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. He always ate lunch alone. 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. I enjoyed the unified action demonstrated by the students. They aren't bright, they can't make the athletic teams, and don't strike out for attention. [9] Jones instructed three students to report to him when other members of the movement failed to abide by the rules. To experience the power of discipline, I invited, no I commanded the class to exercise and use a new seating posture; I described how proper sitting posture assists mandatory concentration and strengthens the will. Jones." To grab quick solution. He was a sensitive and bright student. So we become the image. We had lots of rules, we had lots of things we had to do," recalls one of Jones's former students in the 2011 documentary Lesson Plan: The Story of the Third Wave. The Milgram experiment was a famous and controversial study that explored the effects of authority on obedience. He turned on the TV placed in the middle of the room. tax collector. Evidently, experimentation in the social sciences is different. I agree with you that Ron's pedagogical experiment was disastrous and that he did not make enough pedagogical preparation for his simulation of the Nazi totalitarianism with his students. It was easy. You are responsible for stopping any student that is not a Third Wave member from entering this room. For years I kept a strange secret. 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. Neck muscles rigid. Control. Oh, you think to yourself that you were just going along for the fun. Jones instructed the students on how to initiate new members. Late Wednesday afternoon I found Robert following me and asked what in the world was he doing. The goal of the experiment had thus been achieved. On Friday, the final day of the exercise, I spent the early morning preparing the auditorium for the rally. While Jones taught his students about Nazi Germany during his senior level Contemporary World History class, Jones found it difficult to explain how the German people could have accepted the actions of the Nazis. 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.. The entire collection however looked like one force as they sat in perfect attention. It's not going to happen. The big lie. No one laughed. How an athlete feels having worked hard and regularly to be successful at a sport. As for my part in this exercise, I had nothing but questions. It would be too painful and demeaning for Robert and the students like him to be twisted back into a seat and told it's just a game. The Third Wave disaster. On Wednesday, I decided to issue membership cards to every student that wanted to continue what I now called the experiment. "Everyone must accept the blame No one can claim that they didn't in some way take part.". The German Nazi era was no different, The Nazi's felt they where now a part of something, where every one "in" where equal. Over two hundred students were crammed into the room. He added "Strength Through Community" to the chalk board, and named his "movement" "the Third Wave". It quickly illuminated a white drop cloth hanging behind the television. In the split second of my race back in time Steve sensed my questioning and backed up. Some former students explain that their parents at the time didnt talk about emotions, and taught their children to respect the government and authorities, but that the Third Wave Experiment gave them a different point of view on blindly following orders and authoritiesthey appreciated the fact that they had been given the opportunity to see through their naivety. 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. Waiting. 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. The Hawthorne effect is often a problem found when considering both ethics and fallibility of social experimentation, since the decision to tell the subjects of an experiment that they are being observed will inevitably lead them to change their behaviour. Many questions haunted me. Edit: here is a video and post of Sherry Tousley describing the assembly in the gym on the last day among other things. The dedicated patience of a scientist in pursuit of an Idea. Robert was big for his age and displayed very few academic skills. We carry it like a disease. Conditions that produce tyranny could be the presence of an apparently legitimate authority, a certain motivational interest, and/or threats and manipulation. As I spent more time playing the role I had less time to remember its rational origins and purpose. You would hear a crash of cafeteria food only to have it followed by two classmates saluting each other. I had to stop for a minute to remember. Powerful. They were also acknowledged for doing this in a crisp and attentive manner. It was for class members only. They possessed a silent confidence and took pleasure in a school setting that gave them academic and leadership opportunity. The intellectual skills of questioning and reasoning were non existent. "It's over." You won't admit to participating in this madness. The room remained in fixed silence but for the first time I could sense people breathing. It also helps us understand further how the Holocaust could have happened. According to a former student, Jones did a double take. Yes, we would all have made good Germans. I was following the group dictate as much as I was directing it. Many students outside the class asked if they could join. Scratch the surface and it appears. Some swirled back to momentarily hold Robert and me. It just whined on. The trance with the television continued for what seemed like hours. Manipulated. Lesson Plan: Directed by David Jeffery, Philip Carr Neel. I explained how discipline and community were meaningless without action. 