Page 588 - Understanding Psychology

READINGS IN PSYCHOLOGY
Reader’s Dictionary
Todd Strasser’s The Wave is based on a true incident that occurred in 1969 in a California classroom. Read this excerpt from the book to find out what happened when teacher Ben Ross took an unusual approach to teaching his class about the control of the Nazi party.
punctual: prompt; arriving on time
precise: exact; definite; strictly following rules
THE WAVE
BY TODD STRASSER
For the next twenty minutes the class practiced getting out of their seats, wandering around in apparent disorganization and then, at their teacher’s command, quickly returning to their seats and the correct seated posture. Ben shouted orders more like a drill sergeant than a teacher. Once they seemed to have mastered quick and correct seating, he threw in a new twist. They would still leave their seats and return. But now they would return from the hallway and Ross would time them with a stopwatch.
On the first try, it took forty-eight seconds. The second time they were able to do it in half a minute. Before the last attempt, David had an idea.
“Listen,” he told his classmates as they stood outside in the hall waiting for Mr. Ross’s signal. “Let’s line up in the order of who has to go the farthest to reach their desks inside. That way we won’t have to bump into each other.”
The rest of the class agreed. As they got into the correct order, they couldn’t help noticing that Robert was at the head of the line. “The new head of the class,” someone whispered as they waited nervously for their teacher to give them the sign. Ben snapped his fingers and the column of students moved quickly and quietly into the room. As the last student reached his seat, Ben clicked the stop-
watch off. He was smiling. “Sixteen seconds.”
The class cheered.
“All right, all right, quiet down,” their teacher
said, returning to the front of the room. To his surprise, the students calmed down quickly. The silence that suddenly filled the room was almost eerie. Normally the only time the room was that still, Ross thought, was when it was empty.
“Now, there are three more rules that you must obey,” he told them. “One. Everybody must have pencils and note paper for note-taking. Two. When asking or answering a question, you must stand at the side of your seats. And three. The first words you say when answering or asking a question are, ‘Mr. Ross.’ All right?”
Around the room, heads nodded.
“All right,” Mr. Ross said. “Brad, who was the British Prime Minister before Churchill?”
Still sitting at his seat, Brad chewed nervously on a fingernail. “Uh, wasn’t it—”
But before he could say more, Mr. Ross quickly cut him off. “Wrong, Brad, you already forgot the rules I just told you.” He looked across the room at Robert. “Robert, show Brad the proper procedure for answering a question.”
Instantly Robert stood up next to his desk at attention. “Mr. Ross.”
“Correct,” Mr. Ross said. “Thank you, Robert.” “Aw, this is dumb,” Brad mumbled.
“Just because you couldn’t do it right,” someone
said.
“Brad,” Mr. Ross said, “who was the Prime
Minister before Churchill?”
This time Brad rose and stood beside his desk.
“Mr. Ross, it was, uh, Prime Minister, uh.”
“You’re still too slow, Brad,” Mr. Ross said. “From now on, everyone make your answers as short as possible, and spit them out when asked.
Now, Brad, try again.”
This time Brad snapped up beside his seat. “Mr.
Ross, Chamberlain.”
574 Unit 7 / Social Psychology