Jane Elliot Discrimination Is an

Jane Elliot Discrimination is an ugly word. Uglier still is to be on the receiving end of discrimination, to be the black kid in the classroom, the Hispanic kid, or the Asian outcast. After Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in the late 1960's teacher Jane Elliot took it upon herself to teach her students an unconventional lesson in discrimination, prejudice, and racism. Applying the real-world experiences of African-Americans to the sheltered worlds of her white third-graders, Elliot shocked the United States.

A maverick teacher, Jane Elliot was a pioneer in the classroom, a cowboy who took on the final frontier of actually working hard to combat the racism that is at the root of so many of America's problems. Like a panther, Jane Elliot perched herself at the forefront of the American teaching experience during the height of the Civil Rights era. Coming from a farming family in the American Midwest, Elliot knew first-hand what it was like to be poor, but not what it was like to be Black.

Therefore, her experiment showed that she was prepared to enter into uncharted territory. At the same time, Elliot was as courageous as Columbus sailing to the New World because she had no experience teaching her children about race relations or about prejudice. A stalwart pioneer, Jane Elliot set an example that all American teachers would do well to follow. When Elliot designed her experiment, she did so without any precedent or any example to follow.

Therefore, she was a pioneer, no different than those who rode their wagons out west in search of a new life and new territory. However, Jane Elliot forged her new territory not from the blood of others' backs but from her own willing ness to endure criticism. Her experiment drew much criticism from other educators as well as from the American public.

Most Americans would shy away from exposing themselves to such ridicule and would rather blend into the status quo than accept the responsibility of transforming the worldviews of an entire generation. And transformation was what Jane Elliot was all about. Longing to witness a world in which minorities were treated as equals and not as inferiors, she encouraged her students to experience first hand the scourge of prejudice.

Whereas some called her experiments cruel, unusual, and even "evil," her students gained a wealth of self-awareness, insight, and wisdom that their parents or peers did not have the privilege to obtain. Jane Elliot is a hero for the American people, most of all for the white majority.

After all, African-Americans and other people of color already know what it is like to be prejudged, for people to believe that you are lazy, criminal, stupid, or dirty simply because of the color of your skin or the country in which your parents were born. As the country becomes more diverse, America needs more heroes like Jane Elliot, those who are willing to ride against the waves. Elliot also allowed her students to learn their lessons first-hand, on their own.

Her students drew their own conclusions from the exercise rather than having their teacher tell them what they were supposed to gain from it. For example, Elliot's students felt fearful and tearful, ostracized and criticized. The smartest kids in the class fell back because of the lowered expectations of others. On the other hand, students who never did well on tests excelled because they were told they were wonderful.

Elliot's exercise made a difference in many children's lives, opening their eyes to the harsh realities that minorities experience from the day they are old enough to think. Far more powerful than reading words in a text that preach morality, the experience of being shunned can impart learning in a way that no boring books can. Few teachers were or even are willing to venture into such tricky territory. Jane Elliot was, because she was so deeply moved by the death of another American hero: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Had Jane Elliot done what other teachers did and rely on the dry words of far-away authors, she would not have fulfilled her life's calling, her duty, her responsibility as a teacher. Because of this, Jane Elliot is a role model for all American teachers, who inevitably deal with issues of diversity within their walls. Half a century after Jane Elliot conducted her blue eye/brown eye experiment on an unwitting audience, teachers should still incorporate such methods into their classroom but few do.

Abandoning both blackboard and book, modern-day mavericks can regain control of their classrooms, change American culture, and.