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Morton Rhue
Summary:
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Ben Ross, history teacher at Gordon High School, teaches within his history lesson, the second World War and the Holocaust ( the loss of many Jews especially by burning). One day his pupils ask him why the majority of the Germans didn't do anything to avoid the Nazi Regime - he has no answer.
As he wants to find out an argument he decides to start an experiment with his class. He drills his pupils for discipline and requires them to stand up and shout the answer each time they respond to questions. His pupils like this kind of lesson and Ross creates further rules which have to be strictly observed. Then he founds \"The Wave\", an organisation with an own salute, badge and \"monitors\", who have to control the observance of the rules. The three important basic rules are:
Strength through discipline
Strength through community
Strength through action
\"The Wave\" is no longer restricted to his history class, more and more pupils from the school want to join the organisation. Slowly Mr. Ross looses control on this experiment and \"The Wave\" begins to develop it's own life. Pupils who don't want to join \"The Wave\" are annoyed and attacked.
Laurie Saunders, a pupil of Mr. Ross' history class and chief of the school-newspaper, likes \"The Wave\" at the beginning but more and more it becomes sceptical to her. Laurie leaves \"The Wave\" and wants to persuade David - her boyfriend - also to leave \"The Wave\". David is very angry about the suggestion and becomes aggressive against her. After that incident David can't believe that he has done such a stupid thing for \"The Wave\".
On the next day Laurie and David visit Mr. Ross in order to request him to break up \"the Wave\". Mr. Ross promises to do that.
On the next afternoon Mr. Ross ordered an assembly for all members of \"The Wave\". At the assembly Mr. Ross shouts \"This is our leader\" and pointed at a huge, blank movie screen. Now all \"The Wave\" members see the film about the Nazi regime with Adolf Hilter as the leader which they have already seen. The pupils are shocked. Now the pupils realize that they have been manipulated successfully like the German young people under Hitler.
Main Characters:
Ben Ross is a very good history teacher who always tries to involve his pupils in his lessons. Therefore he does everything to make the students to understand the subject. With the experiment he wants to to show his students that people can easily be manipulated and he wants them to understand the people's attitude in the 2nd world war when Adolf Hitler was the leader.
Laurie Saunders is the best and most ambitious student in her class. She is an intellectually trained and self confident person. She knows exactly what she wants. The Wave experience has changed Laurie. She feels disappointment, discrimination, isolation and fear because she has to fight alone against something, which seems to be unbridgeable.
David Collins is Laurie's boyfriend. He loves her very much, but when he becomes a member of \"The Wave\" he doesn\'t understand the attitude of Laurie concerning \"The Wave\" When she talks about the negative aspects of \"the Wave\" he gets very angry. It needs some time until he realizes, that \"The Wave\" movement is manipulating him and the other people.
Members of the Wave: Students who are members of \"The Wave\" think that they are equal and part of a community which could manage all problems. So they forget the negative aspects.
Message of the Book
People can easily be manipulated. It often takes a long time to realize this manipulation. On the basis of the group pressure it\'s often difficult to be self-confident and critical towards other opinions and ideas.
The author is able to show the group pressure, which forces the pupils to give up their individuality without thinking about the consequences. He shows that there is not much necessary to establish other structures and steal \"normal\" people their liberty. The excuse \"It's over, it can't happen today\" is proven wrong after the lecture of this book.
My opinion
When I have read that book based on a true episode in a Californian High School, I was really shocked. I think the book describes its action very good and I enjoyed reading it. In my opinion this book also shows fascinatingly how fast, just one person, can manipulate a big group of young people and can make them enthusiastic.
The speech isn't hard to understand, therefore I only can recommend it.
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