The Third Wave

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For other uses, see The Third Wave (disambiguation).

The Third Wave was an experiment to demonstrate that even democratic societies are not immune to the appeal of fascism.[1][2] It was undertaken by history teacher Ron Jones with sophomore high school students attending his "Contemporary World" history class[1] as part of a study of Nazi Germany.[3] The experiment took place at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, during the first week of April 1967.[1] Jones, unable to explain to his students how the German population could claim ignorance of the extermination of the Jewish people, decided to show them instead.[3] Jones started a movement called "The Third Wave" and told his students that the movement aimed to eliminate democracy.[1] The idea that democracy emphasizes individuality was considered as a drawback of democracy, and Jones emphasized this main point of the movement in its motto: "Strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action, strength through pride."[1]

The experiment was not well documented at the time. Of contemporary sources, the experiment is only mentioned in Cubberley High School student newspaper The Cubberley Catamount. It is only briefly mentioned in two issues,[4][5] and one more issue of the paper has a longer article about this experiment at its conclusion.[1] Jones himself wrote a detailed account of the experiment some nine years afterwards,[3] and more articles about the experiment followed, including some that interview Jones and original students.[2]

The 1981 TV special The Wave, the 1981 book The Wave and various stage adaptations were based upon the Third Wave story by Jones. The 2008 German film Die Welle was also based on the experiment. In 2010 Jones staged a musical called "The Wave", written with some of the students in the class.[6] On October 10, 2010, a film documentary "Lesson Plan", produced by another of Jones's students, Phillip Neel, had its world premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and it re-tells the entire original Third Wave story through the original students and teacher.[7]

[edit] Chronology

Jones writes that he started the first day of the experiment with simple things like proper seating, drilling the students until they were able to move from outside the classroom to their seats and take the proper seating position in less than 30 seconds without making a sound.[3] He then proceeded to enforce strict classroom discipline by emerging as an authoritarian figure and dramatically improving the efficiency of the class.

The first day's session was closed with only a few rules, intending to be a one day experiment. Students had to be sitting at attention before the second bell, had to stand up to ask or answer questions and had to do it in three words or fewer, and were required to preface each remark with "Mr. Jones".[3]

On the second day he managed to meld his history class into a group with a supreme sense of discipline and community.[3] Jones named the movement "The Third Wave", after the common belief that the third in a series of ocean waves is last and largest.[3] Jones made up a salute resembling that of the Nazi regime[1] and ordered class members to salute each other even outside the class. They all complied with this command.[3]

The experiment took on a life of its own, with students from all over the school joining in: on the third day the class expanded from initial 30 students to 43 attendees. All of the students showed drastic improvement in their academic skills and tremendous motivation. All of the students were issued a member card and each of them received a special assignment (like designing a Third Wave Banner, stopping non-members from entering the class, etc.). Jones instructed the students on how to initiate new members, and by the end of the day the movement had over 200 participants.[3] Jones was surprised that some of the students started reporting to him when other members of the movement failed to abide by the rules.[3]

On Thursday, the fourth day of the experiment, Jones decided to terminate the movement because it was slipping out of his control. The students became increasingly involved in the project and their discipline and loyalty to the project was outstanding. He announced to the participants that this movement was a part of a nationwide movement and that on the next day a presidential candidate of the movement would publicly announce existence of the movement. Jones ordered students to attend a noon rally on Friday to witness the announcement.[3]

Instead of a televised address of their leader, the students were presented with an empty channel. After a few minutes of waiting, Jones announced that they had been a part of an experiment in fascism and that they all willingly created a sense of superiority that German citizens had in the period of Nazi Germany. He then played them a film about the Nazi regime. That was the end of the experiment.[3]

[edit] Reaction

Despite the clear implications of this study on the malleability of young minds, which is of particular interest to psychologists seeking to understand and prevent abuse of it, little has surfaced on the subject; Todd Strasser, under the pen name Morton Rhue, wrote a young-adult novel on the subject entitled The Wave, which is a novelization of the TV movie (1981); later, Jones himself came forward with additional material. Another film based on the subject was later released theatrically (2008). In this version, the experiment was transferred to modern-day Germany called Die Welle. The original Third Wave students discuss their reactions and lessons learned in the 2010 documentary film "Lesson Plan".

A full account was given by Ron Jones in the 1980 edition of “The Next Whole Earth Catalog” on pp. 374–377.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

^ In,[4] which was published on Friday April 7, reports of "strange happenings in Mr. Jones' [...] classes" are mentioned without further detail, which confirms that the movement was active, but not yet finished in the week starting on April 3, 1967. In,[1] published on April 21 the experiment is dated "two weeks ago", which also puts the experiment in the first week of April - in fact it calls out "...Wednesday, April 5, the last day of the movement."

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g The Catamount, Vol 11., No 14., page 3
  2. ^ a b Article with participants recollection
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Ron Jones's 2-part essay about The Third Wave (Internet Archive)
  4. ^ a b The Catamount, Vol 11., No 13., page 2
  5. ^ The Catamount, Vol 12., No 6., page 6
  6. ^ In 'The Wave', ex-teacher Ron Jones looks back (San Francisco Chronicle)
  7. ^ Ducey, Patricia. "Experiment in Fascism at an American High School: The Lesson Plan @ The Newport Beach Film Festival". Libertas Film Magazine. http://www.libertasfilmmagazine.com/experiment-in-fascism-at-an-american-high-school-the-lesson-plan-the-newport-beach-film-festival/. Retrieved May 12 2011. 

[edit] Further reading

  • Dawson, Jeff (31 August 2008), "The Wave shows how to turn children into Nazis", Sunday Times.
  • Klink, Bill (April 21, 1967) "The Third Wave presents inside look at Fascism",The Cubberley Catamount, Volume 11, No. 14, Page 3. (News article in Cubberley student newspaper, following the Third Wave Rally, including details regarding the rally and names of some individuals involved.)
  • Leler, Robin and Sakuma, Bernice. (April 7, 1967) The Cubberley Catamount, Volume 11, No. 13, Page 2. Column entitled "Through the Tiger Eye". (Article in Cubberley student newspaper makes brief reference to the events of the "Third Wave".)
  • Strasser, T. (1981). The Wave. New York: Dell Publishing Co.
  • Williams, Sylvia Berry. (1970) Hassling. New York: Little, Brown. Page 51 in Chapter 7 "A Bill of Particulars on the USM".

[edit] External links

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