A Class Divided: the Effect of Discrimination in One Life Essay

The most interesting part of A Class Divided is when the students were tested on their knowledge on the days of when they had to wear the collar and when they had it off. The test scores were higher when the collars were removed. It is amazing that discrimination can mentally affect someone academically. Discrimination is a powerful weapon that can harm anyone, no matter where you are in the social class. My opinion on the video is that no matter what race or ethnic group you are, there is always a way that discrimination can affect you. I believe that although minority groups are more vulnerable to discrimination, the dominant group has a flaw in which can be discriminated by other races or ethnic groups. The most common discrimination occurs to African American people, just because of skin color. Discrimination among Asian people occurs because most people would think that all Asian people are Chinese. It is also known as a stereotype that Asian people’s eye sizes are small, which is not in every case at all. Another stereotype is that all Asian families own either a restaurant or a convenience store. Although there are a few Asian families that do own a business, most families do not have the benefit of owning one of their own. Japanese people were being harshly discriminated during World War II because of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Asian people, however, did not receive as much discrimination as an African American person or a woman. African Americans were discriminated since the beginning of civilization, starting out as slaves to a more dominant group. In the United States of America, African Americans earned their freedom after the civil war, but were still discriminated harshly. Jim Crow laws were placed to limit the freedom of African Americans. Eventually, civil rights movements occurred with Martin Luther King, Jr. leading the movement. Women were also discriminated harshly in the past. Women were considered as property of their husband. Human rights of women were very few, or none at all. Women were always at home cooking, cleaning, or taking care of the children. Women were not able to fully get their rights until they were able to receive their political rights. Different countries in the world granted women’s suffrage at different times. New Zealand was the first country to grant women their suffrage rights in 1893, while the United States granted women their voting rights in 1920. Right now, illegal immigrants from Mexico are being discriminated because they are working for low wages. Many United States citizens are outraged at the fact that their jobs are being replaced by illegal immigrants. Also, people from the Middle East are being discriminated for the actions of the terrorist group that Osama Bin Laden found, Al Qaeda. Even though most people from the Middle East are innocent, the terrifying horrors of 9/11 scarred their lives in the world. If everyone participated in Jane Elliot’s experiment on discrimination, the world would become many steps closer to world peace.