A Class Divided (S03E09)

Jane Elliott is a former American primary school teacher that conducted an experiment with her class composed exclusively of all-white nine-year-olds 45 years ago. In this experiment, she wanted to show the children how racism is perceived from both sides of the argument. The colour of their eyes indicated who would be privileged and who would be discriminated against, and the next day the roles would be swapped. Gifted and cooperative children turned into evil beings in mere hours. Those who played the role of the discriminated got worse scores and felt helpless. The documentary captures the meeting of the participants of the experiment 14 years after it took place. With her thoroughgoing style of education, Jane Elliott clearly proves that dealing with people according to the colour of their skin is as illogical and unjust as ostracizing them for their eye colour. The reactions of the participants in her seminars, where conditions are basically those of apartheid, show just how racism is still present today, even though it's an amoral and irrational social construct. (Academia Film Olomouc)