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. We did noise drills in which talking was allowed only to be shown as a detraction. Feel strong and in control of destiny. [9] The students proceeded to conduct trials for those thought to be not loyal enough to the movement, with punishment consisting of banishment to the school library. First I would have two students stand and call back our motto. We knew that it was interesting learning about different political systems, but not something we would ever emulate. In as such as there were several months still to go in the school year and I was already at World War II, I decided to take a week and explore the question. Oh, we talked and studied our actions intently. All of the questions probed at imaginary situations and sought to discover the meaning of this event. set I had in the front of the room. There was not a murmur of resistance. It was one of the most interesting classes I have ever had. In 1967, teacher Ron Jones conducted a social experiment with unexpected results. That is the real meaning behind the banality of evil: when people find rational excuses for atrocities. Human beings circling and holding each other. "Can we bring friends?" They were learning more. During the 1960s, Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a series of obedience experiments that led to some surprising results. Following my description of community I once again told the class that community like discipline must be experienced if it is to be understood. Indeed, people of all nations and races . To be number one. He walked always on my right. In 3 days the movement had grown to 200 students. Who is this young man hugging me? I expected a flood of questions, but instead got intense quietness. He calls me Mr. Jones. (2019, Dec 05). Composite by Coffee or Die . My announcement unleashed a fervor. Students were issued a member card. In the final twenty-five minutes of the class I introduced some new rules. His students where attached to the order. All day long he opened and closed doors for me. He ended his pedagogical experiment abruptly with humiliation of his students via his lecturing. 1981 Todd Strasser (Morton Rhue) Novelization "The Wave". Something in all of us. 'Lesson Plan' is a documentary featuring interviews of the original students and teacher of the 1967 Third Wave experiment. 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. To make the salute you brought your right hand up toward the right shoulder in a curled position. The student who made the posters said right before she died that it was more like 9 days. Not a vacant seat could be found. Retrieved from https . The Third Wave. With that, I gave the salute followed automatically by two hundred arms stabbing a reply. Below this I wrote a second law, "STRENGTH THROUGH COMMUNITY.". Following the analyses of Israeli-German historian, Yaacov Lozowick, two British professors, Alex Haslam and Steve Reicher, have studied the experiments of Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo. The Third Wave Experiment took place over five school days. 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. Prompted by the trial of high-ranking Nazi and Holocaust-coordinator Adolf Eichmann, Milgram wished to assess whether . A blank field of white. I walked over to Robert and threw my arms around him. [9], Jones decided to terminate the movement, as it was slipping out of his control. He was fired for his outrageous behavior. This exercise in fascism took place in Palo Alto, California. At least he was equal to everyone. You are assigned the problem of training and convincing at least twenty children in the adjacent elementary school that our sitting posture is necessary for better learning. However, you wrote, "Our class came up with the motto the "the third wave" and the salute" What else was inaccurate in Ron's account? 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. No. It's far more important than that. Jones, please?" 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. Jones?" The intensity of the response became more important than the content. 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 . April 7, 1967. Jones was a teacher who usually granted his students a lot of leeway. Anticipation turned to anxiety and then to frustration. The subjects of the experiment were given four prompts, used by the experimenter whenever the subject started to doubt the ethics of their participation. In this case it was Steve running down the street shouting "Mr. Jones, Mr. Steve will continue to grow and change. It helped me approach them in a deliberate way. Therefore, it becomes necessary in some cases to manipulate and monopolise peoples confidence. Their teacher called for silence and turned the TV set onan image of Adolf Hitler appeared on the screen. 10. I couldn't let the Roberts lose again. Knowing that one is being monitored changes ones behaviour significantly. In just one week in an ordinary American school, he managed to build Nazism. Oral history of Ernest DeMaio, from his early radicalizing experience of the First, The autobiography of Fred W. Thompson - socialist, Wobbly, organizer, soapboxer, editor, class-war prisoner, educator, historian, and publisher, A collection of essays written by Dwight Macdonald, most of which appeared in his. The school was alive with conjecture and curiosity. Thirteen students had cut class to be a part of the experiment. Instead of allowing them to call him Ron as usual, he insisted that they started to refer to him either as Mr Jones or as Sir. A slogan had been created throughout the first three days by Jones and his class, and banners were posted all over the school, reading strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action. I told him we were merely studying the German personality. To accepting the Third Wave as a way of life. The advertiser identified his product as the Third Wave. To accentuate this, I requested answers to be given in three words or less. That you were better than those outside this room. The exchange of physical hardships for superior mental and physical facilities. A belief that demands a strong leader and discipline to preserve social order. "Mr. Jones, have you seen this advertisement in Time magazine? They watched the activities and participated in a mechanical fashion. Everyone seemed to be listening more intently. On the third day, Jones began to worry that things were going too far. "Oh my gosh," he gasped. Robert was crying. Taking in large uncontrollable gulps of air. I am Mr. Jones. Jones was clear, history can repeat itself, but sometimes it does under controlled conditions. Nothing. Thanks, Eugene Hey Felton, many thanks for your comments! Our class was called Tech Prep(senior class) and it had only 13 boys in the class. The trouble with the situation and role I had created was that I didn't have time to think where it was leading. 