The classroom and the political agenda of the Nazi party were similar concerning the fact that the purpose was to control the students and the people. The Wave started in a single class but it quickly spread throughout the entire school besides two students Laurie Saunders and David Collins. The Nazi party also spread throughout Germany without any counties standing up against it.
Adolf Hitler intended to bring all of Germany under Nazi power and Nazi power under his own personal authority. Mr. Ross's purpose was to only teach his history class a lesson of why people did not stand up to Adolf Hitler. The Political agenda of the Nazi party was a higher level of seriousness because people were dying from it and it wasn't an experiment. The classroom experiment was not as serious as the Holocaust but showed how people give away their individualism to follow the leader.
Mr. Ross and Adolf Hitler were both leaders and creators of large groups of people. Due to their strict characteristic in power, they were successful leaders. People felt obligated to follow their directions. They were both active organizers and were able to expand their classroom experiment to the school and Nazi party throughout Germany. Some of Mr. Ross's rules were to sit up straight in the entire class, when asking or answering a question the student needed to immediately stand up and begin each sentence or question with " Mr. Ross" and ending the sentence or question with "sir". Adolf Hitler was strict in obvious ways during his dictatorship. He thought that everyone should be part of the Aryan race. If you were Jewish, you would be put to death. Both men forced other people to feel obligated to follow their ways of their group's beliefs. Mr. Ross and Adolf Hitler both had an official salute for their group. Also, both of them had an official symbol for their group. The symbol represented they were in unity together.
Even though Mr. Ross and Adolf Hitler were similar in many ways, they were also different in many ways. Aldolf Hitler's plan was to take over Germany and eventually take over the world. Mr. Ross's plan was to only teach the class why individuals followed Adolf Hitler. Mr. Ross was a young and enthusiastic teacher while Hitler was a poorly educated man who quit school at the age of fifteen. Due to Adolf Hitler's actions, he was sentenced to five years of prison because of treason but resulting in only one served. Because of Mr. Ross's actions, his job as a teacher was threatened but he ended The Wave and everything was returned to normal. Aldolf Hitler's plan did not succeed as planned. Mr. Ross's plan went farther than he intended, but it taught an important lesson to the class and the school.
The students support of the experiment to that of the German's support of the Nazi party were similar because they had positive growth in membership. Students showed positive and enthusiastic support by participating in the classroom. Examples of supporting the experiment were saluting fellow wave members and Mr. Ross, drawing a symbol onto the black board symbolizing a wave, and students chanting, "Strength through Community, Strength through Discipline, Strength Through Action". Nazis supported Adolf Hitler by supporting and enforcing the rules.
Robert Billings, an outsider his entire life and bad at school, suddenly finds himself to be more confident and have friends. He went from always being late and not doing homework to always being on time and paying attention in class.
Laurie Saunders, a bright and energized student, provides negative support to The Wave experiment. She receives a letter explaining how someone was threatened into becoming a member of The Wave. In the school newspaper she writes some articles, uncovering some hidden secrets about The Wave. Her boyfriend, David, says she is just jealous.
There were many similar and contrasting negative impacts from the Wave and the Nazi party. Culture and individualism were both impacted from both events. One of the negative impacts from the Wave was that individualism was destroyed, resulting in no creativity. Also, David pushes Laurie during an argument. One example from the Nazis of a negative impact was that Adolf Hitler thought that everybody should have blond hair and blue eyes.
A difference of the negative impacts for Germany was concerning economics. Adolf Hitler scared everyone, which created high difficulty to work under the threat of violence. This did not happen at Gordon High School. Also, a major negative impact in Germany, many people, including children died because of Adolf Hitler's dictatorship.
The desire for leadership and group identity is shown in Gordon High School as well as the historic movement in Nazi Germany. Through Mr. Ross's experiment, the students followed the leader and group identity was important. Saluting, chanting, and membership cards demonstrated group identity from Mr. Ross's leadership. Even David Collins, an original member of The Wave, expanded memberships to his football team. Finally at the school's Wave rally, a large projector was in the gym so that everyone could watch without any obstacles. The leadership and group identity of the historic movement of Nazi Germany was in reality at the Gordon High School Adolf Hitler was the leader of The Wave. Me. Ross then states, "You all would make good Nazis".
Overall, the experiment, The Wave and the historic movement in Nazi Germany had many similarities and differences as discussed in this report. The main conclusion was that The Wave members and the Nazi party of Germany have the same style leader, Adolf Hitler. Peer pressure can greatly impact individualism in our culture. Always be yourself and show the power to be yourself.
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