Seebach: Teaching sensitivity can be a disgraceful exercise

Rocky Mountain News ^ | June 19, 2004 | Linda Seebach

[Blzbba]

As a member of the superior Brown-Eyed people, I say

BOW DOWN UNTO ME, multi-eye-colored underlings!

[ahayes]

I'm with you! Let's celebrate the institutionalized oppression of blue-eyed and green-eyed people everywhere!

Hazel is borderline normal, though.

[theDentist]

What irks me is that no parent showed up the next day to cuss this woman out. Better yet, no one has filed suit for her injuring their cild's self-esteem!

[prion]

He was required to smile ingratiatingly, bow his head, and beg people to tie his shoes for him,

Or what? "Required"? Ninth grade, that's...15? I don't think I'd've gone along with it. I was a pretty uppity blue-eyes at 15.

[Gingersnap]

We green-eyed people will use our superior intellect to undermine your nefarious scheme from within by using colored contact lenses.

After the revolution, we'll put you brown-eyes up against the wall!

[lelio]

If that had been done to me in ninth grade, little Miss Perfectionist that I was, I'd have gone home and killed myself.

Yeah that sounds reasonable.

[camle]

"Purple Drazi - PURPLE!!"

[walden]

The truth, unfortunately, is that children are much tougher and wiser than people realize, and most kids went home and either told their parents nothing, because it simply wasn't either important or unusual, or told their parents what stupid bull* they had done that day while they laughed about it. Either way, the kids are WAY ahead of the adults, and it's sad that they've learned to be like that. Childhood, in the sense that older people understand the concept, has simply been abolished.

[dandelion]

I remember when I first heard of this experiment - I was in seventh grade, and I was horrified that someone would do that to little children. Even though I am dark-eyed, I still thought it was awful.

Later, as a first year teaching student, I was re-introduced to this abominable "experiment", but at that time it was still considered to be inhumane and cruel (even if illustrative of "taught" prejudice). Most of my instructors thought it was inexcusable to do that to little children.

How horrible to find that this exercise in destruction and evil has become fashionable. How more horrible that teachers would ever cause a child to suffer so, just for the sake of experimentation no less...

They who do so are not teachers; they are monsters who prey on the crushed feelings of the innocent.

[Arthalion]

Gah, this crap is still around? I remember when one of my libby teachers tried this on us in the 8th grade while we were studying the civil rights movement. She lumped me and the other 5 or 6 blue eyed kids into a group, made us sit at the back of the class, degraded us as "inferior", ignored our questions, and instructed the other kids in the class to do the same. We were pelted with papers, erasers, called "stupid bluies", and humiliated in front of the other 20 kids in the class.

After about 20 minutes of this nonsense, we came up with a plan. We fashioned protest signs using rulers and binder paper, marched up to the front of the class, and staged a sit-in singing We Shall Overcome. The teacher just about had a heart attack and started screaming at us to get back to our seats because we were ruining her lesson. She threatened to give us F's on our assignments, fail us in the class, threatened to call the principal and have us suspended or expelled, and then threatened to call our parents. We, in return, threatened to introduce another 60's concept if she didn't end the lesson and grant us equality...the race riot. The principal showed up about that point and pretty much forced her to end the "lesson" so that we'd return to our seats.

I ended up getting a D in that class, but we were school celebrities for a week! :-)

[First_Salute]

Reply no. 11 --- bump.

[First_Salute]

Major thank you --- bump.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[dandelion]

That's the REAL lesson that should be taught. Those who accept their oppression shall be oppressed, and nothing less; those who do NOT accept oppression shall be oppressed, persecuted, jailed, killed, but someday they shall also be free...

[ahayes]

We green-eyed people will use our superior intellect to undermine your nefarious scheme from within by using colored contact lenses.

After the revolution, we'll put you brown-eyes up against the wall!

Curses! You green-eyes are more wily than we gave you credit for!

[lelio]

We fashioned protest signs using rulers and binder paper, marched up to the front of the class, and staged a sit-in singing We Shall Overcome. The teacher just about had a heart attack and started screaming at us to get back to our seats because we were ruining her lesson.

Huh, it seems like you really "got" the lesson -- that discrimmination like this has no place in a civil society and should be confronted early. I suppose she wanted you to mope around and feel hopeless till someone came in and makes everything right.

[lelio]

Curses! You green-eyes are more wily than we gave you credit for!

Probably more than you wanted to know about changing eye color. And here as well.

I like the question "My mom has green eyes, my dad blue. How did I get light brown." Come on that's just asking for a milkman joke.

And while I'm on the subject: us colorblind people are superior to all y'all as we've long since ditched the need to identify red from green berries and left it up for you guys, our berry pickers, to do.

[Billthedrill]

Contact lenses and a concealed bazooka. Power to the recessive-gene people, baby! Death to the oppressors! Bloody death and...well, unless you brought cookies. Did you bring cookies?

[PalestrinaGal0317]

Oh, my. That was a great idea. I shall note it down on my "List Of Things To Do To Annoy The Average Below-Normal-Intelligence Public School Teacher."