Social division and classroom dynamics

¶ … third grade children of the class bought into the premise that they were superior or inferior based solely on the color of their eyes and the actions of the teacher. Though I knew prejudice was a learned behavior I was astonished at how readily the behavior was adopted.

Elliot's comment at the end of the first day, "I watched what had been marvelous, cooperative, wonderful, thoughtful children turn into nasty, vicious, discriminating little third graders in the space of fifteen minutes," underscored the power that suggestion has over belief.

Expectations are a powerful motivation for both success and failure. The fact that children were able to get though their phonics card pack more quickly when they believed they were smarter is very significant when you think about it. It implies that you are what you believe you are. Though this may sound simple the ramifications for success and failure are enormous.

Feelings Triggered

I found this video fascinating, disturbing, and sad. The change in group dynamics such as name calling, fighting, indifference to others feelings and so forth, as well as the sense of entitlement that was readily adopted by the group with favored status and the submission of the group not in favor was enthralling. The speed in which roles were reversed from Tuesday to Wednesday was startling.

The video led me to think about the Civil Rights movement, and the role of race in American history. It is disturbing to think of the suffering inflicted upon a class of people simply because of the color of their skin. One can only wonder how different our society might be today if we had not tolerated almost two hundred years of oppression aimed at people of minority status. How many great minds and ideas were lost during this period?

These thoughts evoked a feeling of sadness at the inherent nature of human beings. It is much easier to teach hate than to teach love. One can hate without much thought or regard as to the consequences of their actions, while love requires an emotional commitment that seems to be more difficult to make.

Effect on Point-of-View

It was interesting to observe how dangerous and easily the herd mentality spread throughout the class. One group adopted the peer influenced behavior associated with the belief in their superior status regardless of that statuses tenuous basis in fact, while the oppressed group adopted behavior that reinforced the actions of the superior group. I believe these actions were motivated to avoid the feeling of being left behind by their peers. Elliot's video is a vivid demonstration of the effect of racial expectations.