"Thanking her for opening my eyes"

[emmadoggy]

An Iowa teacher's 1960s classroom experiment on race changed my life. Now here I was, knocking on her door.
By Corina Knoll
March 26, 2009

Jane Elliott has blue eyes.
The years have turned her once-brown hair a bright snowy white, and at 75 years old she's rounder, maybe shorter, than she used to be. But eye color doesn't change.


Elliott, an Iowa teacher, made deliberate use of that in 1968 when she created a now-famous exercise for her classroom of white third-graders. It was the day after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and she was struggling to explain the concept of racism.

She hit upon an idea: For an entire day, she conducted her class as if the brown-eyed children were superior to those with blue eyes. Elliott eventually made headlines, appeared on "The Tonight Show" and became the subject of multiple documentaries.

Three decades later, my high school sociology teacher played us snippets of a news program about the "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise. For a 16-year-old Korean adoptee growing up in Iowa, the most fascinating aspect was this: Elliott had made history in Riceville, two hours from my hometown.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-blueeyes26-2009mar26,0,4792181.story?page=1

My town. My teacher.

[Mojorabbit]

1. What a wonderful article

and what a lovely woman. Thanks for posting it.

[emmadoggy]

2. Your welcome.

It's just strange to read about my tiny Midwestern hometown and a woman I know, in the LA Times of all places. But Mrs. Elliott became quite famous so it isn't really a surprise, just strange. I remember when I went to college and was taking a psychology class, that there was a small snippet about her in our textbook. Growing up, with her as a teacher in our school, I don't think most of us realized the impact she had had.

Her website...
http://www.janeelliott.com/index.htm

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. What was she like?

What was the town like? Did you understand - you were just a kid - that she'd been ostracized by the community and her own family?

This article should be required reading for every American, everyone in the world.

Thank you SO much for posting this. You were, indeed, fortunate to have been exposed to such an heroic person. There should be a monument constructed in her honor - no more war memorials - a commemoration of what a brave woman did and how she changed lives.

Thank you again.............

:toast:

[emmadoggy]

4. Wow. Those are some big questions. Hard for me to answer briefly so......

As for the town - it is a very small rural Iowa town. Population back then was around 900 people (it has shrunk a little in recent years). All white, farming community. Typical Americana - generally a happy place to grow up, little to no crime. Most people didn't have a lot of money, but most people got by ok. The school was a good school with mostly good teachers. Back then, Iowa was ranked #1 in the nation in education. I was a kid, so I really didn't have any insight into the political or racial mood of my town - but if I had to venture a guess, I would say it was probably pretty moderate all the way around with some on either side. Because it was an all-white community, people just simply didn't have exposure to other races or cultures. And of course, lack of exposure to those things can lead to ignorance.

As for Mrs. Elliott, there are probably other former students who could describe her better than I. She was a 3rd grade teacher for many years. But the year I was in third grade, I was in another teacher's class. By the time I got to Jr. High, she had quit third grade and switched to teaching 8th grade literature (and possibly something else, but I can't remember anymore). So I did have her for 8th grade literature, which was just a one semester class. However, she was a presence there during my entire school experience. Here's what I can say about her. She was one of those teachers that everyone either LOVED or HATED. From what I know and remember, I would say the community as a whole felt the same way - she was either loved or hated. I'm sure you can imagine some of the reasons people may have hated her - some because they were probably racist and hated her whole experiment and what it exposed, some because they just hated the perceived negative attention she brought to our town, and some because they simply didn't like her as a person. She could be very abrasive and confrontational. She had a very sharp tongue. She was very strict. That type of person can really turn people off.

As a student, I remember these things about her - when she was a third grade teacher, when she would have lunch duty, she would walk around the tables and if there were any students who were slouching, she would come up behind them and sharply run her knuckle up their spine to make them sit up straight. She had strict rules for classroom behavior. I can no longer remember all ten, but she had a list of ten(?) classroom behaviors that she strictly enforced. One of the biggest ones was that all students were to have quiet hands and feet when she was speaking. Meaning you had to be sitting straight in your chair with your feet flat or lightly crossed, no tapping or bouncing your feet or legs. Hands should be in your lap or on your desk - no pencil (or anything else) in your hand unless she wanted you to write something down. During my Jr. High years was when the little wide-toothed combs with the rounded handles were all the rage to carry around in the back pocket of your jeans. You were not allowed to ever pull that comb out in class and comb your hair. I wish I could remember the other rules, but it's been too many years. She struck fear in a lot of students because you were always afraid of every tiny thing you might do wrong in her presence, lol. She demanded your absolute best. I remember her getting into an argument with my 4th grade teacher once (who was a very sweet and mild-mannered lady) over a student in my class who had gone outside for recess without their boots or some other infraction. I was inside for recess that day for some reason and witnessed it and remember feeling sorry for my teacher but impressed that she had stood up to Mrs. Elliott. She could be intimidating.

Now, I realize that all I have said makes it sound like I didn't like her. Actually, I was pretty neutral about her. She was intimidating to me and I minded my p's and q's around her, but at the same time I knew what an excellent teacher she was. She truly TAUGHT people. Sometimes her methods were a bit harsh and you could feel like a lunkhead at times. But she would keep at you until you got the point she was trying to make or the concept she was trying to teach. She was very thorough. Intense. But if you followed her rules and gave her your best effort she was wonderful. She got through to kids. She could be a lot of fun if everyone was being good. She took us on a trip to the Renaissance Festival near the Twin Cities which was a big deal. Before her class, I rarely did much reading outside of class. But the reading we were required to do in her class opened up a new world to me and I developed a love of reading.

Like her or not, I think she was a great teacher and I think it is amazing what she has accomplished with her "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" experiment. She has opened a lot of people's eyes. I knew about the way she was treated by some in the community (though not by all. Horrible that she was treated that way at all.) I was not aware at all, though, that it caused a rift between her and her own family. That is truly sad.

If you go to the link to her website, there are some short video excerpts from some of her work where you can watch her in action. I think you'll get a feel for what she is like from what you see.:)

Sorry for the long-winded reply, lol. Just hard to give a brief description of such a complex lady.:)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. Oh, how kind and generous of you!

Thank you so much for your wonderful and responsive answer to my (yeah, big) questions. I got a real picture of a woman who had definite ideas of how a teacher worked and didn't deviate from those beliefs even if it meant alienating those who disagreed or couldn't keep up with her.

Any teacher who instills a love of reading in a student is, to me, worthy of sainthood. I'm a novelist, and am always cheered to find yet another reader.

Your reply is hardly long-winded, but let me pile on here a bit and offer you a suggestion:

Clearly, you have affection and gratitude for the lady. The next step, of course, is to write her a letter telling her what you told me - that she took a kid who didn't much care about books and turned that kid into a person with a lifetime love of reading.

That's the kind of stuff teachers adore, and it sounds like Mrs. Elliott certainly deserves your kind and thoughtful words.

Again, thank you for all of this. I am very grateful ..............................

[emmadoggy]

6. .

:hug:

Maybe I will send her a letter. Thanks for the suggestion!