Intro to Diversity Studies
A Class Divided Reflection Paper
Marie Stimpson
10/12/2018
Watching A Class Divided really brought along a lot of different feelings. First and foremost, I learned from watching the kid’s scene that you work better when you feel better and when you feel confident. The scene that I’ll probably remember most is when Ms. Elliot did the test on the adults. It was shocking and interesting to see how adults act in such a situation where as they are being discriminated against. I hope it showed many people how African Americans felt and sometimes still feel. The part that surprised me was the scene with the kids, when one group felt like they were in power; they completely turned on the other group with no remorse. Best friends became worst enemies, and they didn’t even think twice about it. I feel as though Ms. Elliot’s way of showing these kids about discrimination and racism was very effective, in a way she provided an answer to the question “why would anyone want to murder Martin Luther King?” When the two boys fought at recess the teacher asked if responding with violence made him feel better, he replied no. His answer goes to show that responding with violence is ineffective and a waste of time and energy. There were many quotes used but this one really stood out to me; “Help me not judge a person until I have walked in his moccasins”, a self-explanatory Sioux prayer quoted in the documentary. This prayer related to the brown eyes/blue eyes exercise because it taught the kids that no one person is different from the next, we all were created equal and it isn’t right to judge someone unless you’ve been through what they’ve been through. Should this exercise be done with all children? I think so. I feel that it is important for every child to learn in the early stages of life that everybody under the sun is created equally. We may not look the same, or dress...
