A lesson about discrimination you can never forget
What happens when you tell a bunch of kids that the blue-eyed children are better than the browned-eyed? Watch this video to find out. But be warned – this is one of the most disturbing things I have seen in a long while. It is not that one is unaware that discrimination sits deep in the mind. Or that one doesn’t know kids are rather impressionable. But there is something eery the whole thing I can only compare to the Milgram experiment and Lord of the Flies. Some context here.
Published inAnthropology
I’ve never seen this before. One the one hand it is hard to watch, creepy and from a different time (I feel); on the other it is transfixing in its effect, emotionally engaging that makes it valuable.
I’d love to see if there were a follow up, to see how these children, grown up, reflected back on these lessons.
I wasn’t familiar with this experiment. I already knew about the Milgram experiment, but this also reminds me of the Stanford prison experiment. It’s frightening how ordinary people can be manipulated into bad behavior.
I’m not sure if I would classify this experiment as ethical or unethical. It obviously damaged the atmosphere in the class in the short term, but isn’t that worth learning an important life lesson? I think these children were much less likely to engage in bullying after this experience.