At eleven thirty students began to ant their way into the room; at first a few scouting the way and then more. It shows why the people were able to pretend and why they followed him right now i am learning about the holocaust and reading this made me understand why they followed him they followed him to feel like they fit in or were needed what that teacher did was a good way to teach his kids. It was rewarding to see their satisfaction and excitement to do more. I told the assembly that a full explanation would take quite a while. "Mr. Jones, for the first time I'm learning lots of things." Strength through action I was in his first class after he was hired at Cubberley HS, in Palo Alto, after he graduated from Stanford University. 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. Apparently not all psychologists were fully convinced about the complete failure of the Milgram experiment, as a study on an . It was too late to step back. With everyone sitting at attention I slowly raised my arm and with a cupped hand I saluted. With Ron Jones, Philip Zimbardo, Scott Thomson, Sherry Tousley. (2019, Dec 05). Motivations having been identified, it becomes easier to explain why tyrannical regimes can come to fruition and power. I was following the group dictate as much as I was directing it. I don't know maybe he just imbelished a little or something. Following minutes of progressive drill assignments the class could move from standing positions outside the room to attention sitting positions at their desks without making a sound. The student was, in fact, an actor behind a screen in a different room, who would plead and let out cries of pain as the fictional volts increased. It was a wild gamble. In an embarrassed hug we greet. There was a mental tug of war between the people in the room and the television. The trials. A blank field of white. we each have witnessed something over the past week. But the rally itself. 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. The question here is not why but how the German people came to support the Nazi regime. There was much more to see and try to understand. They would take the ridicule from the brighter students that participated in a measured and cautious way. The rabbi for one of the parents called me at home. There is no such thing as a national youth movement called the Third Wave. So, he decided to demonstrate this . Always we said them together, emphasizing the proper way to sit, stand, and talk. Jones." 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. The feeling being correct was more desired than being free. He ordered students to attend a noon rally on Friday to witness the announcement. Evil becomes banal when ordinary people dont want to admit that they are implicated. Don't talk to anyone about this. In the study, an . For years I kept a strange secret. That you were better than those outside this room. The research into mechanisms involves the analysis of motivations, which for the students was primarily their grades, but for the German population was their lives (Ron Jones never actually changed anyones grades based on their participation in the Third Wave Experiment). In this the third day of activity there were forty-three students in the class. In the split second of my race back in time Steve sensed my questioning and backed up. Situations in which students were pitted against each other In everything from gym to reading. 2010 Third Wave Documentary Film "Lesson Plan". You're more alert. I began to talk. So we become the image. At this stage of the game I was debating in my own mind whether to stop the experiment or continue. I walked up and down the aisles of seated students pointing out small flaws, making improvements. These and other controversial experiments led . He would talk to the parents and calm their concern. The salute was give. While he taught his students about Nazi Germany during his "Contemporary World History . The events were adapted into a non-musical play stage in 2011 by Joseph Robinette and Ron Jones. It's Steve, Steve Conigio. The experiment had now taken on a life of its own. How could this be? [9] Subsequent articles by other authors followed, some featuring interviews with Jones and the students involved. All day long he opened and closed doors for me. To accentuate this, I requested answers to be given in three words or less. The group seemed to be composed of students from many persuasions. One of the central points of this movement was that democracy's main weakness is that it favors the individual over the whole community. The Third Wave Experiment took place over five school days. My job. 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. You will not allow your friends and parents to know that you were willing to give up individual freedom and power for the dictates of order and unseen leaders. It was 12:05. A strange calm is in effect when a room full of people sit in quite observation and anticipation. I was probing deeper and deeper into my own perceptions and the motivations for group and individual action. It's a secret I shall share with you.". The experiment continued. You said that Ron was lying. I found it harder and harder to extract myself from the momentum and identity that the class was developing. Once again I faced the thoughts of closing the experiment or letting it go its own course. I have a question for you. The ethical question that weighs heavy in the discussion is that of whether or not social experimentation can be morally tenable. Some couldnt even move from the shock. The Librarian thanked me for the 30' banner on learning which she placed above the library entrance. I explained how discipline and community were meaningless without action. Students were issued a member card. In concluding this conversation I envisioned similar conversations throughout history in which the clergy accepted and apologized for untenable conditions. The high school was and still is one of the best in the state, well known for its progressive philosophy and intelligent students. 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. 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. it went something like this. In staccato words he pleaded that I understand and help him get home. "There can't you breath more easily? Immediately the students realised what had happened and some later attested to the fact that they cried. But no. Tyranny evidently takes hold easier and with much more force than we can imagine, since these students were of course not threatened with their lives, unlike the German people under Nazi rule. We ran into each other quite by accident. Our principal came into an afternoon faculty meeting and gave me the Third Wave salute. I took the film from the three cameras in the room and pulled the celluloid into the exposing light. Eyes strained and pulled at the light but the pattern didn't change. Some swirled back to momentarily hold Robert and me. His role playing spilled out of the class into all of the school. Here I was enacting an authoritarian learning environment and it seemed very productive. My heart was pounding. They were something special. They were learning more. Students were cutting class to participate and the school counselors were beginning to question every student in the class. Therefore, it becomes necessary in some cases to manipulate and monopolise peoples confidence. There have been a number of famous psychology experiments that are considered controversial, inhumane, unethical, and even downright cruelhere are five examples. I am having a hard time believing this. When the bell sounded ending the period I asked the class for complete silence. ", With that I switched on a rear screen projector. It was like we were all witness to a birth. To conclude, the Third Wave Experiment may have been unorthodox, but the Third Wave Experiment produced several insights and conclusions into the nature and mechanism of tyranny. We can bring it a new sense of order. The room stayed deadly still. It's far more important than that. To build a special society. 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]. The intensity of the response became more important than the content. We worked on this simple act for the entire class period. All of the questions probed at imaginary situations and sought to discover the meaning of this event. They watched the activities and participated in a mechanical fashion. A belief that demands a strong leader and discipline to preserve social order. That's right. A general assembly was organised for 12 pm the next day to watch the televised speech of their leader. Upon hearing of our activity he simply lost control Late in the evening he broke into the room and tore it apart. 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. My God He's a member of the Third Wave. [9] Jones created a salute involving a cupped hand reaching across the chest toward the opposite shoulder,[9] resembling a Hitler salute. It felt hard to breathe and even harder to talk. I found one inaccuracy in his account based on what you wrote. 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. Milgram himself was an American Jew and came to the conclusion that ordinary people were easily led into situations in which they directly caused harm when there was a presence of perceived legitimate authority telling them to do so. Anticipation turned to anxiety and then to frustration. 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. A report of the proceedings by George Williams, delegate of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World). 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. No sign of a smile or a thought or even a question. Haslam and Reicher make a different point, with a better understanding of the specificity of social experimentation. 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 helped me approach them in a deliberate way. There must be a program. Robert is like so many kids in school that don't excel or cause trouble. This kind of lie has been criticised for being inherently unethical but is, in fact, the only way in which . In fact I was surprised to find the ideas on discipline enacted at all. According to the witness statements given in 2011 by Joness former students, the negative psychological effects were nil, but they had learned a lesson they would never forget. Why did the students accept the authority I was imposing? I expected a flood of questions, but instead got intense quietness. 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