the slightest advantage over someone/something else, they use it to boost their own egos and make it noticed that others not as fortunate are weaker and lower then they are. This was quite clear in the movie, for once the children with the superior eye color were told over and over again how much smarter they were, it was quite evident how they reacted upon this aknowledgement.
Each day the teacher told her class that one eye color was superior, either brown or blue. When it was the students turn to be superior, it was clearly shown how easily and quick it was for friends/fellow classmates to turn against eachother. There is even a part when the teacher begins to ask two of the boys why they started to fight at recess, and their answer was that the superior boy began to call the "less superior" boy a "brown eye" and continued to provoke him.
Through the entire film I was just completely shocked about how the children could react so quickly, just by telling them that they were more intelligent. It just shows how easily the human mind can be triggered into thinking almost anything.
I also agree with Liz in saying how brave the teacher was. At the time she did the experiment is when many people where HIGHLY judgemental and easy manipulated. She took a big step into displaying the big picture and I have a lot of respect for her. I am also very excited to watch the follow up video.
I really liked the "Eye of the Storm", and I think it taught us alot about how easily children were drawn to believe such things about different skin colors and races. I think that the teacher had alot of courage to take such a big step, and proceed with this experiment as so many people were against it. Children are taught to act this way by the people that surround them, and even if it doesnt make much sense, they naturally follow what their parents teach them. However, once the teacher conducted the experiment and made them understand and feel the pain that the people of other races had to go through then, they seemed to have different thoughts and ideas. In the end it was worth it, and the children were truly able to learen something from this experience, and this would stay with them for their rest of their lives.
I agree with Gayle on how she said "on a small scale, how racism and prejudices are created and spread". This is very true, as it is much easier for one to spread racism and prejudices rather than to stop one from being racist or prejudice.
This movie really stuck with me today. I thought the teacher did a great job at showing the kids in the class what it feels like to be hated upon and neglected like black people were back then. It was amazing how easy it was to make the kids turn on each other just because the teacher said they were lesser beings simply based on eye color. I thought Gayle made a good point about how this movie did a good job at teaching people good values and whatnot.
I thought this movie showed how easy it is for people to be racist in society. As soon as one group of kids believed that they were superior, their whole attitudes changed. For example, the one boy called another boy "brown eyes" in a derogatory manner, but the day before he would never even have given a thought about what the boy's eye color was. I think it also had a very negative affect on the kids who were considered "inferior." For example, the one kid just put his head down on the desk and looked very depressed when he found out he was inferior to the other group. I also agree with what Liz and others have stated about the teacher being very brave to do this experiment. I thought it was shocking to find out that she was criticized by fellow teachers and parents, and that her children were also forced to suffer. The teacher did a great thing with this experiment, and I don't think she should have been punished for it.
I was really fascinated by the "Eye of the Storm" movie. First, the kids knew that blacks and indians were treated differently. The children really took on the roles of being mean to the other children when their eye color was better and superior. Then the blue eyed kids said on their way to lunch that they should inform the lunch ladies and punish them if they try anything. One kid called another brown eyes so the kid hit him. If kids at such a young age can understand that being singled out because of a color of eyes or skin is wrong and hurtful then why do so many people do it. They became discriminating 3rd graders in around 15 minutes. One girl said it was like having your best friends taken away. The children all became great friends and laughed and hugged when they were all done. I think that this movie illustrates the importance of not judging a book by its cover and stresses the importance of equality. I applaud the teacher for doing this and being proud of it after her husband was kicked out of his shop and her children were harassed at school. I agree with Gayle that it is trying to teach the importance of good values and morals so that love and equality will conquer hate. Young kids are the future and if we teach them love over hate now the future will hold better things. I also agree with Kelsey because I am also very excited to see the follow ups with the kids as they are adults and see how it impacted their lives.
This film was awesome. I never thought it would that easy to convince kids that they were superior just because of their eye color. The film showed that children absorb everything that adults try to influence them with. The kids embraced the idea that they were better than the other kids and used it to make fun of and think down upon the other students in the class. It was amazing to see that just because the teacher said they were inferior that the kids thought they weren't as intelligent and did worse in school and blamed it on their eye color. I was surprised that the teacher was willing to do this kind of experiment during a time when it was ok to be racist and to think that white people were superior.
