When I was watching "A Class Divided," the first thing that stood out to me was that Ms. She was very engaged with her students and was concerned about their social and emotional well-being. As a primary school teacher, she went far beyond simply instructing her students. I wish this kind of engaging and thought-provoking class activity that the Ms. Elliott invented would be spread to all schools around the world. Considering that her lessons took place in 1970, over 40 years ago, I think she can be considered as one of those great social activists who devoted a lot and make a big contribution to eliminating racism and promoting social equality, just as some social worker pioneers did throughout the modern history.
Besides, seeing the way that the children immediately conformed to their group was really shocking to me. I am happy to see the children who went through Ms. Elliott's lessons sounding less racist and less prejudiced, when they were talking about this topic 15 years later during their reunion. It was amazing to see that Ms. Elliott's activity also worked for the adult groups. I can't say exactly how I would react in that situation, but I think I would probably have felt the same as the individuals in the targeted group, frustrated, upset, and angry. I would have done my best to prevent myself from walking out of that meeting room.
This video reminded me of Zimbardo's famous prison experiment conducted at Stanford University in 1971. The experiment lasted only 6 days, after the "officers" tortured some of the "prisoners" who accepted physical abuse as "prisoners". Comparing these two cases, It seemed to me that "situation"or "outside influence," rather than "inside factors" such as human's personalities and human's inner nature, made a huge difference on the individuals' behavior.
