A controversial third-grade exercise from the 1960s will provide the framework for a discussion on diversity and inclusion on Nov. 17 at Cornerstone Community Bank in Decatur.

Leadership DeKalb will screen “A Class Divided,” a one-hour PBS “Frontline” documentary based on the experiment, followed by a conversation facilitated by diversity trainer and Leadership DeKalb graduate Pollie Massey Battle. The 7-9 p.m. program will be in the bank’s Community Room, at 125 Clairmont Ave. in Decatur.

In 1968, after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Ohio teacher Jane Elliott conducted an exercise to help her third-graders better understand what discrimination means.

Elliott divided her class into two groups: blue-eyed and brown-eyed people. One day, the blue-eyed group was treated superior and given extra privileges like second helpings at lunch, access to the new jungle gym, and five extra minutes at recess. She praised the blue-eyed group for being hard-working and intelligent while she disparaged the brown-eyed group.

The next day, the treatment of the groups was reversed. The impact of the treatment disparities on the children was profound, to say the least.

Elliott believed so strongly in the value of the exercise that she continued it every year until she quit teaching in 1984.

The program is free, but space is limited. For more information or to R.S.V.P., e-mail bethjansa@leadershipdekalb.org.