The Third Wave is an experimental social movement made by California high school history teacher Ron Jones in 1967 to explain how the German population could accept the actions of the Nazi regime during the Second World War. When he taught his students about Nazi Germany during his "Historical World of Contemporary" class, Jones found it difficult to explain how the Germans could accept Nazi actions, and decided to make social movements a demonstration of fascism's appeal.. For five days, Jones conducted a series of exercises in his classroom that emphasized discipline and community, which was intended to model certain characteristics of the Nazi movement. As the movement grew beyond the classroom and began to number in the hundreds, Jones began to feel that the movement had spun out of control. He convinces the students to attend a rally where he claims the announcement of the Third Wave presidential candidate will be broadcast on television. Upon their arrival, the students were presented with empty channels. Jones told his students about the true nature of the movement as an experiment in fascism, and presented them a short film that discusses the actions of Nazi Germany.
Video The Third Wave (experiment)
Third Wave experiment background
The experiment took place at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, during the first week of April 1967. Jones, found himself unable to explain to his students, his disciples how the Germans could claim ignorance about the Holocaust, decided to show it to them instead. Jones started a movement called "The Third Wave" and told his students that the movement was aimed at eliminating democracy. The idea that democracy emphasizes individuality is considered a weakness of democracy, and Jones emphasizes the main point of this movement in its motto: "Power through discipline, power through community, power through action, power through pride."
The experiment was not well documented at the time. From contemporary sources, this experiment is mentioned only in the student newspaper Cubberley High School, The Cubberley Catamount. This is only briefly mentioned in two problems, and another paper issue has a longer article on this. experimenting on its conclusions. Jones himself wrote a detailed report about the experiment about nine years later and more articles about the experiment were followed, including several interviews with Jones and the original students.
Maps The Third Wave (experiment)
Chronology
First day
Jones writes that he started the first day of experimenting with simple things like proper seating and extensive drilling of students. He then went on to enforce strict classroom discipline by emerging as an authoritarian figure and dramatically improving classroom efficiency.
The first day session closes with just a few rules, which intend to be a one-day experiment. Students should sit in attention before the second bell, should stand up to ask or answer questions and must do it in three words or less, and are required to preface any utterance with "Mr. Jones".
Second day
On the second day, he managed to unite his history class into the group with the highest sense of discipline and community. Jones based his movement's name, "The Third Wave", on the fact that the third in a series of waves is the strongest. Jones made a salute involving the hands that were reached across the chest to the shoulders resembling Hitler's salute, and ordered class members to salute each other even outside the classroom. They all obeyed this command.
Day three
The experiment took a life of its own, with students from all schools joining in: some students who did not take a history class but had a free period deciding to join the class. On the third day, the class was expanded from the initial 30 students to 43 participants. All students showed a drastic improvement in their academic ability and outstanding motivation. All students are issued membership cards, and each receives a special task, such as designing the Third Wave Banner, stopping non-members entering the class, or the like. Jones instructed the students on how to start new members, and by the end of the day had more than 200 participants. Jones was surprised that some students began reporting to him when other members of the movement failed to comply with the rules.
Day four
On Thursday, the fourth day of the experiment, Jones decided to stop the movement because it slipped outside of his control. The students become increasingly involved in the project and their discipline and loyalty to the project is remarkable. He announced to the participants that this movement was part of the national movement and that the following day the presidential candidate of the Third Wave would publicly announce his presence. Jones ordered students to attend a rally on Friday to watch the announcement and then have sex with his wife.
The fifth and final day
Instead of their leader's television address, students are presented with empty channels. After a few minutes of waiting, Jones announced that they had become part of the fascist experiment and that they all volunteered to create a sense of superiority like the Germans in Nazi Germany. He then played them films about the Nazi regime to conclude experiments.
After that
On October 10, 2010, a documentary, Lesson Plan , retelling the Third Wave story through interviews with original students and teachers, debuting at the Mill Valley Film Festival. It was produced by Philip Neel, one of Jones's own former students.
Dramatizations
The experimental event was adapted into the 1981 special US TV, The Wave and adult US adolescent novelization by Todd Strasser (who used the pen name "Morton Rhue" in Europe). The German film of 2008 Die Welle diverted experiments to modern German class for critical acclaim.
Episode 13 Seasons Arthur , "Lakewood Pride", loosely based on the Third Wave experiment, but involves students forming a community pride group that eventually becomes fascist.
In 2010, Jones performed the musical titled The Wave , which was written with several students in the class.
See also
- Asch's suitability experiment
- Groupthink
- Human experiments in the United States
- Milgram experiments
- Pluralistic ignorance
- Stanford prison experiment
Note
^ In, published on Friday, April 7, reports about "odd occurrences in Mr. Jones's class" [...] "is mentioned without further detail, which confirms that the movement was active, but not completed within a week beginning on April 3, 1967. In, published on April 21, the experiment was dated" two weeks ago ", which also put experiments on the first week of the month April - specifically called "... Wednesday, April 5, the last day of the movement."
References
Further reading
- Clink, Bill. 21 April 1967. "The Third Wave presents a view in Fascism", Catamount Cubberley , Volume 11, No. 14, Page 3. (News article in the Cubberley student newspaper, after the Third Rally Rally, includes details on the rally and the names of several individuals involved.)
- Leler, Robin and Sakuma, Bernice. April 7, 1967. Catamount Cubberley , Volume 11, No. 13, Page 2. The column entitled "Through the Eyes of the Tiger". (An article in the Cubberley student newspaper made a brief reference to the "Third Wave" event.)
- Strasser, T. 1981. The Wave . New York: Dell Publishing Co...
- Williams, Sylvia Berry. 1970. Complexity . New York: Little, Brown. Page 51 in Chapter 7 ("Particulars Billing on USM").
External links
- Original essay by Jones (1976)
- Lesson Plan - Third Wave documentary, as told by the original Third Wave students and teachers
- Official website - history of stories, FAQs and links by the original Third Wave student
- TheWave.tk - including information about the novel adaptation, stage and screen of the story
- "Nazi fÃÆ'¼r fÃÆ'¼nf Tage" ("Nazi for five days") at Der Spiegel (in German)
- Whiting, Sam (January 30, 2010). "In 'The Wave,' former teacher Ron Jones looks back". San Francisco Chronicle . Hearst Corp . Retrieved January 30, 2010 .
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments