The “Eye of the Storm” video is a fascinating example of how race can be socially constructed in the classroom. Jane Elliott created a distinction between blue-eyed and brown-eyed children, teaching the young participants that their peers with brown eyes were superior (Bloom). Although this contrast does not possess any inherent meaning and is merely a representation of one’s amount of melanin in the body, it became significant for the children. Thus, Elliott socially constructed race by suggesting that one group of children is better than the other, with the eye colors serving as symbols to emphasize race and group belonging.
As a result of such distinction, differences in the students’ activities and performance became evident. Elliott observed that the children who were in the brown-eyed group grew more confident, and they began to behave more condescendingly towards their blue-eyed peers. Contrastingly, the latter students have been reported to become more shy and timid, supposedly intimidated by the pressure from the other group (Bloom). Blue-eyed children felt less reassured, with their academic performance dropping significantly and their relationships with their former brown-eyed classmates becoming worse (Bloom). By the end of the activity, a drastic difference between the two groups was remarkably clear, and fights between the learners could be seen frequently. Thus, each group was negatively impacted by the new racial social structure.
What stood out to me the most in this experiment was how quickly the changes in the children’s behavior became evident. Although the classmates appeared to have close relationships before the distinction was made, these connections were abruptly severed after Elliott created the two groups. The new behavioral patterns formed very soon, demonstrating how easily children can incorporate the new rules into their daily lives. From this perspective, teachers and adults should be exceptionally careful when educating children on various topics, as the results of such learning can be devastating.