The prompt was given in the imperative, but it highlighted that the imperative was literally lacking. The experiment took place at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, during the first week of April 1967. "[1], Although the experiment was not well documented at the time, it was briefly mentioned in two issues of the Cubberley High School student newspaper, The Cubberley Catamount. 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. They were asked to read out questions to a student and whenever the student got a question wrong, the subjects were ordered to electrocute the student, increasing the force of the current gradually the more questions that they got wrong. It follows that when someone has committed irrational actssuch as exterminating a large group of people according to their religion and/or geneticsthey will endeavour to rationalise their actions using any excuse, thus rendering their actions banal, in their eyes acceptable and understandable. The advertiser identified his product as the Third Wave. Jones announced to the class that this movement was a part of a nationwide movement and that on the next day a presidential candidate of the Third Wave would announce its existence to the public. Despite their protests against the idea that they would themselves be fooled by tyranny in the same way that Hitler Youth and the German people were, the students nevertheless fell for the experiment, and the authority of their tutor led them to fully believe in The Third Wave movementdespite the fact that it was completely made up. Adolf Eichmann, however, was no ordinary man. How could the townspeople, railroad conductors, teachers, doctors, claim they knew nothing about concentration camps and human carnage. (2019, Dec 05). It was easy. It really exposed the real reason the German citizens didn't want to admit to having any participation as Nazis. A hushed silence shrouded the room. The other option of just letting the experiment run its course was also out of the question. All of the questions probed at imaginary situations and sought to discover the meaning of this event. Indeed, people of all nations and races . Not knowing when and if you'd ever see each other again. Steve turns and gives a quiet salute. Ron Jones was a teacher at Cuubberly High School. it went something like this. Yesterday I ran into one of those students. Situations in which students were pitted against each other In everything from gym to reading. The student who made the posters said right before she died that it was more like 9 days. Can I do it Kr. They had committed themselves in front of their peers to radical behavior. Milgram Experiment (1961) Yale University social psychology professor Stanley Milgram embarked on his now infamous series of experiments in 1961. It's raising a barn with your neighbors, it's feeling that you are a part of something beyond yourself, a movement, a team, La Raza, a cause. "Can we bring friends?" ", With that I switched on a rear screen projector. Jones intended only a one-day experiment.[9]. Evil becomes banal when ordinary people dont want to admit that they are implicated. You bargained your freedom for the comfort of discipline and superiority. The Third Wave was an experimental social movement created by California high school history teacher Ron Jones in 1967 to explain how the German population could have accepted the actions of the Nazi regime during the rise of the Third Reich and the Second World War.[1][2][3][4][5]. These ones feel that a power is born in the class and that the class forms a group, not only a students' class. "Everyone must accept the blame No one can claim that they didn't in some way take part.". The Third Wave experiment once again indicates that the normal group processes that make social life possible also can lead people to conform to standardsin this case fascismthat most of us would reject. As Jones (1979, pp. The school cook asked what a Third Wave cookie looked like. I made up stories from my experiences as an athlete, coach and historian. On Thursday I began to draw the experiment to a conclusion. I told him we were merely studying the German personality. Good story as it goes, but could really have benefited from some analysis of the school as an ideological context in which this kind of behaviour is particularly prone to manifest, what with public education already being a system that favours obedience, conformity, and subservience. I was now acting instinctively as a dictator. The students obeyed. Thus, their adhesion was more complex than simply wanting to feel included in a group or societythey were engaging in the politics of their country. The students began to look at each other and sense the power of belonging. I could go into how he brought American Nazis into our class and tried to let them speak to the entire school and how that worked out, but it is too funny and long to go into.Remember this was only about 20 years after WW ll when many of their family members were fighting the Nazis. it's discipline. They were told that all students who obeyed and took part would get good grades in history that year, and all those who refused would go to the library for the remainder of the experiment. The Third Wave. The room remained in fixed silence but for the first time I could sense people breathing. The Third Wave was an experimental social movement created by California high school history teacher Ron Jones in 1967 to explain how the German population could have accepted the actions of the Nazi regime during the rise of the Third Reich and the Second World War.. You are no better or worse than the German Nazis we have been studying. Ron Jones himself was, at the time, part of the Black Panther movement which was a far-Left activist organisation that was strongly opposed to the Vietnam war and the US government. This is the wrong interpretation and the wrong conclusion to make. When accosted by an English teacher for being a student in the "teachers' room" her just smiled and informed the faculty member that he wasn't a student. How a ballet dancer or painter works hard to perfect a movement. Motivations having been identified, it becomes easier to explain why tyrannical regimes can come to fruition and power. ''Is this part of the campaign, Mr. This incidence of monitoring meant that half the class now considered it their duty to observe and report on members of their class. 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. 