View source for Social:The Third Wave (experiment)

{{short description|1967 social experiment on the spread of Nazism}}
{{Third party|date=May 2015}}
'''The Third Wave''' was an experimental movement created by the high school history teacher Ron Jones in 1967 to explain how the German population could have accepted the actions of the [[Place:Nazi Germany|Nazi regime]] during the rise of the Third Reich and the [[Social:World War II|Second World War]].<ref name="catamount_11_14">{{cite magazine |title='Third Wave' presents inside look into Fascism |author=Bill Klink |volume=11 |number=14 |url=http://www.cubberleycatamount.com/Content/66-67/Catamount%20Pages/V11No14/ |magazine=Cubberley Catamount |date=April 21, 1967 |publisher=Ellwood P. Cubberley High School |accessdate=2015-05-14}}</ref><ref name="wave.html">{{cite web |author=Leslie Weinfield |date=September 1991 |url=http://www.ronjoneswriter.com/wave.html |title=Remembering the 3rd Wave |website=Ron Jones Website |accessdate=July 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719004549/http://www.ronjoneswriter.com/wave.html |archive-date=July 19, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-05 |title=Palo Alto student social experiment goes terribly wrong in 'Invisible Line' |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/08/05/palo-alto-student-social-experiment-goes-terribly-wrong-in-invisible-line |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=The Mercury News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kirti |first=Kamna |date=2021-06-23 |title=This Classroom Experiment Explains How Hitler Rose to Power & No One Protested |url=https://medium.com/the-collector/this-classroom-experiment-explains-how-hitler-rose-to-power-why-no-one-protested-e653676437 |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=The Collector |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-09-15 |title=Anthea Lipsett meets the teacher who carried out a terrifying experiment in fascism in the 1960s |url=http://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/sep/16/schoolsworldwide.film |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> 

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. He decided to create a fictional social movement as a demonstration of the appeal of [[Social:Fascism|fascism]]. Over the course of five days (or nine, according to student Sherry Toulsey), Jones, a member of the SDS,<ref name="catamount_12_6"/> Cubberley United Student Movement sponsor<ref>{{Cite web|title = "Lesson Plan, the story of The Third Wave" |url = http://www.lessonplanmovie.com/|access-date = 2018-11-13}}</ref> and [[Social:Black Panther Party|Black Panthers]] supporter,<ref>{{Cite web|title = The Catamount: "Society is Sterile" -- R. Jones |url = http://www.cubberleycatamount.com/Content/69-70/Catamount%20Pages/V14No10%2019700304/|access-date = 2018-11-13}}</ref> conducted a series of exercises in his classroom emphasizing discipline and community, intended to model certain characteristics of the Nazi movement.

As the movement grew outside his class and began to number in the hundreds, the experiment had spiraled out of control. 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. Upon their arrival, the students were presented with a blank channel. Jones told his students of the true nature of the movement as an experiment in fascism, and presented to them a short film discussing the actions of Nazi Germany.<ref name="Jones_essay">{{cite web |date=1972<!--date it was written--> |url=http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/Auxiliary/Psychology/Frank/Thirdwave.html |url-status=dead |title=The Third Wave |last1=Jones |first1=Ron |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050224084643/http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/Auxiliary/Psychology/Frank/Thirdwave.html |archivedate=2005-02-24 |accessdate=2016-12-03 }}, and {{cite web |url=http://www.thewavehome.com/1976_The-Third-Wave_story.htm |url-status=dead |title=The Third Wave |last1=Jones |first1=Ron |date=1976<!-- date it was first published--> |website=The Wave Home |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202082041/http://www.thewavehome.com/1976_The-Third-Wave_story.htm |archivedate=2015-02-02 |accessdate=2016-12-03 }}</ref>

The project was adapted into an American film, ''The Wave'', in 1981, and a critically acclaimed German film, ''Die Welle'', in 2008.

