The Wave: A School Experiment Gone Wrong

In this video I explore the 1967 Third Wave ‘experiment’, in which educator Ron Jones created a fake fascist movement in order to answer one of his sophomore student’s questions, “How could some Germans deny their part in the Holocuast?”.

I also talk about other famous experiments like the Milgram Experiment, which intended to understand how something as atrocious like the Holocaust could take place.

And lastly, about the 1981 afterschool special which tended to deal more with communism versus ‘democracy’ than fascism.

TIMESTAMPS:
Content Notes/Disclaimer 0:00
Intro 0:26
Part 1 The Real “Experiment” 7:41
Part 2 He Didn’t Answer the Question 13:07
Part 3 The Afterschool Special 16:44
Conclusion 23:53

--- ---

My last three videos: (◕‿◕✿)

[NickNelsons_bigsis]

"The Wave" also got a German adaptation completely cast with German actors in 2008. I watched it in school in 10th grade when the 3rd Reich and the Nazis are discussed in history and politics class.

[jazzclarke]

Hearing about your teachers at the end reminded me of my freshman english teacher, she literally told us to "just try" to report her, that nothing would happen bc she was friends with people on the school board and her husband is a cop. This woman had our class chant the n-word before starting to kill a mockingbird to "get used to it" which was so yucky

[emilyrln]

"MY CLASSROOM ISN'T A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT!" *waves tennis racket*
Say that again when you've put down the improvised weapon. I still won't believe you, but it'll be _slightly_ less ironic.

[atashikokoni]

Milgram also omitted the data from his experiment which didn't support his hypothesis. The post experiment questionaires show that the participants willing to administer the shocks largely didn't believe that the shocks were real, while those who did believe were much more likely to defy instructions.

[ashleywildman]

uhhh "liking the feeling of power" and "working for years with people with mental disabilities" should not go together in one person

[Sky-pgjm]

I think one of the most frustrating parts of this all is that, *there were Germans who resisted*, nearly a million Germans were arrested by the Gestapo for various resistance related activities. Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, Clergy members in both the protestant and catholic churches, etc and etc. People aren't complacent towards Fascism because "Well at least it gives us structure", they get complacent when it benefits them more to be complacent than to fight against it. That's why, for example, the Catholic church fought more heavily in Germany than in Spain or Italy, they had the power and the backing of the Fascist regimes there, they didn't in Germany. Fascists aren't the lonely ostracized kids, they're the privileged wealthy kids who fear losing their preexisting power.

[ashleyedwards]

Standing up to answer a question would have been really hard for me back in Highschool. I used to wear a knee brace that kept my leg straight because I dislocated my knee so much. I feel like I would have been a non-conformist from the start, and hard to deal with in that system. I think that separating kids by some of their physical traits, like skin color, eye color, or disability, is what made fascism more efficient. They had someone to be better than, and everyone else could confirm to the group while some can't. For some people, special treatment IS equality. I had to sit close to the door for most of highschool, and I left classes early, because I couldn't get around in the crowded halls. I always stuck out as something to mock, so in that Film's Classroom I would be nonconformist to the point where I couldn't do a lot of what they considered part of their basic rules.
Good Video! Stuff like that just really frustrates me 😂

[TindraSan]

I always hated when teachers pushed me into partaking in group activities when it wasn't mandatory for the lesson or w/e. or just shoved me into a group of other kids, which was just awkward for everyone.
all bc they thought I was lonely or w/e but I felt lonelier and out of place while with a bunch of ppl I didn't vibe with than I did when properly on my own

[gingeralice]

I witnessed the bystander effect in real life not very long ago when a man on the bus suddenly attacked a woman sitting across from me. It was a complete random act of violence. It might have been racially motivated, he might have just wanted to rob her. This happened in Los Angeles. I don't know why this happened but me and one other person jumped this guy and I really flipped out I honestly do not know what came over me I was kicking this guy pulling his hair screaming. Like I saw red. The bus was packed it was a weekend night by the beach and everyone was just staring. The bus driver kept driving like nothing happened and let the man off at the next stop. Another person jumped up and yelled at the driver call the police don't just let that guy leave but his girlfriend grabbed him and told him it's not worth it let him go. A bunch of people started crying. But nobody asked the victim if she was OK. Only 2 people on that whole bus tried to help her. I can't even say why I defended her like that it just happened so fast. Maybe because she was sitting so close to me so I felt threatened and it triggered a fight or flight response? I've tried to rationalize it since this happened but I can't say for sure. It was pretty wild seeing this in real life most people really will just stand by and watch violence rather than getting involved.

