A Class Divided - International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

 "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights"

 First article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

On 21st March 1960 police opened fire and killed 69 people who were  peacefully protesting against the apartheid pass laws in South Africa. In 1996 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the day urging everyone to increase their efforts to eliminate discrimination. This year the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is devoted to combating discrimination against people of African descent. 

 A Class Divided - Jane Elliot 

In 1968, Jane Elliot , a third-grade teacher in Iowa gave her students a lesson in discrimination by dividing the class into brown-eyed and blue-eyed groups.This experiment allowed students to experience discrimination  first-hand.

The first day the brown-eyed children were given extra privileges and were led to believe they were superior. They were allowed second helpings at lunch, extra recess time and were encouraged to play only with brown-eyed peers , while the blue-eyed children were given fewer privileges and were not allowed to drink from the same fountain as them. The next day the roles were reversed making the blue-eyed superior. On both days the 'inferior' group had to wear a collar differentiating them from the 'superior' group. At the end of the two-day experiment students discussed how they felt and had fully understood how the racial stereotypes they believed in made others feel. 

In 1984 these students , then fully grown adults with families of their own,  met with their teacher to discuss the impact that experiment and their inspiring teacher had on them.

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