==Background to the Third Wave experiment==
The experiment took place at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, {{wipe|California}}, during the first week of April 1967.{{efn|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 – it specifically calls out "...Wednesday, April 5, the last day of the movement."}} Jones, finding himself unable to explain to his students how the German people could have claimed ignorance of [[Social:The Holocaust|The Holocaust]], decided to demonstrate it to them instead.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> Jones started a movement called "The Third Wave" and told his students that the movement aimed to eliminate [[Social:Democracy|democracy]].<ref name="catamount_11_14" /> The idea that democracy emphasises individuality was considered a drawback, and Jones emphasised 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" />

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''.<ref name="catamount_11_13">{{cite magazine |title=Through the Tiger Eye |author=Bernice Sakuma |url=http://www.cubberleycatamount.com/Content/66-67/Catamount%20Pages/V11No13/ |magazine=Cubberley Catamount |volume=11 |number=13 |date=April 7, 1967 |name-list-style=amp |author2=Robin Leler |publisher=Ellwood P. Cubberley High School |accessdate=2015-05-14}}</ref><ref name="catamount_12_6">{{cite magazine |title=The Games People Play... |author=Charles Scott |url=http://www.cubberleycatamount.com/Content/67-68/Catamount%20Pages/V12No6/ |magazine=Cubberley Catamount |volume=12 |number=6 |date=December 8, 1967 |publisher=Ellwood P. Cubberley High School |accessdate=2015-05-14}}</ref> Another issue of the paper has a longer account of the experiment at its conclusion.<ref name="catamount_11_14" /> Jones wrote a detailed recollection of the experiment some nine years afterward.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> Subsequent articles by other authors followed, some featuring  interviews with Jones and the students involved.<ref name="wave.html" />

==Chronology==
===First day===
The experiment began with simple alterations such as proper seating.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> He wrote "Strength Through Discipline" on the classroom's chalkboard, then enforced strict classroom discipline while speaking as to the importance of discipline. The procedures were simple. Students were expected to sit at attention before the second bell, had to stand up to ask or answer questions and had to do so in three words or fewer, and were required to preface each remark with "Mr. Jones". He drilled them on their adherence to these rules. Jones intended only a one-day experiment.<ref name="Jones_essay" />

===Second day===
Jones decided to continue the experiment after observing his students' strict adherence to the previous day's rules. He added "Strength Through Community" to the chalk board, and named his "movement" "the Third Wave". Jones based the name of his movement on the supposed fact that the third in a series of waves is the strongest.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> Jones created a salute involving a cupped hand reaching across the chest toward the opposite shoulder,<ref name="Jones_essay" /> resembling a Hitler salute.<ref name="catamount_11_14" /> He ordered class members to salute each other both in and outside of the class.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> Jones then assigned each of his students an individual assignment, such as designing a Third Wave banner, stopping non-members from entering the class, or recruiting their friends to join the movement.
===Third day===
The experiment had now taken on a life of its own. Students from across the school joined in. Class expanded from its initial 30 students to a total of 43. Jones added "Strength Through Action" to the chalkboard. Students were issued a member card. Jones instructed the students on how to initiate new members. By the end of the day the movement had over 200 participants.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> Jones instructed three students to report to him when other members of the movement failed to abide by the rules. He was surprised when around twenty of the students made such reports.<ref name="Jones_essay" /> A student who expressed concern for Jones's safety volunteered to become his bodyguard.<ref name="Jones_essay" />

===Fourth day===
Jones decided to terminate the movement, as it was slipping out of his control. The students had become more and more involved in the project. 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. He ordered students to attend a noon rally on Friday to witness the announcement. Jones also ordered four students to banish three dissenting students to the school library and to prevent them from attending the rally to emphasize loyalty to the movement's precepts.<ref name="Jones_essay" />

