angry eye paper

1. Michele K. Keener
Dr. Blanco’s FYS
June 23 2015
Angry Eye Reaction Paper
The Angry Eye experiment by Jane Elliot was very insightful and educating. In
this experiment she took blue-eyed white students and put them in a group. Then she put
everyone with brown eyes or who were colored in another group. She had the blue-eyed
group be the minority group for the day. She treated them poorly and degraded them.
She had the brown-eyed group call the women honey and the men boys. She called them
stupid amongst other things. This was in an effort to show them what blacks, gays,
Latinos, etc. go through on a day to day basis. Elliot harshly scolded one female to the
point of tears and another got up and left. She used this to prove the point that if we
don’t want to be degraded anymore we just leave the situation. Minorities, however,
don’t have that option. They can’t just change their skin to get away from the bullying.
I feel this experiment could be a huge success to anyone who participates in it.
We don’t pay attention to our actions on a day-to-day basis. We just know how we’ve
always acted and that everyone has accepts it. So when someone puts u in a room with a
bunch of people and treats you poorly you begin to really think about how you have been
treating people.
I have to say I was very surprised at some points when watching this experiment.
Elliot explains that it is like going through the five stages of grief. These stages are
denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. What really surprised me was how
angry some of these students got when she degraded them even though they were all
aware this was an experiment. These same people had just previously admitted that they
understood how bad it felt to be treated that way and that they should learn to respect
everyone equally. So when they wanted to be angry at Elliot for treating them poorly but
didn’t want her being angry with them for acting the same way I was completely
surprised. It just really goes to show u that some people don t understand their actions.
They actually have to be treated that way and be in the minority’s position to truly
understand.
Some of the students still didn’t understand even after being treated poorly the
first time. One girl made the argument that Elliot thought black people’s problems were
worse than hers. Elliot proceeded to show her that she doesn’t feel that way by doing a
demonstration in front of the class. She had the girl and a black man come up to the front
and everyone describe them as they saw them. This made the girl realize that people
judge him just by looking at him. It gave her a whole new perspective on what Elliot was
trying to convey. I thought this was a neat and interesting way to do it.
Overall I thought the experiment was a great learning experience even from just
watching the video. It really opens your eyes to what is going on in the world. It also
makes you think about whether these situations are ethically right or not and how we
came to be this way. Hopefully this experiment teaches a lot of people and makes our
society evolve into a more accepting place for everyone no matter who they are.