The Third Wave

Analyze the Third Wave: A history lesson on conformity and authoritarianism.

1. How did Ron Jones frame the goal of the Third Wave to his students? Jones stated that the goal of the Third Wave was to eliminate democracy, but because he clearly framed it as an experiment, more students willingly joined. Jones framed it so the Third Wave’s goal was to create unity (throughout the school), even though this was done through exclusionary and authoritative means. The Third Wave’s goal was to eliminate democracy; Jones justified this by stating that democracy was weak because it focused on the individual rather than the community. The Third Wave’s goal was to create order in class through discipline and authority, however, Jones framed it as strengthening students’ grades and participation in class. 2. Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to the answer above? “History teacher Ron Jones, finding himself unable to explain to his students how people throughout history followed the crowd even when terrible things were happening, decided to demonstrate it to his students through an experiment.” (Paragraph 1) “Jones announced that he was starting a movement aimed to eliminate democracy…. One of the central points of this movement was that democracy’s main weakness is that it favors the individual over the whole community.” (Paragraph 1) ‘Jones emphasized this main point of the movement when he created this catchy motto: “Strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action, strength through pride.”’ (Paragraph 1) “He then proceeded to enforce strict classroom discipline by emerging as an authoritarian figure. This resulted in dramatic improvements to the efficiency, or orderliness, of the class.” (Paragraph 2) 3. Which of the following best describes the appeal of the Third Wave’s motto? The simplicity of the motto is what likely appealed most to the students, as they cared little about the class anyway. The repetition is what likely appealed to students because it resembles a chant, and this made the students feel more important. The motto was likely appealing to students because it focused on pride and on the strength of the individual. The repetition is not only audibly appealing, but the emphasis on “strength” suggests one would become stronger through the movement. 4. How is the Third Wave salute a key detail in the experiment and in the text’s central ideas? The salute resembled that of the Nazi regime; Jones did this because he wanted to see if students were experts on the Nazis. The students were required to salute each other outside of class, and this was the key reason why more kids eventually joined the Third Wave. The students were required to salute each other; even without the authority figure present (Jones), using a gesture similar to the Nazi salute, they still followed orders and the crowd. The salute resembled that of the Nazi regime; Jones designed it like that as an interactive section to his history lessons, showing that the education can always be applied to real life. Summarize how the Third Wave developed over such a short period of time and why the experiment ended. Minimum of 4 sentences. Do you think an experiment like this would work at our school? Why or why not? Minimum of 2 sentences. Vocabulary Authoritarian severe, controlling, all-powerful Preface To begin Tremendous Very large in scale Initiate admit (someone) into a secret or obscure society or group, typically with a ritual. Superiority being superior or greater than something Abide accept or act in accordance with (a rule, decision, or recommendation).