A Class Divided
This discrimination exercise took place in 1968, in a 3rd grade class in Iowa. Jane Elliot knew her
students would ask questions about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., which
happened the day before the exercise took place, so she wanted to give the children a first-hand
experience to understanding discrimination.
Jane Elliot decided to break up the class by eye color. On the first day, Jane told her students
blue-eyed people are superior, and brown-eyed children had to wear collars. This meant browneyed people could not drink from the water fountain, they had to use cups, they were not
allowed seconds at lunch, and they had to sit inside for the last 5 minutes of recess. Jane
watched her as sweet 3rd grade class turned into monsters; students began to fight on the
playground.
On the second day, Jane Elliot switched the superiority to brown-eyed students. Blue-eyed
students had to now wear the collars and no longer had the privileges from the previous day.
Jane Elliot pointed out how brown-eyed students were smarter and learned faster, and how the
blue-eyed students are wasteful because a student threw his water cup away.
Both groups of students experienced being discriminatory and being discriminated against. At
the end of the exercise, Jane Elliot told the children that blue-eyed and brown-eyed people are
equal, and they went back to being their normal selves. The students were cheering and hugging
to be a class again.