Reference no: EM133771464

Case: How easily are people socialized into a society that advantages some and disadvantages others? Where do racist ideologies come from? In the 1960s, a teacher attempted an experiment to get at these questions and more. She chose an arbitrary physical attribute-eye color-and declared to her students that people with blue eyes were in fact superior to those with brown eyes. Thus, the class was separated into dominant and non-dominant groups based on eye color. The resulting tension and bullying, and the experience of privilege and oppression, became a microcosm of the United States during the Civil Rights era.

For this Assignment, you watch portions of this experiment and reflect on its wider application to today's society.

To prepare:

Review the Learning Resources on privilege, prejudice, and discrimination.

View clips from the Frontline PBS documentary "A Class Divided" in the media tab of the Learning Resources. Content warning: Language. This program includes a racial slur.

Reflect on the experiment that is at the heart of the documentary and the messages it conveys about prejudice, discrimination, and privilege.

Submit a 2-page paper in which you:

Explain whether the experiment is still relevant today, many years after the first time it was implemented.

Describe how the experiment relates to prejudice, discrimination, and privilege in society. For example: Who holds privilege in the classroom and when? What "truths" translate beyond this isolated experiment?

Reflect on the scene that resonated with you the most and explain why.