The photo herein is of a child during a famous experiment in the psychology of racism and prejudice. This blue-eyed child reacts after a collar is placed on him, and informed brown-eyed people were actually superior. The day prior blue-eyes were superior, the brown-eyes had the collar, and within minutes the brown-eyed children were enduring a crippling dehumanization.

This is one of the most requested FRONTLINE episodes revisited. It is the story of a teacher, Jane Elliot, who taught her 3rd grade class what could happen when students were discriminated against by something as simple as eye color.

For example, "Blue-eyed people are smarter than brown-eyed people. Blue-eyed people are cleaner than brown-eyed people." The change in the students after the teacher subtly indoctrinates the children, some of whom are at first incredulous, manifests itself with the first recess on the playground, and is disturbing. More interesting still is what happens when she informs the students she was wrong, and that actually, brown-eyed students are smarter than blue-eyed students, etc. Suddenly the blue-eyes have to wear the collar used on the brown-eyed people "to see them from a distance", etc.

Brown vs. Blue Eyes: A Class Divided

From the Frontline summary and transcript:

"This is one of the most requested programs in FRONTLINE's history. It is about an Iowa schoolteacher who, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968, gave her third-grade students a first-hand experience in the meaning of discrimination. This is the story of what she taught the children, and the impact that lesson had on their lives."

NARRATOR: Tonight, a third grade class gets a traumatic lesson in discrimination...

JANE ELLIOTT: Blue-eyed people are smarter than brown-eyed people. They are cleaner than brown-eyed people. They are more civilized than brown-eyed people.

JOHN: Russell called me names and I hit him...

JANE ELLIOTT: What did he call you?

JOHN: Brown eyes.

NARRATOR: Tonight on FRONTLINE...the story of one teacher...her lesson...and what happened to A CLASS DIVIDED."

The sobering lessons in this classic documentary can never be forgotten. Do yourself a favor and....

• View the documentary at PBS site.