Discrimination

Blue-eyed v Brown-eyed

We watched a short video, just over an hour long, about a class reunion in Riceville, Ohio, in 1984. The class were re-united with their 3^rd grade teacher and together they watched a film of lessons they had received from this teacher 16 years earlier.

In 1968, following the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King, she tried an experimental lesson, dividing her class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed children. On the first day she gave special privileges to the blue-eyed children, at the same time imposing restrictions on the brown-eyed children. On the following day she reversed the process, favouring the brown-eyed children and discriminating against the blue-eyed.

The reaction of the children was startling. Divisions, mistrust, resentment were all clearly evident in a previously harmonious, cohesive and cheery cohort.

On the third day, the teacher got the group back together, asked for their reactions and put across the point that being discriminated against, for eye/skin colour, ethnicity or whatever, was a deeply unpleasant experience.

As a teacher, I worried about the possible effects of such (admittedly temporary) alienation on very young, impressionable children. However, when the teacher got the class back re-united on the 3^rd day, they all seemed to agree with her about the negative aspects of discrimination. When the adults, viewing themselves as children, were asked whether the lesson they had learned had been worth the agony of the learning experience, they unanimously said yes.

237 words

Glossary

Culture: the shared values, history, customs etc of a people.

Diversity: differences e.g. race, gender, economic status, religion etc.

Cultural diversity: a multicultural society where it is understood that each individual is different re. race, gender, economic status, religion, physical abilities etc. When this occurs we have social harmony i.e. peaceful co-existence of people from different backgrounds. In such a society there will be cross-cultural communication, where people from differing backgrounds can communicate and avoid conflicts and can even adopt aspects of other cultures i.e. acculturation. In this type of society there will be a widely-shared belief in human rights, basic freedoms which belong to all people regardless of colour, language, religion etc.

Bias: If you are biased it means you have an idea that someone or something is superior to another for no logical reason. It is similar to prejudice, e.g. racial prejudice in apartheid South Africa.

Culture shock: This is when you find aspects of another culture so different from your own.

Demographics: The study of the population and its component parts.

Discrimination: There was racial discrimination in apartheid South Africa. N.B. blue eyes v brown eyes.

Ethnic group: It's a group which shares similar race, religion, language, whatever.

Ethnocentricity: It's looking at the world from your own ethnic point of view; it implies that your ethnicity is superior.

Expatriate: Someone from one country living and usually working in another; not a tourist, not a businessman on a short visit.