---
title: '"Go Back to School!!"'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/go-back-to-school-alston-1943/
description: A pencil drawing shows a man and a woman seen from behind, the woman wearing a head covering, looking toward a school building under rays and the words
section: Collection
---

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3. "Go Back to School!!"

[!["Go Back to School!!", 1943 US cartoon: A pencil drawing shows a man and a woman seen from behind, the woman wearing a head](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/go-back-to-school-alston-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/go-back-to-school-alston-1943.jpg)

# "Go Back to School!!"

A pencil drawing shows a man and a woman seen from behind, the woman wearing a head covering, looking toward a school building under rays and the words 'Preparation for Tomorrow'. A quoted news item above cites good wages in war industry reducing school registration. The tell is glittering generalities: 'Preparation for Tomorrow' is a positive abstraction offered in place of a specific argument.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
"LURE OF GOOD WAGES IN WAR INDUSTRY CAUSING DRASTIC REDUCTION IN SCHOOL REGISTRATION..."
NEWS ITEM
PREPARATION FOR TOMORROW
SCHOOL
"GO BACK TO SCHOOL!!"
Alston OWI
```

[← Follow Me! Men 18-19: Apply Now at Any U.S. Army Recruiting and Induction Station](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/follow-me-men-18-19-us-army-1943/) [We'll have lots to eat this winter, won't we Mother? Grow your own, can your own →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/grow-your-own-can-your-own-1943/)

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- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
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- [Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)