===Fifth and final day===
The students all arrived at 11:50 a.m. Jones had convinced a number of his friends to pose as reporters, and asked the students to demonstrate what they had learned in the minutes before the televised address would supposedly begin. He then led them in shouting chants of "Strength through Discipline! Strength Through Community! Strength Through Action!" He turned on the TV placed in the middle of the room. Rather than a televised address of their leader, the students were presented with [[Engineering:Noise (video)|an empty channel]]. After a few minutes of waiting, Jones announced that they had been a part of an experiment in [[Social:Fascism|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 then apologized to them for how far it all had gone, and played them a film about the Nazi regime to conclude the experiment.<ref name="Jones_essay" />

==Documentaries==
''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. It debuted on October 10.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ducey|first=Patricia|title=Experiment in Fascism at an American High School: The Lesson Plan @ The Newport Beach Film Festival|url=http://www.libertasfilmmagazine.com/experiment-in-fascism-at-an-american-high-school-the-lesson-plan-the-newport-beach-film-festival/|work=Libertas Film Magazine|accessdate=May 12, 2011}}</ref> It was produced by Philip Neel and Mark Hancock, two of Jones's own former students.

A German documentary entitled ''The Invisible Line'' (''Die Geschichte der Welle'') debuted on television on December 19, 2019. This also featured interviews with Jones and former students. 

===Dramatizations===
* The events of the experiment were adapted into a 1981 US TV special, ''The Wave''. This formed the basis for the Young Adult novelization of the same name written by Todd Strasser, under the [[Pseudonym|pseudonym]] of Morton Rhue. The special and novelization updated the setting to the modern day.
* ''It Can't Happen Here'', the 86th book in the ''Sweet Valley Twins'' series, features a substitute teacher who conducts an experiment similar to The Third Wave. The title references a novel of the same name. 
* In 2001, a musical adaptation written by Olaf Pyttlik premiered at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in Canada.
* The 2008 German film ''Die Welle'' transferred the experiment to a modern-day German classroom. The film received critical acclaim.
* "The Pride of Lakewood", a 2010 episode of children's animated series ''Arthur'', was loosely based on the Third Wave experiment. In it, students who form a community pride group become fascistic.
* In 2010, Jones staged a musical called ''The Wave'', written with some of the students in the class.<ref name="sfgate_01_30">{{cite web |last=Whiting |first=Sam |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/30/DDM51BLIU1.DTL |title=In 'The Wave,' ex-teacher Ron Jones looks back |website=SFGate |date=January 30, 2010 |accessdate=2015-05-14}}</ref>
* The events were adapted into a non-musical play stage in 2011 by Joseph Robinette and Ron Jones.
*In 2020, a Netflix miniseries called ''We Are the Wave'' premiered in Germany. The show is about high school students, and their own activism.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Garces |first=Isabella |date=2019-12-07 |title=Netflix's 'We Are the Wave' Is Inspired By an Infamous '60s High School Experiment on Nazi Germany |url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a30152438/we-are-the-wave-netflix-true-story-experiment-nazi-germany/ |access-date=20 May 2020 |website=Esquire}}</ref>

==See also==
*Human experimentation in the United States
*Jane Elliott

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Klink, Bill. April 21, 1967. "The Third Wave presents inside look at Fascism", ''The Cubberley Catamount'', Volume 11, No. 14, Page 3. (News article in Cubberley student newspaper, following the Third Wave Rally, including details regarding the rally and names of some individuals involved.)
* 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 brief reference to the events of the "Third Wave".)
* 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").

==External links==
* [https://www.thewavehome.com/1976_the-third-wave_story/ The original essay by Jones (1976)]
* [http://www.lessonplanmovie.com Lesson Plan] – Third Wave documentary film, as told by the original Third Wave students and teacher
* – story history, FAQ and links by original Third Wave students
* [http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/topicalbumbackground/1577/nazis_fuer_fuenf_tage.html "Nazis für fünf Tage" ("Nazis for five days")] in ''Der Spiegel'' {{in lang|de}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/30/DDM51BLIU1.DTL |title=In 'The Wave,' ex-teacher Ron Jones looks back |first=Sam |last=Whiting |date=January 30, 2010 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |publisher=Hearst Corp |accessdate=January 30, 2010}}

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[[Category:Psychology experiments]]
[[Category:Social influence]]

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