Their faces held looks of disbelief. Was all my belief in Carl Rogers to shrivel and die? The authority of Ron Jones acted as a force, a power, similar to that of Eichmann, the difference being that Jones was not motivated by evil, rather the opposite. I whispered to him to watch closely and pay attention to the next few minutes. Was this display of obedience a momentary game we were all playing, or was it something else. The discipline. Each Student had a job and they weren't to . I wondered if this doesn't happen to lots of people. He was holding on to me and shaking. The Third Wave experiment took place at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California during the first week of April in 1967. The rabbi for one of the parents called me at home. Then in dramatic style I informed the class of a special noon rally to take place on Friday. Eyes strained and pulled at the light but the pattern didn't change. A belief that demands a strong leader and discipline to preserve social order. And as predicted we also shared a deep secret. Well at last it can be talked about. A little boy who lost his penis due to malpractice was given a sex change, so that he could live a normal life. I'm very upset over Robert! The trouble with the situation and role I had created was that I didn't have time to think where it was leading. How far would you have gone? Within this avalanche of reporting one legitimate conspiracy did seem underway . Three women in the class had told their parents all about our classroom activities. "Mr. Jones, have you seen this advertisement in Time magazine? From Ron's description it is clear to me that his students (many? 1976 Ron Jones First Short Story "The Third Wave". There were the athletes, the social prominents, the student leaders, the loners, the group of kids that always left school early, the bikers, the pseudo hip, a few representatives of the school's dadaist click, and some of the students that hung out at the laundromat. Each time the response was louder. set I had in the front of the room. In the library or in gym students would be seen giving this strange hand jive. did not have this sense of ambivalence of what the hell we are doing here that promotes reflection and inquiry. and not themselves. I expected a flood of questions, but instead got intense quietness. I saluted back. Scratch the surface and it appears. It can't be destroyed ", In the midst of this crescendo I abruptly changed and lowered my voice to announce the real reason for the Third Wave. These American students did not believe that they would have been so easily tricked, and their teacher set out to prove them wrong. He was correct. Finally questions began to emerge. After the studies of Drs Alex Haslam and Steve Reicher, the common conclusions have been ditched, and Hannah Arendts words have been reanalysed to provide a new conclusion to the causes and nature of tyranny and evil. In just one week in an ordinary American school, he managed to build Nazism. In objective terms I began to describe the past events. He always ate lunch alone. In the confusion of the moment I moved slowly toward the television. On Monday, I introduced my sophomore history students to one of the experiences that characterized Nazi Germany. The Third Wave had become the center of their existence. Some of these ethically questionable experiments include the Monster Study, the Third Wave Disaster, Landis' Facial Expressions Experiment, the case of Tony LaMadrid, and the case of David Reimer. I found myself sliding into the role even when it wasn't necessary. Though I formally appointed only three students to report deviate behavior, approximately twenty students came to me with reports about how Allan didn't salute, or Georgine was talking critically about our experiment. Hand curved in a similar fashion I return the gesture. The trial was over. Across the country teachers like myself have been recruiting and training a youth brigade capable of showing the nation a better society through discipline, community. While Jones taught his students about Nazi Germany during his senior level Contemporary World History class, Jones found it . The belief that human beings are basically evil and therefore unable to act well toward each other. Students seemed intent on the assignment and displayed Accurate recitation of facts and concepts. My job. They, in fact, believed in change but were easily indoctrinatedif only for those five daysby what they believed was a superior cause. Strength through understanding After a few minutes of waiting, Jones announced that they had been a part of an experiment in fascism and that they all had willingly created a sense of superiority, much as German citizens had done in the period of Nazi Germany. The students had become more and more involved in the project. All of the questions probed at imaginary situations and sought to discover the meaning of this event. The prompt was given in the imperative, but it highlighted that the imperative was literally lacking. So are you saying that what Ron says happened in the other class didn't really happen? On the contrary, he had not simply followed orders blindly, he had actually planned his actions in great detailhe was an author of the Holocaust. We talked and laughed about the Third Wave for the next few hours. He will explain all the things that he was able to manipulate the kids into doing which seems like would've taken weeks or months and claim it only took one day. The Third Wave experiment involved the use of authoritarian dynamics similar to Nazi Party methods of mass control in a classroom setting by high school teacher Ron Jones in Palo Alto, California, in 1967 with the goal of demonstrating to the class in a vivid way how the German public in World War II could have acted in the way it did. In telling their parents of the experiment they set up a brief chain of events. Edit: here is a video and post of Sherry Tousley describing the assembly in the gym on the last day among other things. The Librarian thanked me for the 30' banner on learning which she placed above the library entrance. In the four years I taught at Cubberley High School no one ever admitted to attending the Third Wave Rally. At eleven thirty students began to ant their way into the room; at first a few scouting the way and then more. In the final twenty-five minutes of the class I introduced some new rules. If I remember the question. Do you remember the question? Most of my fear emanated from the incidence of "tattletaling". No. Don't you feel better.". It debuted on October 10[11] It was produced by Philip Neel and Mark Hancock, two of Jones's own former students. Instead of simply summarising Haslams theory, however, its necessary to study his newer formulation of