The Third Wave 1211350 221576795 2008-06-25T03:29:50Z Bfigura's puppy 7169406 Reverted 1 edit by [[Special:Contributions/217.224.133.205|217.224.133.205]]; Take it to the talk page. ([[WP:TW|TW]]) {{otheruses}} '''The Third Wave''' was an experimental demonstration of [[nazism|nazism movement]]<ref name="catamount_11_14">[http://www.cubberleycatamount.com/Content/66-67/Catamount%20Pages/V11No14/ The Catamount, Vol 11., No 14., page 3]</ref><ref name="wave.html">[http://www.ronjoneswriter.com/wave.html Article with participants recollection]</ref> undertaken by history teacher [[Ron Jones (teacher)|Ron Jones]] with [[sophomore]] high school students attending his Contemporary History class<ref name="catamount_11_14" /> as part of a study of [[Nazi Germany]].<ref name="Jones_essay">[http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/Auxiliary/Psychology/Frank/Thirdwave.html Ron Jones's essay about The Third Wave]</ref> The experiment took place at [[Cubberley High School]] in [[Palo Alto]], [[California]], during first week of April [[1967]].{{ref|timing}} Jones, unable to explain to his students why the [[Germany|German]] citizens allowed the [[Nazi Party]] to [[The Holocaust|exterminate millions of Jews and other so-called "undesirables"]], decided to show them instead.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> Jones started a movement called "The Third Wave" and convinced his students that the movement is to eliminate democracy.<ref name="catamount_11_14" /> The fact 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".<ref name="catamount_11_14" /> The experiment was not well documented. Of contemporary sources, the experiment is only mentioned in Cubberley High School student newspaper "The Cubberley Catamount". It is only briefly mentioned in two [[issue]]s<ref name="catamount_11_13">[http://www.cubberleycatamount.com/Content/66-67/Catamount%20Pages/V11No13/ The Catamount, Vol 11., No 13., page 2]</ref><ref name="catamount_12_6">[http://www.cubberleycatamount.com/Content/67-68/Catamount%20Pages/V12No6/ The Catamount, Vol 12., No 6., page 6]</ref>, and one more issue of the paper has articles about this experiment, but without much detail.<ref name="catamount_11_14" /> The most detailed account of the experiment is an essay written by Jones himself some six years afterwards.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> Several other articles about the experiment exist, but all of them were written after a considerable amount of time had passed.<ref name="wave.html" /> ==Chronology== Jones writes that he started the first day of the experiment (Monday, [[April 3]] 1967{{ref|timing}}) 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 then 5 seconds without making a sound.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> He then proceeded to strict classroom discipline emerging as an authoritative figure and improving efficiency of the class dramatically.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> On the second day he managed to meld his history class into a group with a supreme sense of discipline, community.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> Jones named the movement "The Third Wave", after the common belief that the third in a series of [[Ocean surface wave|ocean waves]] is last and largest.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> Jones made up a salute similar to [[Hitler salute|the one of Nazi regime]]<ref name="catamount_11_14" /> and ordered class members to salute each other even outside the class. They all complied to this command.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> 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.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> At this point first Jones was surprised that some of the students started reporting to him other members of the movement who failed to abide by the rules.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> 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 were astounding. He announced to the participants that this movement is only 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.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> Instead of televised address of their leader, the students were presented with [[Noise (video)|an empty channel]]. After few minutes of waiting, Jones announced that they have 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 Nazi regime. That was the end of the experiment.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> ==Reaction== Despite the clear implications of this study on the malleability of young minds, which is of particular interest to [[Psychology|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 (book)|The Wave]]'', after it had been made into a TV movie (1981) and one released theatrically (2008) as well as a play; later, Jones himself came forward with his own material. Researchers of the experiment have had some trouble in eliciting reports from any of the students involved. Hence, nearly all detailed information about The Third Wave comes from Ron Jones himself. ==Controversy== There are claims that most of what Ron Jones says about The Third Wave is false. A site registered to Lyle Burkhead (Virginia, U.S.) contains statements he says he received from former students of Ron Jones. [http://www.geniebusters.org/915/wave_statements.html] He also delineates his reasons for doubting that The Third Wave occurred as Jones claims. [http://www.geniebusters.org/915/05a_wave.html] The website that publishes former issues of the Cubberley Catamount, www.cubberleycatamount.com, is privately registered at GoDaddy through Domains by Proxy. The site itself contains no information about the owner's identity. The site displays newsletters for only 1967 through 1970 -- beginning with the year of the Third Wave, and ending with the year in which Ron Jones is interviewed about his termination. Each year's newsletters have information about Ron Jones, seemingly the site's purpose. Whether or not the newsletters are genuine is unknown. ==Recreations== * In 1999, an 8th grade class in Chicago, Illinois did a mini-recreation of The Wave experiment. * In 2006, a middle school history class in Florida attempted to recreate the experiment with even younger children.<ref>[http://www.local6.com/news/8345157/detail.html ''School's 'Holocaust' Experiment Upsets Parents'' from a local news channel, accessed March 30, 2006]</ref> ==See also== * [[Milgram experiment]] * [[Stanford prison experiment]] * [[Peer pressure]] * [[Jane Elliott]] brown-eye/blue-eye demonstration ==Notes== {{note|timing}} <small>In <ref name="catamount_11_13" />, 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 <ref name="catamount_11_14" />, published on April 21 the experiment is dated "two weeks ago", which also puts the experiment in the first week of April.</small> ==Further reading== * 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". * 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 reference to the events of the "Third Wave", setting approximate date and some details). (archives available on http://www.cubberleycatamount.com) * Klink, Bill (April 21, 1967) "The Cubberley Catamount", Volume 11, No. 14. Page 3. "The Third Wave presents inside look at Fascism". News article following the Third Wave Rally, including details regarding the rally and names of some individuals involved. (archives available on http://www.cubberleycatamount.com) ==References== {{reflist}} * [http://who.godaddy.com/WhoIs.aspx?domain=cubberleycatamount.com&prog_id=godaddy Registration information for CubberlyCatamount.com * [http://www.domainsbyproxy.com/LegalAgreement.aspx]Information about Domains by Proxy, a service to register domains privately. ==External links== *{{imdb title|id=083316|title=The Wave}} * [http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/Auxiliary/Psychology/Frank/Thirdwave.html An essay by Jones] * [http://www.ronjoneswriter.com/wave.html Remembering the 3rd Wave], 1991, Leslie Weinfield (on Ron Jones' website). * [http://www.thewave.tk www.thewave.tk] includes information about novel, stage and theater adaptations of the story * The [http://outsidelands.org/ Western Neighborhoods Project]'s [http://outsidelands.org/jones.html short biography] of Ron Jones * [http://www.thislife.org/ra/158.ram Mob Mentality Act 2 (RealAudio)] * [http://european-films.net/content/view/940/107/ A preview of the German film ''Die Welle (The Wave)''] on european-films.net * [http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/topicalbumbackground/1577/nazis_fuer_fuenf_tage.html SPIEGEL Article on ''The Wave''], ''Nazis für fünf Tage'' ("Nazis for five days") www.spiegel.de (German) [[Category:Palo Alto, California]] [[Category:Nazism]] [[bg:Третата вълна]] [[de:The Third Wave]] [[el:Το Τρίτο Κύμα]] [[es:Tercera Ola]] [[nl:De Derde Golf]]