Elementary schoolers in San Antonio, Texas, were segregated by the color of their hair, and children in one group were told they were not as smart as the other group, according to parents who spoke with a local NBC affiliate.
Some parents in the Northside Independent School District (NISD) are furious after they were not informed of a lesson plan that took place among fifth-graders at Leon Springs Elementary, according to News 4 San Antonio. Parents Mike and Brandi Lininger told local news that their ten-year-old daughter was “confused and hurt” by the experiment, which took place in January.
“All of the dark-haired kids, the brown and black-haired kids, were treated as the privileged ones and the blonde-haired and redhead kids were the ones treated not so nicely,” Brandi Lininger told News 4. She alleged that a teacher told students that the blonde and redhead kids were “not as intelligent.”
Blonde and redhead students were allegedly given games with missing pieces, making them unable to play the games. They were also allegedly told to clean up after the dark-haired children.
“[My daughter] was hurt, her friends, and she named to the principal and to the district officials, names of her friends that were crying,” Brandi Lininger continued, according to the outlet.
The experiment was ripped off from an exercise originally created by teacher Jane Elliott. Elliott created the experiment in the 1970s, which initially segregated kids by their eye colors.
Fifth-graders were also reportedly shown a Spike Lee documentary called “4 Little Girls” about the 1963 bombing of an Alabama church conducted by the Ku Klux Klan. The Liningers alleged that students were shown graphic images of the autopsies of the four girls who were killed.
Parents said that the school sends notes home about when children will watch “The Polar Express” or when they should dress up for pajama day. Yet, the school failed to notify parents that there would be a social experiment on segregation. The Liningers said this was a failure in the school’s transparency.
Northside ISD told News 4 that they believe the activity and video “are not age-appropriate” and promised not to use them again.
“The activity and video in question were part of a larger fifth-grade project-based lesson around the inequity of segregation,” the statement read according to News 4. “While the campus did receive positive feedback from several parents … District and campus administration recognize the parent’s concerns and agree that the activity and video are not age-appropriate and will not be used again.”
Northside Independent School District and Leon Springs Elementary did not respond to the Daily Caller’s requests for comment.