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. "Should we wear white shirts?" Over the course of five days (or nine, according to student Sherry Toulsey), Jones, a member of the SDS,[6] Cubberley United Student Movement sponsor[7] and Black Panthers supporter[8] conducted a series of exercises in his classroom emphasizing discipline and community, intended to model certain characteristics of the Nazi movement. Leler, Robin and Sakuma, Bernice. I began to talk. It was as if the climax of shouting souls had pushed everything out of' the room. We did this again, and again. All day long he opened and closed doors for me. It isnt an exact science and cannot, despite what many Anglo-American philosophers say, be reduced to physics. The tears that fell when they realised they had been so easily deceived were real, and it was a lesson that they didnt forget, as documented in Lesson Plan. I called his wife and with the help of a neighbor walked him home. Don't talk to anyone about this. Manipulated. In the documentary, Lesson Plan, created by one of Joness former students in 2011, one interviewee said that students felt left out if they werent members, that everyone wanted to be involved. More than 200 high school students took part and they had their own custom-made membership cards. Pride Is something no one can take from you. Nothing. I felt sick to my stomach. Jones was a teacher who usually granted his students a lot of leeway. 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. Without command the entire group of students returned the salute. Then in dramatic style I informed the class of a special noon rally to take place on Friday. The belief that human beings are basically evil and therefore unable to act well toward each other. Faced with this experiment exploding in one hundred directions, I decided to try an old basketball strategy. Students who responded in a sluggish manner were reprimanded and in every case made to repeat their behavior until it was a model of punctuality and respect. ", "If our enactment of the Fascist mentality is complete not one of you will ever admit to being at this final Third Wave rally. A German documentary entitled The Invisible Line (Die Geschichte der Welle) debuted on television on December 19, 2019. During the 1960s, Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a series of obedience experiments that led to some surprising results. I began to think of myself as a part of the experiment. He could do something. It would later be called 'The Third Wave' experiment. Seems like the authority of subjecting production to an irrational goal (working for capital's profit) has been displaced by another (working to sustain an arbitrary Volk), and that's a weird old mechanism that the standard school system seems well-suited to incubate. These experimentations require deductive reasoning and analysishypotheses, antitheses and syntheses must be constantly applied. the average citizen, claim at the end of the Third Reich that they knew nothing of what was going on. What does he do now (or after he was fired)? I felt air rush back into the room. I lectured about the beauty of discipline. Like awakening from a dream and deep sleep, the entire room of people took one last look back into their consciousness. "Oh my gosh," he gasped. To accepting the Third Wave as a way of life. That's right. It's easier being a teacher. Strength through discipline Oh he tried harder than anyone I know to be successful. Strength Through Action!" I confided that they were the students selected to represent their area. But the rally itself. It's taken three years. He drilled them on their adherence to these rules. The big lie. They discovered that the usually accepted conclusions of these experiments are in fact far from what they should be. I'm very upset over Robert! By this, the fourth day of the experiment I was beginning to lose my own arguments. They aren't bright, they can't make the athletic teams, and don't strike out for attention. Several students had independently created a bodyguard division which physically attacked dissenting students and a reporter for the school newspaper. (From around 2010) Our class was called Tech Prep(senior class) and it had only 13 boys in the class. I decided to push the tolerance of the class for regimented action. "Through the experience of the past week we have all tasted what it was like to live and act in Nazi Germany. I reminded students of what it felt like being in classes where competition caused pain and degradation. Not a single student elected to leave the room. Strength through pride I explained why I acted and then assigned four guards to escort the women to the library and to restrain them from entering the class an Friday. Given that assurance and smile I couldn't say no. The Wave is a made-for-TV movie directed by Alex Grasshoff, based on The Third Wave experiment put on by teacher Ron Jones to explain to his students how the German populace could accept the actions of the Nazi regime. "There can't you breath more easily? The white glow of the test pattern didn't snap into the vision of a political candidate. A presence that will not change. They would take the ridicule from the brighter students that participated in a measured and cautious way. [9] Subsequent articles by other authors followed, some featuring interviews with Jones and the students involved. I talked about pride. Students were cutting class to participate and the school counselors were beginning to question every student in the class. Immediately the students realised what had happened and some later attested to the fact that they cried. It was equally disconcerting to realize that complex and time consuming written homework assignments on German life were being completed and even enlarged on by students. The factors that motivated the students then were: fear of losing marks; confidence and pride in their tutor; and a desire to be part of an exciting new movement that would change their world. My God He's a member of the Third Wave. While the class sat at attention I gave each person a card. I discussed the beauty of taking full responsibility for ones action. It's now just a dream, something to remember, no it's something we tried to forget. Here are ten bizarre psychology experiments that totally crossed the line. In ghostly images the history of the Third Reich paraded into the room. He was polite and condescending. To provide an encounter with community I had the class recite in unison "Strength Through Discipline." Therefore, it becomes necessary in some cases to manipulate and monopolise peoples confidence. "Before turning on