Recruiting+Within+Schools

Gathering recruits for the United States Military is the job of many officers of the US armed forces. But how do they go about getting these recruits in a time of war when there is a high risk of being placed in combat? Well, like most jobs, these recruiters have a quota to make every month and in this case, they need recruits, not money. Furthermore, in order to meet their quota, the recruiters rely on propaganda and falsifications to get the attention of young people who would maybe consider a career within the US Military. First, these recruiters go to the most obvious place where they can come into contact with young people, at high school. By contacting the students at a time when they are going to make life-changing decisions, whether it is continuing their education at a college or university, or going into the job force, the military offers a third option that they have to make sound appetizing. After reading the Army’s Recruiting Handbook, the techniques that are given to recruiters to use at local high schools are kind of shocking. For example, the handbook instructs recruiters to things such as, “Cultivate coaches, librarians, administrative staff and teachers”, “Co-ordinate with school officials to eat lunch in the cafeteria”, even to go as far as to “always have something to give them (pen, calendar, cups, donuts, etc.)”. Another way these recruiters have access to you and your information is through the government. With the No Child Left Behind act that was put into place by President George W. Bush in 2001, public schools that receive state funding are required to provide recruiters with students’ names, addresses, and telephone listings. By making this information available to recruiters, it allows them to try and develop a more personal relationship with the student which would encourage them, or make them feel more comfortable about joining a part of the armed forces. So how does propaganda tie in with this information? Well as stated in the opening paragraphs of the School Recruiting Program Handbook that is provided by the Army for its recruiters, the goal is to have school ownership. It also goes into detail as to how to appeal to different schools by learning their strengths and weaknesses. By doing so, it allows the recruiter to put together a program that would best cater to the students’ needs which allows them to become more interested in the Army.

Army School Recruiting Handbook: []

You are off to a good start. Try to connect this topic to our definitions of propaganda --- and address the problem that critics will say that army recruiting is "just" persuasion/advertising. You may need to address issues of social class and power in order to make the link to propaganda more clear. Have you considered exploring the U.S. Army videogame as a form of recruiting propaganda?

As you write, be sure to carefully distinguish between your own writing and the work of others by clearly identifying when you are summarizing, paraphrasing and using direct quotation. Use the (author, date) method of internal citation to make this clear to your readers.

Also, check out this video from the Media That Matters Festival:

Cheifitz, G. (2008). No Child. [ONLINE VIDEO]. Media That Matters Film Festival. Available online: http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/films/no_child

GRADE: B