[chel]

I have really bad social anxiety, and teachers made it so much worse. I have a very hard time challenging authority or asking for things. If Ron Jones had been my teacher, I probably would have dropped out of school after a series of mental breakdowns.

[Vickyeverythingelsewastaken]

Where my fellow German millenials at, who never knew that this was based on a true story from overseas? This story, book (and the 2008 movie) are pretty much made for our later years of school. I can still quote the "fascism is a dormant disease" speech.

[bringing.mae.flowers]

I understand where he was coming from as a teacher, because kids often don't listen and therefore don't learn. If he just told them an answer, they all would have forgotten it after the test.

Still, the experiment was too extreme for kids.

There's an important balance to strike between making a lesson memorable enough to stick, and just being cruel and/or unethical.

[solarmoth]

I only remember watching the very dramatized German movie Die Welle. I never knew that there was an after-school special and finding info about the actual experiment or the teacher behind it like 10 yrs ago as a kid was pretty difficult. This “experiment” sounds rather unethical and uneeded. Why put parents and kids through this? Also like segregation only “ended” 4-3 years earlier. Asking why their parents and grandparents participated in segregation and jim crow and asking them to reflect on/compare & contrast American History would be a better learning experience.

[crs]

great video! re: "of course his students accepted the wave, he's their teacher and threatened to lower their grades" honestly i don't think this invalidates the "experiment" on its own; people faced negative consequences from those in power if they didn't support the nazi regime, too, y'know? if anything, this just shows how unquestioned hierarchies naturally lend themselves to authoritarian fuckery (which, to me, says that maybe teachers shouldn't have so much power over their students!)

[rebelmage]

I never watched the American version, but we watched the German version (Die Welle) in secondary school twice, and I remember liking it. Have you seen that version? I'm curious how you think it compares.

[Jerkovski]

in the 8th grade, my English teacher came into class on the first day after break with a massive Stalin 'stache and started sternly laying out new rules which were draconian and way over the top. this was strange because he was known as the nicest teacher and this was way out of character. anyone who spoke up got sent out of class or was given detention or given extra homework. for the few of us who read animal farm over the break, this made sense but for the rest, it was a wild ride which kept them engaged in class for the rest of the semester, even after he broke character.
shout out to mr. stephenson, you a real one homie <3

[Queer_Nerd_For_Human_Justice]

Jane Elliott's "blue eyes/brown eyes" lesson is famous for being really good at teaching white kids racial empathy & shedding light on institutional racism... (The point of picking blue vs brown eyes is that brown eyes are the majority & brown-eyed folks are much more like to not be white. You get a good mix of demographics on each side & the power structure tends toward inversion.) It's not supposed to be "bring history to life", it's supposed to reveal hidden aspects of our current society. A similar idea would be to have able-bodied kids try to perform tasks in the dark while being guided and/or competed against by blind kids. I don't know why you think it's pointless.... And it's 100% unrelated to the abusive experiments that resulted in real brainwashing & trauma. (Not just/necessarily milgram and the wave but other things like it, like the stanford prison experiment, which is very related and you should look up if you're interested). I do agree that teachers that try to make the entire year-round classroom environment into their own little fantasy culture is messed up.

[SarahBent]

I think a lot of teachers can go that way. I had a teacher who used to say (and I quote as she said it often) "Out there is a democracy. In here is a dictatorship and I am the dictator."

[Iffyish]

Yooo these types of experiments are/were so messed up. I feel like they say way more about the experiment designers than the subjects. Thanks for the video!

[gillynova]

Holy, congrats on 100k subs Cheyenne!