old conclusions to analyse a different, lesser-known social experiment called The Third Wave Experiment. I was only doing my job. And profound revelation. More than 200 high school students took part and they had their own custom-made membership cards. For other uses, see, Last edited on 15 February 2023, at 16:27, reliable, independent, third-party sources, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Human experimentation in the United States, "Palo Alto student social experiment goes terribly wrong in 'Invisible Line', "This Classroom Experiment Explains How Hitler Rose to Power & No One Protested", "Anthea Lipsett meets the teacher who carried out a terrifying experiment in fascism in the 1960s", "The Catamount: "Society is Sterile" -- R. Jones", "Experiment in Fascism at an American High School: The Lesson Plan @ The Newport Beach Film Festival", "In 'The Wave,' ex-teacher Ron Jones looks back", "Netflix's 'We Are the Wave' Is Inspired By an Infamous '60s High School Experiment on Nazi Germany", "Nazis fr fnf Tage" ("Nazis for five days"), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Third_Wave_(experiment)&oldid=1139531317. As abruptly as it started the film froze to a halt on a single written frame. Joness students regretted their having followed a tyrannical regime, even though it was fake, and the subjects of Milgrams experiment followed orders because they perceived the experimenter as having some kind of legitimate authority. I made up stories from my experiences as an athlete, coach and historian. Students must be sitting in class at the attention position before the late bell; all students Must carry pencils and paper for note taking; when asking or answering questions a student must stand at the side of their desk; the first word given in answering or asking a question is "Mr. Jones named the movement "The Third Wave" as a symbol of strength, referring to the mythical belief that the third in a series of waves is the strongest. first to the despondent student and then back to the television. You are no better or worse than the German Nazis we have been studying. The students obeyed. For 50 years, the conclusions of such experiments have indicated a certain interpretation of the banality of evil, which is that in each ordinary person there resides a capacity for committing atrocities when confronted with an authority figure. . That's right. Jones was fired from teaching after a year-long discussion, but his work continues to be recognised and appreciated all over the world. When you're playing against all the odds the best action to take is to try the unexpected. This conclusion falls flat on the hard ground, as many critics have concluded, including Arendt herself. It just whined on. "Oh my gosh," he gasped. A German documentary entitled The Invisible Line (Die Geschichte der Welle) debuted on television on December 19, 2019. I lectured about the beauty of discipline. This activity we have been doing has been practice for the real thing. This also featured interviews with Jones and former students. Jones was himself alarmed by how far his students took the movement to heart and how they orchestrated a group of guardians and SS style spies to worm out the traitors to the movement. Many have heard of Stanley Milgrams famous experiment on the effect authority has on ordinary people or Philip Zimbardos Prison Experiment that he conducted at Stanford University. Lesson Plan: Directed by David Jeffery, Philip Carr Neel. Only a small minority of students saw through the faade, they were named the breakers who tore down Third Wave posters and replaced them with counter slogans. "Before turning on the national press conference, which begins in five minutes, I want to demonstrate to the press the extent of our training." So we become the image. Be in the small auditorium ten minutes before 12:00. He said that he invented the term "The Third Wave" and the salute for it. One of the central points of this movement was that democracy's main weakness is that it favors the individual over the whole community. Still the viewers persisted. Over two hundred students were crammed into the room. (From around 2010) You're walking down the street, eating at a secluded restaurant, or buying some underwear when all of a sudden an ex-student pops up to say hello. 2010 Third Wave Documentary Film "Lesson Plan". Human beings circling and holding each other. Be seated. This exercise in fascism took place in Palo Alto, California. What's his name? The maneuver took five seconds. "Sit down." I walked up and down the aisles of seated students pointing out small flaws, making improvements. No one moved. Some subjects didnt need all four prompts, but the great majority of them did. You are a selected group of young people chosen to help in this cause. Even stranger was the gradual improvement in the quality of answers. Always we said them together, emphasizing the proper way to sit, stand, and talk. 6. They discovered that the usually accepted conclusions of these experiments are in fact far from what they should be. The Third Wave experiment brought to light our creepy reverence for authority, shedding harrowing Milgram-esque insight into how easily we assuage moral conflict and diffuse responsibility when we . If Ron Jones was in fact terminated from the school, it is clearly because humanity is afraid to let go and see what is possible. He seemed delighted and told me not to worry. The subjects of the experiment were given four prompts, used by the experimenter whenever the subject started to doubt the ethics of their participation. We carry it like a disease. Steve will continue to grow and change. programming. I stressed how hard work and allegiance to each Other would allow accelerated learning and accomplishment. Jones based the name of his movement on the supposed fact that the third in a series of waves is the strongest. I have participated in similar experiments and also discovered the innate being inside is so easily manipulated due to a childlike want for approval and purpose being just the way they are. Adolf Eichmann, however, was no ordinary man. His role playing spilled out of the class into all of the school. Jones intended only a one-day experiment.[9]. Asch found that people were willing to ignore reality and give an incorrect answer in order to conform to the rest of the group. Momentary game we were all playing, or was it something else an ordinary American school he. Were easily indoctrinatedif only for those five daysby what they should be to... Room ; at first a few scouting the way and then back to the television ten... Jones taught his students ( many moved slowly toward the television it started the film froze to a on... 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