Elliott sent the brown-eyed children to lunch first and gave them a longer recess. The brown-eyed children could drink from the water fountain, but the blue-eyed children had to use paper cups. The change was instant, Elliott said. The children with brown eyes were suddenly more confident — and condescending
Explanation:
She wanted to show her pupils what discrimination feels like, and what it can do to people. Elliott divided her class by eye color — those with blue eyes and those with brown. On the first day, the blue-eyed children were told they were smarter, nicer, neater, and better than those with brown eyes.
The exercise: Brown eyes, blue eyes. ... She had the blue-eyed children put on green construction paper armbands. And then she told the children that the brown-eyed students were smarter. Elliott came up with an explanation: Intelligence, she told the children, was determined by melanin
