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Remembering the 3rd Wave  by Leslie WeinfieldPeninsula, September 1991Although the specter of fascist resurgence seems largely forgotten in the euphoria of German reunification, it may not be far beneath the peaceful veneer of that nation, or any other, for that matter.  Even the most ostensibly free and open societies are not immune to fascism’s lure – including places like Palo Alto.  What came to be known as the “Third Wave” began at  Cubberly High School in Palo Alto as a game without any direct reference to Nazi Germany, says Ron Jones, who had just begun his first teaching job in the 1966-67 academic year.  When a social studies student asked about the German public’s responsibility for the rise of the Third Reich, Jones decided to try and simulate what happened in Germany by having his students “basically follow instructions” for a day.But one day turned into five, and what happened by the end of the school week spawned several documentaries, studies and related social experiments illuminating a dark side of human nature – and a major weakness in public education.——————————————————————————————————–This is a short text by the teacher who conducted the experiment that inspired the movie “The Wave”, now released.The text is available on the internet, public domain, but I have made a pdf and uploaded it here so that we can read it and learn a bit more about persuasion, authority, power and, why not, the dark side of human nature.Enjoy it!