Although familiar with the Stanford Project I had no idea the extent of the ramifications from this famous experiment. Nor was I aware how current the topic is after all these years.

Are you familiar with Jane Elliot, a third grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa who used the SPE to teach her class about discrimination? On April 5, 1968, the day after MLK was killed, one of her students asked ‘Why’d they shoot that King?’ She used paper collars on brown-eyed children and told the blue eyed children they were better than the brown eyed children. She told the brown-eyed children they were not allowed to play with the blue-eyed children, or play on the swings, etc.

Almost immediately, the brown eyed children showed signs of depression, standing in groups, not holding heads up, etc. The next day she put the collars on the blue-eyed children telling them the same thing she had told the brown-eyed children. Again, the blue-eyed children seemed depressed which surprised her because they already knew what the brown-eyes went through the day before.

Read the whole story —

Very interesting study — also made into a film.

Lessons of a Lifetime by Stephanie G. Bloom

Smithsonian Magazine — September 2005

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/lesson-of-a-lifetime-72754306/