I loved this film. I thought that this film really showed the affects in which racism has on other people. However, I must say, that I was heartbroken because of how the children felt. I just thought it way too much for third graders. But, the point was made. I definitely agree with Liz that this teacher was extremely brave in performing such an experiment during this time period. Also, for this teacher, I must say, she was definitely not a bystander and did something about the racism that infected the United States.
The children turning on each other was not shocking to me. Also, these kids were completely aware of what racism and prejudice was because they admitted that they have called blacks "niggers" and Native Americans "redskins", but, I don't think that they understood that racism can mean anything;from the color of your skin to the color of your eyes. Like Caroline, I cannot wait to see how these kids grew up and what thoughts they have towards this experiment once they got older.
Because I have experienced prejudice, I can understand what power and superiority can do to people. Once given the power and the approval of superiority, any person will naturally suppress the "weaker" and the inferior. Soemtimes we say that if the person knows how it feels to be hated, they wouldnt do the same thing and they would be better leaders and whatnot, however, this experiment proved that really, no matter what, once a human is given approval of superiority and power over another person, there will suppression and hatred will be generated from that. That is the sad truth. The only cure is to treat everyone equally and not look at the physical but at the inner person as a whole.
I think that this film showed just how easily influenced children can be. All the teacher had to do was simply tell her class that one group of children was better than another, and each child immediately believed it. They did not question it, they did not rebel against it in any way - they simply allowed themselves to be treated as inferiors. Additionally, those who were superior for the day did not ever hesitate to think that what they were doing was wrong, or how their friends and classmates felt. This film really showed that, especially for developing minds, it is hard to understand how others feel. I agree with John in that it truly was amazing to see how the children reacted based only on what the teacher said. I think that it really shows just how easily German children were brainwashed into truly believing in their superiority over the Jews.
The "Eye of the Storm" was an extremly interesting film. I thought that it was perfect how childeren were used a model of then's racial and prejudice society. It was wild to see how fast the childeren became embellished in the brown eyes versus blue eyes, and how the superior childeren was so quick to make fun of the inferior childeren just becuase of what their teacher told them. I think that this not only shows how easy people can be susceptible to racial views but also how easily people can obey an authority figure.I also agree with gayle becuase shes awesome and that i definitly think that the moral of the movie or what one should take away from it is that somthing should always be done to curb recism and prejudice
The "Eye of the Storm" movie has given me insight about how some other parts of America view racism, especially in the past. We've come a long way since then but the fact that no one actually thought about the affects of racism was quite shocking to me. The children had no idea what racism actually was and seemed to only have been brainwashed into accepting people different from them. I agree with Liz's point that the teacher must have been brave to do this experiment, since it could have had serious repercussions for her. Since the teacher did it with third graders, a time at which humans are still very impressionable she had no problem making them believe that certain characteristics make someone superior. Also, the results of the tests that the kids took when they were "superior" and "inferior" say a lot about how our mind works and how we get our motivation.
I thought that the "Eye of the Storm" showed how much of effect society's thoughts play a part in the thinking of children. In the beginning of the film the children pointed the racism towards African-Americans and Native Americans in the current day society. And I think that it was viewed as accepetable back then, but after the children went through the activity they realized what they were doing from the shoes of the people they were oppressing. I think that the activity definitley had a tremendous effect on the children and definitley made them think twice before treating someone badly.
I agree with Gayle that people are extremely influenced by other's idea and that teaching values, helps form a childs morales and their opinion of other's in life. A teacher in elementry school teaches the child the basic ethics and rules of society, so that the person can be a functional member of society
I think "Eye of the Storm" is an important movie for everyone to see. The lesson is brilliant and unforgettable. I thought watching the children react to the situation was interesting because their minds were so naive and you could see their thoughts as they thought them. It was a viable microcosm of society. I also enjoyed the reflection years later because we could see how the lesson impacted the remainder of their lives. I'm happy Liz mentioned how brave the teacher was because she certainly had a lot of courage to teach this lesson in a 98% white community.
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