History teacher Ron Jones wanted to do an experiment to make sense of Nazi Germany with his students, aged 15-16, who were in the Contemporary World History class and were in the 10th grade. However, this experiment got out of hand after a certain point and started to disrupt the psychology of the young people. In fact, Jones was expelled from school for spearheading such a thing.
Moreover, the name of the experiment spread as far as Hollywood. The 1981 movie ‘The Wave’ is based on the true story of this experiment. Then let’s go into the details of this subject without leaving you wondering any more.
In fact, what caused this experiment to start; One student said, “How come the Nazis are attractive to people? For example, when the Holocaust happened, why didn’t the German people object to it?”
Instead of answering the question, Jones dressed as a dictator and wanted the students to experience the answer to the question directly. On the first day of the experiment, Jones came to school and cleaned the classroom; Then he waited very seriously for the students to come to the classroom.
The teacher, who normally doesn’t keep track of students’ absences, suddenly changed his character 180 degrees.
The students, of course, were a little surprised the first time they saw their teacher in this state. Jones told his students that the key to success is to gain ‘strength through discipline’.
The young people, who were unaware of what was going to happen to them, did not care much about this experiment at first. The reason for this was that his teachers were famous throughout the school with his charismatic personality. But when you read the rest of the story, you will understand that charisma does not always have a positive meaning.
After a long time since this experiment; Growing students talked about this interesting experience in their interviews. For example, Jones stated that he would give an A to anyone who took part in the experiment and took it seriously and made it a matter of life and death.
He also said that he would give C to those who participated in the experiment and did not put in enough effort for this experiment, and F to those who did not participate in the experiment and did actions that could sabotage the experiment. Moreover, students who got an F would have to work in the library throughout the year.
The teacher set certain rules for students on many issues from sitting up to standing. In fact, one student stated that after the teacher asked them to stand up straight, she started to breathe better and became more active in the lesson.
Class rules began to turn more and more into military discipline. For example, students had to listen to the teacher silently until they heard the second bell. Or, those who wanted to ask questions should definitely get permission and should not even make a sound without permission.
Jones saw that the students adopted the experiment very much the day after the experiment and got into different moods. If it was up to Jones, most of the students had participated in this experiment with the aim of “raising our grades on the eve of university transition”, but things were not like that at all.
Jones even assumed that the experiment would only last one day, and that the students would return to their usual self the day after the experiment. They didn’t say in vain that “unexpected stone will help”, when you read the end of the experiment a little later, you can really say this in your heart.
In the second phase of the experiment, a special type of greeting emerged, as with the Nazis.
The day after the experiment, the students were waiting for their teacher in the classroom, looking as if to say “order, sir”. When Jones entered the classroom and saw them like that, he wrote “strength through unity” instead of “strength through discipline” on the board.
Jones then taught the youth a way of greeting, just as with the Nazis. He even made it mandatory for them to greet each other when they saw each other both in the classroom and outside. It was supposed to teach unity.
This wave of greetings gradually spread throughout the school and everyone called it the third wave. This greeting is also present in the movie The Wave, and the audience remembers it.
The experiment became so absurd that even classroom cops were chosen from among the students to spy on the others.
Normally, when the experiment first started, there were 30 people in the class because that’s what the class had. But even on the third day, the class size reached 43 people with the students coming from outside. It is impossible for him to understand “why did the students want to participate in such a dictatorial experiment?” To many, this experiment probably felt like a game.
Jones said he wanted to set up a surveillance team of three, which he referred to as elite guardians. As these individuals were selected, the entire class closed their eyes and placed their hands on the desk.
Then Jones came over and tapped the shoulders of the three students. As you can see, even this selection phase is entirely under the initiative of a single person.
The classroom cops were tasked with tracking down the others and letting Jones know if they had misbehaved. In addition, the teacher forbade more than three people to get together and talk. Whatever it is…
Jones would bring his rats into the middle of the class and begin to discuss their crimes. Persons thought to be guilty were also asked to explain why they were not guilty.
Let’s say these young people were found guilty despite all their explanations, then the whole class was excluding them. This experiment actually created peer bullying among students. The teacher even intimidated the youth so much that he even said that the consequences of not following the rules were not being able to go to university.
The students were very immersed in this experiment. Some students thought they were Ron Jones’ bodyguards or something.
One day, a student followed Jones into the teachers’ room, and then another teacher fired that student. Upon this, Jones, thinking that this experiment had destroyed the psychology of the youth, decided that it was time to show them the true face of the event.
Jones told the students that they were involved in a national movement called the Third Wave, and that was very special. When the students heard this, they seemed to go crazy with excitement.
The teacher said that the next day he would bring a television and show the students the leader of this national movement. This day, however, was very special because it was the day the youths would take an oath of allegiance to this leader, and it was exclusive to those who participated in the experiment. In fact, there was an absurd development that you would later say, “Is this all worth it?”.
A lumber company published a poster in Time Magazine with the title “The Third Wave Is Coming!”. Seeing this, the students were now sure that their teacher was telling the 100% truth.
When the day of reckoning came, the tears flooded…
When the young people came to the rally, they started to chant ‘discipline through power’. There were even more than 200 Third Wave Movement members coming from three nearby schools.
At 12:05, Jones turned on the television and nothing was shown on the screen for two minutes. The teenagers were surprised to see nothing on the screen because they were expecting to see a leader image.
Then Jones told the students that there really was no leader, that he had been deceiving and manipulating them from the very beginning. Jones wanted the young people to see the extent to which their desire to be dominated by someone else came to be deplorable. Because most of them had gotten used to the comfort of being disciplined and controlled by another person, they had given up their freedom just because of it.
It was a matter of criticism for Jones that the students did not give up on the experiment while they were free to quit. So he implicitly questioned them, “How long were you planning to keep this going?”
Then the teacher showed the students various images and videos of the Nazi party’s Nuremberg rally, the concentration camps, and the rise of Nazism. Most of the students were crying while watching these, and on the other hand, they were confused about “what did we get into”.
In short, young people have seen how fascist their love of power can reach. So what do you think?
- Sources: Medium, The Wave Home
- Image Sources: Gunn Oracle, Verde Magazine
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