For educators · Lesson plan

Propaganda or persuasion?

Grades 9–12 Duration One 50-minute period Standards DE, NJ, TX, CA, IL
Objectives
  1. Distinguish persuasion that engages judgment from propaganda that bypasses it
  2. Apply a practical test to a message: would it survive careful thought?
  3. Recognize that true claims can be delivered by propaganda techniques
  4. Argue a position honestly, then argue it with techniques, and compare
Procedure

Before class

Read the compare page and the persuasion entry. Prepare two short texts on the same harmless proposition, one that argues it with evidence and one that sells it with techniques; or use the examples on the compare page.

Procedure

  1. Two texts (10 min). Show both texts. Students vote on which is more convincing, then on which is more honest. The votes usually split, and the gap between them is the subject.
  2. The test (10 min). Present the test from the compare page: does the message survive the audience thinking carefully about it? Walk through both texts with the test. The honest one gets stronger under scrutiny; the other falls apart.
  3. The hard part (10 min). Present a true claim delivered with techniques: a public health message that uses fear and a celebrity, say. Ask whether it is propaganda. Push for the answer the site gives: the technique is the same whatever the cause, and recognizing it does not mean rejecting the claim. Set the technique aside and look at the claim.
  4. Write it twice (15 min). Each student picks a trivial proposition (the school should start later; cats are better than dogs) and writes two paragraphs: one that argues it with reasons, one that sells it with three named techniques. Pairs swap and identify which is which and what the techniques are.
  5. Close (5 min). Which paragraph was easier to write? Most students find the techniques easier. Discuss why, and what that implies about the messages they meet every day.
Assessment

The two paragraphs, with the techniques in the second named in the margin, and the partner's identification. Assess for a clear argument in the first, deliberate technique in the second, and correct identification by the partner.