For my persuasion effect project, I decided that I wanted to recreate popular propaganda

that people may have seen before. My original reason for this idea is because I think adding a bit
of comedy to serious situations can bring people’s attention to it. According to Jill Anderson, a
Graduate Student from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, she added a quote that made
me realize how good of an idea making propaganda could be. She says ““When you start to learn
about propaganda, you inevitably realize the value and the importance of multiperspectival
thinking,” she says. “The ability to think about a topic from a range of different points of view
turns out to be incredibly powerful, to activate intellectual curiosity, to promote reasoning, to
encourage genuine value judgments.”” This encouraged me to recreate propaganda for this
project because of the truth behind it. Propaganda is a way to understand someone else's point of
view and get more into a subject.
In the first one on the left, I decided to recreate Uncle Sam’s “We Want YOU” poster.
The original poster says “We Want You for U.S. Army: nearest Recruiting Station”. Uncle Sam
looks like he is pointing directly at you and I kind of liked that effect. So for my recreation, I
found a picture of a teacher pointing away from her like she is telling you to get out. I think that
it kind of has the effect that she really does not want you there, which is why I chose that specific
picture. For the text, I put “We Don’t Want You At Our School: There are too many students
here”. Obviously I put We Don't Want You instead of We Want You so it is a little bit of a play
on words. I also tried to create an exact replication of the borders of the poster and the old timey
feeling so that it had that vintage look.
For the one on the right, I recreated the Rosie the Riveter “We Can Do It” poster.
Obviously, I put “We Can’t Do It”. The girl with her hands in her face is a student who is
overwhelmed by school and feels like she can no longer do it. I wanted this one to represent how
having too many students in a class may feel. Those who cannot ask their teachers for help often
fall behind, and with classrooms as full as they are in Utah high schools, this is sadly a feeling
that many students feel on a regular basis. Although kind of a funny play on words, the problem
is very serious. Graduation rates are going to begin to fall, students are going to struggle after
graduation, and teachers' mental health will worsen by the year if we do not find a solution.
Teachers, students, parents, administrators and legislators need to come together to find a way to
decrease the number of students in a class that works for everyone.

References

Miller, J. H. (1943). We Can Do It! photograph.

Flagg, J. M. (1917). I Want You For U.S. Army. photograph.

Howard, J. (n.d.). Harvard Edcast: Propaganda education for a Digital age. Harvard
Graduate School of Education. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/21/03/harvard-edcast-propaganda-education-digital-age

Photograph Angry teacher in glasses pointing out Retrieved April 7, 2022, from
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/angry-teacher-glasses-pointing-out-149512241

Photograph Overwhelmed student Retrieved April 7, 2022, from Google Photos