More than 40 years ago, a history teacher named Ron Jones unleashed a social experiment meant to teach his students a lesson about fascism. Five days later, it had spiraled out of his control. And today, his former students are still trying to decide how to think about what happened.

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PART THREE

Lesson Plan: The Story of the Third Wave

44 years ago, a student in Ron Jones' history class asked a question that set off a chain of events no one could have foreseen. The year was 1967 and the question was "Could it happen here?" -- "it" being the Holocaust. "Here" being Palo Alto, California. Instead of answering the question directly, Ron Jones created an exercise in "experiential learning" that he thought would teach the students the dangers of fascism. It was meant to be harmless, but it quickly spun out of control.

Ron Jones joined us this morning to fill in the blanks. He was in San Francisco. Philip Neel was one of the students in Ron Jones' class in 1967. He is also the director of a new documentary about the experience called Lesson Plan: The Story of the Third Wave. Philip Neel was in Culver City, California. And Alyssa Reit is also another former student and is now a musician in New York City.

Lesson Plan: The Story of the Third Wave will show at the DOXA Film Festival in Vancouver on May 12th.

Related Links:

• In 'The Wave,' ex-teacher Ron Jones looks back By Sam Whiting - SF Gate
• The Third Wave, 1967, an account - Ron Jones

Last Word - Dave Merheje

The last word this morning went to Canadian comic, Dave Merheje and his take on how our politicians are targeting Canada's ethnic and cultural communities something we talked about earlier in the program.

Other segments from today's show:

• Bahraini Government Crackdown
• The "Ethnic Vote"