"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
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; artist Charles Alston)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance, Labor
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 208, Artworks and Mockups for Cartoons Promoting the War Effort (NAID 535594), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-42 (NAID 535612).
Text on the object
"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
