Sociology Essay: 'A Class Divided' Documentary Analysis and Reflection

This essay analyzes the documentary 'A Class Divided,' which depicts a classroom experiment where children are divided based on eye color to illustrate the effects of discrimination and prejudice. The essay examines the causes and consequences of racism, both within the context of the documentary and in broader societal terms. It discusses how the children's experiences reflect real-world issues of inequality and the impact of fear and oppression. Furthermore, the essay connects the documentary's themes to cultural safety in nursing practice, emphasizing the importance of nurses providing culturally competent care and establishing trusting therapeutic relationships to address and combat racial bias. The analysis includes references to relevant literature on cultural safety and racial discrimination in New Zealand.

Running head: A CLASS DIVIDED
A class divided
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1A CLASS DIVIDED
1. The video “A class divided” is a classroom situation that created primary school children
subjected to discrimination and how they felt. The documentary explored ugly virus of
prejudice or discrimination that led to mean behaviour, broken friendships and
frustrations among the schoolchildren. They were mean to each other as “brown” eyed
people were projected as inferior ones and “blue eyed” children used this term as
derogatory and were mean to others. Blue-eyed children were mean saying brown eyed to
be stupid (Public Broadcasting Service, 2017).
2. The cause of racism for the children was the division of class into blue and brown-eyed
children where blue eyed considered being superior to blue eyed children. Blue-eyed
children considered they being smarter and better than brown eyed as teacher said. Some
children considered themselves being privileged, smarter and superior and for others it
was an affirmation of lifetime discrimination or prejudice.
3. The cause of racism for adults was that struggle for justice and civil rights. Martin Luther
King Jr. was murdered, as he was prominent in Civil Rights Movement. The reason for
racism among adults was struggle for equal rights in the society for Blacks against
Whites. They considered themselves superior than Blacks. On a contrary, the cause of
racism between children was blue and brown coloured eyes demarcation where blue eyed
were considered superior to brown eyed children.
4. Fear of imprisonment and oppression acted as hindrance for people to stand for oppressed
group. A society where racism exists gives rise to negative feelings among oppressed
group as they considered themselves inferior. People who raise voices against the
superior groups face harassment, bans and imprisonment. They are banned from using

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public places or transport, they feel oppressed and as a result hinder from raising voices
against racism.
5. If I encounter racism, I would inform the concerned authority to take in charge of the
situation however, people are stopped from doing this due to many barriers. The fear of
threatening, harassment, boycott, imprisonment and oppression in the society hinder
people from projecting voices even when they see it happening. They are threatened as
they try to raise their voices against oppression.
6. The main reason for racial discrimination in NZ is nationality, skin colour, ethnicity or
race. Apart from these, religious beliefs, appearance and spoken languages may also be
the factors behind racial discrimination (Bécares, Cormack & Harris, 2013). Racial
discrimination at workplace is also common at employment situations and also on street
or in a public place. The reason for racism in film was somewhat similar to the real life
situations in the society. The children were divided based on eye colour or appearance
considering blue-eyed children to be superior and smarter as compared to brown-eyed
children.
7. The video is linked to cultural safety and implications for future nursing practice.
Cultural safety is important in nursing practice, as it is a way to work with a person from
a different culture as defined by National Council of New Zealand (Banks & Kelly,
2015). Nurses need to be competent enough to provide a culturally safe environment to
the patient from different culture and demonstrate ability to work efficiently with them
(McMurray & Clendon, 2015). kawa whakaruruhau (cultural safety) that need to be
maintained by nurses so that trusting therapeutic relationship is established in providing
the best quality of care.

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References
Banks, L., & Kelly, M. (2015). Cultural safety and the Nursing Council of New
Zealand. Cultural Safety in Aotearoa New Zealand, pp. 26.
Bécares, L., Cormack, D., & Harris, R. (2013). Ethnic density and area deprivation:
Neighbourhood effects on Māori health and racial discrimination in Aotearoa/New
Zealand. Social Science & Medicine, 88, 76-82.
McMurray, A., & Clendon, J. (2015). Community Health and Wellness-E-book: Primary Health
Care in Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences, pp. 360-368.
www.pbs.org, (2017). A Class Divided. Retrieved 27 October 2017, from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/class-divided/