The reality that racism might
be taught might have been clearer to me. Watching the “Class Divide” Video
helped me understand why some things might be as they are. What I loved most
about the video was the realization that if all cultures come together towards
a certain goal it’s so easy to achieve it. The different perceptions and
differences create a state of different views and depending on some ones
background they will think the way they do or act as they do; however it’s very
clear that if we all come together achieving harmony and social equality will
not be hard regardless of the negative social norms. (Frontline, 1985)
In addition, I did
not like how the video started there was a lot of discrimination, what one
could or could not do because of their eye color. I thought to myself a teacher cannot be
teaching this in class. It was a reality that if someone is in power, they have
influence over so many things/ people within their reach. The blue eyed
students felt superior to the brown eyed children. They would treat them very
badly the fact that they had symbols to prove of their minority issues made it
worse. However, when the teacher flipped the situation and the kids got to feel
how it felt to amongst the majority the students felt like they had some sort
of freedom, which had earlier been taken away from them. If one was in the
minority group they were bound to be negative, fight, smell, stubborn, poor
listeners, have disagreements and they did not support each other.
When the teacher brought the class
together the kids hugged each other and were so happy that it was over, and
they would live together in harmony. Racism takes so much energy and the
negativity brings about bad things. (Mode, 2001)
If you ask me if I
was surprised, my answer would be, yes. I was surprised to note that color
could mean so much. The kids felt superior to the brown eyed kids although they
had the same skin color. Most of them felt lucky to be of the majority group.
The children did not notice the difference until their teacher brought it up, before
they treated each other equally. The teacher referred to the blue eyed people
as superior because she was also one of them and she was the one teaching them
so the kids can only perceive what she is saying as true because look at her
she’s their teacher.
The movie was an
eye opener in the following instances: When the teacher put a symbol to signify
what the brown eyed people were. This meant that even if you were color blind
if you just look at the collar of any kid you would know what they were. One of
the kids who had blue eyes had glasses on but when the teacher said taught them
of being superior he lost the glasses so that people would see his eyes better.
Finally the time frame it took both groups to feel if they belonged to the
minority or majority. If you were in the majority you would perform better and
would have a feeling of superiority within you; however if you belonged to the
minority you hated going to school, and would not perform well in school
Works Cited
Frontline. (1985, March 26). Frontline.
Retrieved from pbs.org:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html
Mode, S. (2001, December 14). Study Mode.com. Retrieved
September 27, 2015, from A class divided :
http://www.studymode.com/essays/a-Class-Divided-22188.html
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