"Lesson Plan" Trailer
Spring, 1967: Disillusionment, anger and confusion bubble to the surface of the nation's psyche. American youth are on the precipice of a social revolution and, for a few tumultuous days, a young history teacher at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California attempts a startling social experiment that will inspire comment and analysis to this day. To explain the appeal of fascism in Nazi Germany, teacher Ron Jones created a classroom setting wherein students subjugated personal freedom to the good of the community, under a charismatic leader followed almost without question. Replete with salutes and Gestapo-like informants, the so-called Third Wave ("The Wave") soon attracted scores of students throughout Cubberley and neighboring schools, spiraling out of Jones' control. This moving reunion and recounting by Jones, school administrators, former students, and Dr Philip Zimbardo (Stanford Prison Experiment) enthralls with the force of inescapable conclusions. Also, what makes this film unique is that the director was a member of the original Third Wave class. "Lesson Plan" is a documentary made possible with a grant from the Righteous Persons Foundation.