The Third Wave (experiment)
The Third Wave was an experimental social campaign made by California high school history teacher Ron Jones in 1967. This experiment was meant to explain to the students how the German population could accept the actions of the Nazis during the rise of the Third Reich and the Second World War.[1][2][3][4][5]
Jones taught his students about Nazi Germany. During his senior level World History class, he found it difficult to explain to his students how the German population could accept the actions of the Nazis. He decided to make a fake social movement as an example of the appeal of fascism. The experiment took place over the course of 5 days (or nine, according to student Sherry Toulsey). Jones started a series of exercises in his classroom mainly focusing on discipline and community. This was intended to model certain traits of the Nazi movement.
The experiment started to get out of control. The movement grew outside of his class and members began to increase in the hundreds. He convinced the students to attend a rally where he claimed that the classroom project was part of a nationwide movement, and that the announcement of a Third Wave presidential candidate would be televised. When the students arrived, they were shown a blank channel. Jones told his students that the movement was an experiment about fascism. He showed his students a short film about the actions of Nazi Germany.[6]
This project was turned into an American film, The Wave, in 1981, and a very praised German film, Die Welle, in 2008.
Background change
The experiment started at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, during the first week of April, 1967.[a] Jones was a member of the SDS,[8] sponsor of the Cubberley United Student Movement,[9] and a supporter of the Black Panthers.[10] Jones decided to create this experiment after finding it hard to tell his students how the German people could have ignored the Holocaust.[6] Jones started a movement called "The Third Wave" and told his students that the movement wanted to end democracy.[1] The idea that democracy focuses on individuals was seen as a drawback, and Jones focused 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, being briefly mentioned in two issues of the Cubberley High School student newspaper, The Cubberley Catamount.[7][11][8] Another issue of the paper has a longer description of the experiment when it was finished.[1] Jones wrote a detailed recollection about nine years after.[6] Articles from other authors followed, some featuring an interview with Jones and the students involved.[2]
Notes change
- ↑ In,[7] which was published on Friday, April 7, reports of "strange happenings in Mr. Jones' [...] classes" are mentioned without any more 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 – it specifically calls out "...Wednesday, April 5, the last day of the movement."
References change
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Bill Klink (April 21, 1967). "'Third Wave' presents inside look into Fascism". Cubberley Catamount. Vol. 11, no. 14. Ellwood P. Cubberley High School. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Leslie Weinfield (September 1991). "Remembering the 3rd Wave". Ron Jones Website. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
- ↑ "Palo Alto student social experiment goes terribly wrong in 'Invisible Line'". The Mercury News. 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
- ↑ Kirti, Kamna (2021-06-23). "This Classroom Experiment Explains How Hitler Rose to Power & No One Protested". The Collector. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
- ↑ "Anthea Lipsett meets the teacher who carried out a terrifying experiment in fascism in the 1960s". the Guardian. 2008-09-15. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Jones, Ron (1972). "The Third Wave". Archived from the original on 2005-02-22. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
{{cite web}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; 2005-02-24 suggested (help), and Jones, Ron (1976). "The Third Wave". The Wave Home. Archived from the original on 2015-02-02. Retrieved 2016-12-03. - ↑ 7.0 7.1 Cite error: The named reference
catamount_11_13was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page). - ↑ 8.0 8.1 Charles Scott (December 8, 1967). "The Games People Play..." Cubberley Catamount. Vol. 12, no. 6. Ellwood P. Cubberley High School. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
- ↑ ""Lesson Plan, the story of The Third Wave"". Retrieved 2018-11-13.
- ↑ "The Catamount: "Society is Sterile" -- R. Jones". Retrieved 2018-11-13.
- ↑ Bernice Sakuma & Robin Leler (April 7, 1967). "Through the Tiger Eye". Cubberley Catamount. Vol. 11, no. 13. Ellwood P. Cubberley High School. Retrieved 2015-05-14.