the national press conference, which begins in five minutes, I want to demonstrate to the press the extent of our training." The Third Wave disaster. This shows that many ordinary people will refuse to follow tyrannical orders if it becomes clear to them that they do have a choice. Burned ideas. in fact I instructed the class in a sitting posture. In the martial atmosphere of the class they seemed stunned and pensive. Lesson Plan, which retold the story of the Third Wave through interviews with the original students and teacher, debuted at the Mill Valley Film Festival in 2010. (I later found out it was the father of one of the students. Students were withdrawing their arms from behind their chairs. The Third Wave Experiment took place over five school days. The intellectual skills of questioning and reasoning were non existent. I confessed my feeling of sickness and remorse. You said that Ron was lying. Taken to an extreme we have seen and perhaps felt what these actions will lead to. He said that he invented the term "The Third Wave" and the salute for it. Where is it? Ron Jones has embellished the story considerably since being kicked out of Cubberley High School way back when. Several social experiments, such as The Third Wave Experiment, have taken place as an attempt to better understand the nature of tyranny and the conditions under which it comes to fruition. Below this I wrote a second law, "STRENGTH THROUGH COMMUNITY.". So, he decided to demonstrate this . I worried for students doing things they would regret. Milgram's original "shock box" displayed at the Ontario Science Centre. Yes, we would all have made good Germans. "We can do it!" Schoolteacher Ron Jones's personal account of his experiment which created a proto-fascist movement amongst his high school pupils in Palo Alto, California, which in 2008 was subject of the award-winning film The Wave. 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. The Third Wave is a true story about a high-school experiment in fascism that spiraled out of control. It went like this. In 3 days the movement had grown to 200 students. The feeling being correct was more desired than being free. We spent hours later talking about what he felt and did, but from that moment on Thursday morning I was more concerned with what might be happening at school. Talk about tone deaf. If you will stand up and display what You have learned in the past four dayswe can change the destiny of this nation. In the four years I taught at Cubberley High School no one ever admitted to attending the Third Wave Rally. Thanks, Eugene Controversial and unorthodox as the Third Wave Experiment might be, there is a lot we can take from social experiments such as these, especially amidst the disaster and upheaval we have witnessed so far in 2020. What was he lying about, in your view? Strength through action In focus drills I concentrated attention on the feet being parallel and flat, ankles locked, knees bent at ninety degree angles, hands flat and crossed against the back, spine straight, chin down, head forward. programming. In 1967, a high school history class in California became the lab rats of an experiment to study the rise of Nazism. The room was empty of sound. And there is something else. You would hear a crash of cafeteria food only to have it followed by two classmates saluting each other. 2010 Third Wave Documentary Film "Lesson Plan". 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. He was fired for his outrageous behavior. The book (written to illustrate the experiment) The Wave forms part of the essential readings for German college students to this day. Where is their curiosity or resistance to this marshal behavior. But most of the students looked straight ahead in earnest concentration. It's one of those occasions experienced by teachers when they least expect. While he taught his students about Nazi Germany during his "Contemporary World History . Even stranger was the gradual improvement in the quality of answers. With that, I gave the salute followed automatically by two hundred arms stabbing a reply. I sensed myself moving from an introspective participant in the event toward the role of teacher. In staccato words he pleaded that I understand and help him get home. 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. For a brief moment it all rushed back. it's right here. In 1967, teacher Ron Jones conducted a social experiment with unexpected results. How can a people be a part of something and then claim at the demise that they were not really involved' What causes people to blank out their own history? A strange calm is in effect when a room full of people sit in quite observation and anticipation. At that time, the Nazi regime was being widely studied, and the world asked itself how such atrocities could have occurred in so-called civilised states. Class expanded from its initial 30 students to a total of 43. In concluding this conversation I envisioned similar conversations throughout history in which the clergy accepted and apologized for untenable conditions. I have a question for you. Oh I was benevolent. Late Wednesday afternoon I found Robert following me and asked what in the world was he doing. Conclusions made by contemporary political scientists and sociologists reflect the experiences of the subjects of the Third Wave Experiment and make connections between those experiences and witness statements in history. I turned it off. Things were already getting out of control. They were something special. The march of super race. Now that I look back, they appeared much like the child with so called learning disability. The room stayed dark as the final footage of film flapped against the projector. It was fun. I sure do, it was one of the most frightening events I ever experienced In the classroom. At eleven thirty students began to ant their way into the room; at first a few scouting the way and then more. We would repeat the mottos in a rotating chorus. Let me show you your future. The Third Wave Experiment took place over five school days. 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. Out for attention immediately the students 1967, teacher ron Jones has embellished the story considerably since being out. Becomes easier to explain why tyrannical regimes can come to fruition and power moving an. Science Centre a way of life sitting posture God he 's a of. This shows that many ordinary people will refuse to follow tyrannical orders if it becomes necessary in cases... 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