One study not mentioned in the video I linked to above is also illustrative of the point that it (and Gary Lineker) was making.
Former students of Ron Jones, a teacher at Cubberley high school in Northern California still describe his experiment, known as The Wave, as a milestone in their lives.
During project week in April 1967, Jones began teaching his 10th-grade class the power of discipline, drilling them to sit properly and breathe correctly. He made them address him as Mr Jones, stand by their desks when answering questions, and chant slogans.
To his surprise, his 15-year-old students liked the strict regime and became more motivated to learn. During about a week of daily lessons, he created a movement. It had a salute (a raised, cupped hand), a slogan - "strength through discipline, community and action" - and a secret police force. Students made banners, had membership cards, made others join the movement, beat up those who wouldn't conform and voluntarily informed on each other. Jones even had student bodyguards accompanying him as he walked through the school.
One of the original class, Mark Hancock, 57, says students didn't know what to think. "Jones was the most popular teacher in school. He was only 10 years older than us, so we trusted and liked him a lot.’
Jones went on to tell his students that the experiment was not a game but a movement, involving 1,000 other high schools around the USA. A national leader would shortly appear on television to announce a third political party in the country.
"At that point, it became scary and confusing," Hancock says. ‘If you broke the rules, you would get in trouble with his secret police, who were unknown to us. He had snitches that would turn friends in voluntarily. There was this real fear and intimidation. It was like a police state.
"He broke up lines of communication between students. Some had been friends for 10 years, but you couldn't trust anybody. If you had any doubts or questions or thoughts of resistance, you couldn't tell anyone because you would get in trouble. You didn't dare ask whether it was real or not.
After complaints from teachers and parents, and aware that the experiment was getting out of control, Jones ended it by calling a rally to which hundreds of students flocked. Only then did he reveal it was a hoax. He projected footage of Hitler and the Nazi rallies on the wall to show how easily the students had been made to behave like fascists.
Another classmate, Philip Neel, commented that, “Mr Jones was very intense, energetic and charismatic. He filled the hour with convincing talk about how discipline and community were positive," says Neel. He says the experience taught him it could happen to anyone. "The most dangerous thing is if someone says 'I could never do that.”
Would Ron Jones do The Wave again? No, he says, because it put people in danger. "I'm very glad I did it ….Is it valuable? Yes, but it's dangerous too." Jones says people email him constantly wanting to recreate the experiment. Recently, a British television company proposed it as a reality TV show. But Jones refused to co-operate. "You can't take children and place them in danger. You unleash something in your own soul’, he says ‘The reality that you like it, and that order and control are pretty exciting. So we're all capable of this nightmare."
A few years ago, the experiment was recreated for an acclaimed German film called Die Welle ('The Wave'). It is available with English subtitles and is well worth a watch.
www.theguardian.com