A Class Divided

A class divided

The class divided video was very interesting for me and I really enjoyed watching it. My thoughts the whole time that I was watching this video was how I wish I could get some people that I know to watch this video and get over their ignorant ways. I learned that that even third graders are exposed to discrimination and know exactly who is discriminated against and what things are said about these people that are "inferior". I also learned how easy it can be to build that bridge in a child and shape the way they think, which is sad because some parents do not even allow them to form their own opinions or associate themselves with someone that their parents may have a problem with. I will remember the scene where the children had came in from recess and the little boy had hit the other boy because he called him brown eyes. The boy admitted that it did not make him feel better to hit him or call him names. The teacher made a valid point by asking him why he called the other boy brown eyes and he said "because he has brown eyes" and the teacher came back with, "he had brown eyes yesterday and you did not call him that." I also loved the scene where the kids could take the collar off and throw it in the trash. These kids were overly excited to get rid of the negativity and get back into the group of friends and hug each other. The part of the film that surprised me was the when the children were sitting at the table doing the timed flash cards and the "good group" for the day was getting through the flash cards a lot faster than they were the day before when they were looked down upon. This may be shocking to others because I realized that it does a lot to a person's self esteem in more than one way. People of other races may see it the same way as I did. The teacher did a great job using different tactics throughout the day to keep them segregated. She made sure the inferior's used a cup at the water fountain, come in five minutes before others from recess, not allowing them to play with the other group, and always making comments when someone in the inferior group made a mistake she pointed it out that all people in that group are known for that, whatever the mistake may be. When the children were switched to the inferior group you could see it in their body language that they were upset or mad, they were not doing as well in school, they put their heads on their desk, and were upset they could not do the exact same as their friends who had a different eye color than them. The children learn nothing and do not feel better when they are teasing or calling the others names. Overall, I feel the children learned a life changing experience because some of the children were already on track of being prejudice just by knowing what they already knew about blacks and Indians. This experiment changed the way they think about others