10/18/2002 - 3:23 p.m. | you're my brown eyed girl (AND YOU ARE INFERIOR TO ME)

Today in Sociology, we watched this video about this experiment this 3rd grade teacher did on her students in the 60s. She started telling them that blue eyed kids were better than brown eyed kids - complemented them, gave them privileges, etc. Meanwhile, the brown eyed kids were treated like shit by her - insulted, forced to wear collars to separate them, etc. By the end of the day, a normal, nice class was turned against each other. They fought, they insulted each other, they avoided each other. Then, the next day the teacher said that she had made a mistake, and it was really the brown eyed kids who were superior. So another day of the opposite. Finally, she confessed her ploy, and they all learned a valuable lesson blah blah blah. What I thought was interesting was when the teacher later began doing similar workshops to adults at their workplaces. I mean, little kids don't know any better; they haven't reached the stage in the moral reasoning to realize that the authority isn't always right (;) psychology) What excuse do the grownups have, though? The teacher was a lot meaner to the discriminated group this time, and still the privileged would join in on the program. The discriminated contemplated acting up, but no one really had the guts.

It just sort of makes you wonder. I'm a pretty timid guy, but would I really let an authority figure control me in that extreme of a situation? It's really hard to tell.