THE WAVE

In 1967, at the Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, World History teacher Ron Jones was asked about the Holocaust by a student. "Could it happen here?". According to the press release accompanying the latest retelling of the events that followed, "Jones came up with an unusual answer. He decided to have a two week experiment in dictatorship. His idea was to explain fascism to his class through a game, nothing more. He never intended what resulted, where his class would be turned into a Fascist environment. Where students gave up their freedom for the prospect of being superior to their neighbors.

To his dismay and alarm, the experiment was so blindly embraced by the students, that he cut the project short. "Initially I just wanted to show my students how powerful the pressure to belong can be, but the exercise got out of control. A momentum began to build that I couldn't slow, or even deter. I became frightened by the day-to-day happenings in class, and was forced to call it off," recalls Jones.

Overnight, Jones became the subject of national controversy, sparking discussion on the appropriateness of exposing young adults to life's realities. To some, he was an innovative hero and teacher; to others he was a Communist. Many people were shocked and embarrassed that the same mentality which led to the Holocaust could develop so quickly, in 1967, in a pristine all-American setting, and an academic town no less, home to the well-known Stanford University.

(Text taken from www.thewave.tk, where you can read some more about the experiment and watch the original 1981 movie on line)

In the following  video, "The Wave," Jones' telling of his story is a vivid and riveting experience. Recounting his experiment in dictatorship, his meeting with Eva Mozes, and his presentation at Nuremberg. He warns of the destructive nature rooted in the pressure to belong or conform. Taped in San Francisco before a sold out Cowell Theatre whose audience included participants of the experiment and holocaust survivors, the one hour narrative reveals the events that led to the "experiment," and what happened to the class during and after The Wave. The "experiment" illustrates how individual freedoms can be quickly abandoned and willfully repressed for collective goals and racism as happened in the rise of Nazi Germany and the treatment of the Jews during World War II.

I'm sorry there are no subtitles available. I may give it a try and transcribe it myself. I'll let you know if I finally do it. In the meantime, see how much you can understand.

Here's the transcript:
I guess it started… yes, it all started with a question. I was teaching world history, Cubberley High School in Palo Alto… January 1967 might explain something…You remember 1967? I mean our universe was about to tilt upside down… but I’m with my favorite class… 2nd period world history and I’m a first year teacher and life could not be better…So how many of you wanna be against the war in Vietnam? Let me see your hands please… Eileen (sp.) and Wendy that’s two, and Doug, no no, basketball players do not go against the war in Vietnam. I’ll explain later. Alright, Jerry… yeah? James Brown nahnahnah Yes, I know, You’ve got a picture of James Brown above your head, Huey gave it to me, so? Haha, yes, a new school policy: every idea must be effaced with its opposite idea so who’s the opposite of James Brown’ peggy, … Laurence welk! Peggy you get a picture of Laurence Welk you put up for crying out loud… Yeah, Steve… did you hear that? Did you all put your ears to that question? Steve, Would you say that again for us all? That’s a history question, Steve! Thank you. How could the Germans behave as they did after the war? Claimed they knew they knew nothing about the Holocaust, did not take part… Steve, that’s a great question! … I’ll take it up on Monday.
Monday morning, I decide to give the class an experience in dictatorship. I clean the room: Now, that in itself is a marvel… organize the desks, darken the room, I’m ready for them. Some way(?) I’m gonna lecture you about discipline, DISCIPLINE, like a ballet dancer, an athlete, an artist, you have to have discipline. It really makes you go, it’s like working real hard, you know? work work work work, well it’s like basketball, Doug : When you’re shooting your shot you gotta have discipline… You can’t be looking around, focus focus focus boo bang to! discipline But look what kind of setting: this classroom is an unholy mess! Look at the way you’re sitting, legs all over the place, books all over your desk…what I want you to do is simply take everything off the top of your desks, clear them off, that’s right. Now good, sit with your feet flat, together… back straight, come on, back straight, back back back straight… hands up for a change… good. Can’t you breathe better?, can’t you listen better?...that’s discipline, that’s discipline.
Steve, where were we yesterday? What was I talking about? Strength through Discipline? Ok, let me add something to this thought here, strength through community. We’re us, a team, this is what…you give up yourself to be a part of something really great, that’s not so foreign, happens all the time in history, building a bond with your neighbors, yeah…
Lunch hour after day two I’m walking down the hall, I’m really excited, I’m giving salutes, books are finally all over the place, I’m feeling pretty good about myself…my class, they’re learning a lot more, and they’re quiet, this is really great, I mean , maybe I’ve discovered something here… oh sh…! bathroom’s on fire, bathroom’s always on fire at school, this is getting crazy…
I’m sure you’ve all heard about yesterday’s incident in the girls’ bathroom, there’s a lesson for us here, a principal cannot stand by and watch the fire… you have to do something, I mean You can be disciplined and have community but unless you’re willing to act, there’s nothing there, you have to act! So, what would we do to act? Tell me, tell me, you’re all passengers, what would you do to act, to change the school?
By the end of day three there are over 100 members of The Wave. Over half of them are telling me intimate detail about everyone else in the room. There’s rumors that The Wave now has initiation service(?) That I have not thought up (?)...it’s spreading to other schools…it has a power and an intensity all of its own… I mean, I can’t stop this thing…even if I wanted to stop it… I mean , what would happen to Robert, all these students that gave this allegiance and they’re really achieving something for a change… no, I can’t stop it.. something elemental about this movement of ours… order, discipline, we cannot go out that door and find the place on fire, no… The Wave is not just a classroom exercise… Teachers like myself have gone out throughout the country to find you, select students, a vanguard, an elite, to introduce this nation to the idea of order, discipline, community, action. Tomorrow, 12 o’clock, we’ll have a rally. We’ll stand up for a new leader that will announce themselves on television at 12. There’ll be television here, local television, yes, yes… I was afraid if I smiled in the slightest or quivered in the slightest the room would break like glass…