The Eye of the Storm

Name: Date: The Eye of the Storm Film Guide

This best-selling program, produced by ABC News, was the first video to document Jane Elliott's courageous undertaking to help her third grade class understand the meaning of prejudice. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., her, all-white, all- Christian third grade class hungered to understand the significance of Dr. King's mission. Living in the homogenous farming community of Riceville, Iowa, many of Ms. Elliott's students harbored subtle and not so subtle prejudices despite the fact that many of them had never even seen a black man before. So where did these prejudices come from? And, more importantly, how could she make them understand how arbitrary and unfair they were? This video chronicles her now famous exercise where she divides her class based upon the color of their eyes and bestows upon one group privileges and on the other group impediments.

Answer the following questions as you watch the film.

1. Identify examples of how Jane Elliott treated the “superior” and “inferior” children.

2. What did the children’s actions, comments, and body language indicate about the impact of discrimination?

3. How did the negative and positive labels placed on the groups become self-fulfilling prophecies? (self- fulfilling prophecy: process by which one’s expectations about another person eventually lead the other person to behave in ways that confirm these expectations)

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Answer the following questions after you watch the film.

4. Do you feel Elliott’s treatment of her students in this experiment was ethical? Explain.

5. Could this experiment take place today, in our schools? Should it? Why?

6. Do you think Elliott’s experiment left a lasting impression on her students? Explain.

7. Think of instances in which you have been the minority, or considered different or inferior compared to the people around you. How did you feel? Explain.