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. Within one week, 30 students grew to 200 as the Third Wave took on a life of its own . It's Steve, Steve Conigio. The only light in the room was coming from the television and it played against the faces in the room. How can people who were neighbors and maybe even friends of the Jewish citizen say they weren't there when it happened. "It's your task to design a Third Wave Banner. We can bring it a new sense of order. The feeling of never acting, never being a part of something, never supporting each other. I confided that they were the students selected to represent their area. 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. 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. Although . Others cried openly and then brushed away tears to carry on. programming. It's now just a dream, something to remember, no it's something we tried to forget. The pleasure of doing something right and being rewarded. Outright organised fascism is capitalism gone over the top, but manipulation of group dynamics happens all over the place - particularly in schools - and is the means used to get people to behave in required ways, absurd ways often but sometimes ways that are practically credible on the surface. Discipline. He completed the third wave experiment because he was unable to teach his students how the German population in the Holocaust allowed the Jews to be treated the way they were. Once again I faced the thoughts of closing the experiment or letting it go its own course. When a student asks how so many people could be . 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. How a ballet dancer or painter works hard to perfect a movement. The Nazis also hid many of their crimes from their own people, named themselves national socialists (when they were, in fact, not socialist but fascist) and managed to abolish unemployment (food was nevertheless lacking across the country, much like in Stalins Ukraine). Faced with this experiment exploding in one hundred directions, I decided to try an old basketball strategy. It's one of those occasions experienced by teachers when they least expect. But the rally itself. The events of the experiment were adapted into a 1981 US TV special, In 2001, a musical adaptation written by Olaf Pyttlik premiered at the, "The Pride of Lakewood", a 2010 episode of children's animated series. 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 next day, the students assembled in a lecture room at midday. Being a follower. Students seemed intent on the assignment and displayed Accurate recitation of facts and concepts. I was only doing my job. It affected everyone. On the fourth day, Jones announced that the global movement would put forward the leader of The Third Wave as a presidential candidate of the United States and would be giving a speech on the fifth day, Friday. The tension and anticipation was beyond belief. He sat in the second row. The ultimate triumph. [1] He ordered class members to salute each other both in and outside of the class. But most of the students looked straight ahead in earnest concentration. The other option of just letting the experiment run its course was also out of the question. Pride Is something no one can take from you. As the movement grew outside his class and began to number in the hundreds, the experiment had spiraled out of control. You're more alert. He was a retired air force colonel who had spent time in a German prisoner of war camp. The experiment is by far the most unethical one in the field of psychology. In this room. They had committed themselves in front of their peers to radical behavior. In concluding this conversation I envisioned similar conversations throughout history in which the clergy accepted and apologized for untenable conditions. 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. it's right here. Afraid that if I stopped someone would laugh or ask a question and the grand scheme would dissolve in chaos. 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. Upon receiving this card the new member had to demonstrate knowledge of our rules and pledge obedience to them. Every fibre strained to perform the deed. Everyone was capable and equal. Then add two more until finally the whole class was standing and reciting. Strength through community So are you saying that what Ron says happened in the other class didn't really happen? O my Gosh, I thought this story was amazing. For a week in the middle of a school year we had shared fully in life. Within days, they had a motto, flag, salute, and began to view themselves as an exclusive, elite group. Upon their arrival, the students were presented with a blank channel. You are no better or worse than the German Nazis we have been studying. Emotionally and psychologically they had exposed themselves. The subjects were told that they were taking part in a rare experiment studying education. Performance in academic skill areas was significantly improving. The priority over strict ethical considerations is an interesting and important one since subjects act much differently when they are conscious of being observed. From Ron's description it is clear to me that his students (many? The students chanted their slogan in anticipation. I didn't know the answer. It was as if everyone wanted to dissect the moment, figure out what had happened. The advertisement proclaimed in big red, white and blue letters, "The Third Wave is coming." Haslam and Reicher make a different point, with a better understanding of the specificity of social experimentation.
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