View the PBS Frontline documentary A Class Divided. Discuss:

Your views of the video and its message
Your views on any ethical issues that might be present in conducting this type of experiment with children
Your views on what this video communicates about cultural sensitivity, lifestyle differences, and diversity

Describe why these considerations you discussed about A Class Divided are important to psychological professionals making decisions in their line of work.
To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric document (attached).

Please also reply to the following two students posts regarding this same topic:

student one:
A Class Divided was a powerful demonstration in unnecessary discrimination that occur within society. As Mrs. Elliot mentioned near the end of the Frontline video, this exercise could be very damaging to children if not handled properly. It was really intriguing to see the pain that these children went through during the days they were considered inferior. Further it was fascinating to see the reunion of the class as adults and how much it affected them in a positive light. I think what made this experiment so effective is that Mrs. Elliot did a wonderful debriefing as well as explaining to these Caucasian children that this is how it feels everyday for a lot of minorities. I really applaud the sincerity within her heart while conducting this experiment.
Despite how much good this could bring to children who haven’t felt discrimination in their lives, I don’t think this could be considered ethical in today’s standards. Although the language used in the demonstration was merely to create a point, describing children as inferior in any shape or form can be damaging and is frowned upon for that reason. This should apply to all age groups and taken into consideration when applying this to a psychology profession. Even watching the experiment performed on the correctional officers made me want to cringe but I understood the method to the madness. Most of the staff understood what was happening and the purpose but I don’t think all participants understood because they already lived an entitled life for so long that it was engrained into their identity.
I think it is imperative for psychology professionals to have empathy of other life style preferences, cultural differences and other diversities. As a psychology professional it is their duty to be fully trained in handling diversity. As Hare-Mustin, Kaplan, Liss-Levinson, & Marecek (1979) mention in their article Rights of Clients, Responsibilities of Therapists: “Therapists who have not studied the social, economic, and cultural pressures facing women, minority groups, and the poor may fail to recognize the importance in creating psychological distress.” (p.5) Discrimination in any form can be the source of a lot of inner turmoil for clients. Psychology professionals are responsible to have not only have an open mind, but to create a safe place for the client to express these feelings without having to worry about the possibility of being judged.
References
Hare-Mustin, R. T., Kaplan, A. G., Liss-Levinson, N., & Marecek, J. (1979). Rights of clients, responsibilities of therapists. American Psychologist, 34(1), 3-16. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.34.1.3

student two:

I thought this video was very interesting! I’m almost conflicted because I wish people could teach things like this, but I know it’s ethically and morally not the right way to go about it. This video reminds me of a program I used to help teach at my last job as a residential manager for people who had disabilities. New trainees would go through a program called “In my shoes” which consisted of the trainees taking on a disability and trying to complete daily tasks with it. One person would have a blindfold on, another would have a sling, and another would have noise canceling headphones on. Once people realized how difficult it was to live with these types of disabilities, they could relate and empathize with the people they were supporting. This video brought me back to that. I think the message in the video is to rid discrimination, prejudice and instead understand each other’s differences and come together.
Ethically, this experiment is detrimental to perform with children. Although similar outcomes were observed with the adults, children aren’t mature enough to understand this information and it could hinder their learning if even for one day. In just that one day, children who were of lower status performed worse on the index cards, tests, got into fights. To put a child in these types of situations is morally and ethically wrong. This experiment goes against quite a few codes of ethics such as integrity, objectivity, beneficence and nonmaleficence, justice, and respect for people’s rights and dignity.
To me, this video demonstrates that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover basically. Also, we shouldn’t just do as were told because someone of authority told us it was the right thing to do. This is probably the biggest issue I see because cultural insensitivity, lifestyle differences and diversity wouldn’t be such an issue as it is today if people were not so complacent with these orders. It still amazes me that we judged and discriminated against people based on just the color of their skin! This has nothing to do with the person whatsoever and it’s time for us to teach that to our peers and children to stop the continuation of discrimination that still lingers today.
These considerations regarding not abiding by authority and treating each person with respect and dignity is immensely important in psychology professionals’ line of work. To be a moral, ethical, respectful and dignified professional in this field today especially after treating so many people and animals as guinea pigs over the years, is of utmost importance to be respected in our field. If we lack respect in our field, how will our treatments and therapies get out to people in need if they don’t feel we’re good enough to provide them?