Questions that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars raise have the power to divide us along lines of ideology, political party, family background, and personal history. The Recruiter asks viewers to step beyond personal bias and to see the war through the eyes of young people. Their desire to enlist is not called into question, but is placed in the context of poverty and opportunity, family and personal responsibility, and service.
This curriculum provides teachers with tools to take students beyond their own perspectives on war, and into the lives of teenagers choosing to enlist in the United States Army for varied and complex reasons. It asks students to deconstruct the circumstances shaping the decisions of Lauren, Matt, Chris and Bobby. It also prompts discussion about the personal circumstances of the teenagers themselves, and the nature of the war in which they are participating.
This curriculum has been divided into eleven distinct lessons. Teachers might choose to screen the film in its entirety beforehand, and use selected resources and lesson plans that serve the needs and interests of their students. Alternatively, they might choose to screen the film in segments, relating each to a specific lesson plan, learning outcome, and set of suggested resources.
Teachers should note that The Recruiter contains language that might not be appropriate for more sensitive viewers.
For more information on how to obtain a copy of the film and a complete curriculum please email our Educational Outreach Coordinator, Sheila Sundar, at info@propellerfilms.com.
You can also download the full curriculum on this page and obtain a copy of the film at your local video store or “HERE”
The filmmakers would love to hear back from you and your students. After teaching a lesson on the film please ask your students to film out this form and mail them to us at:
Propeller Films, 391 First Street, Suite #7, Brooklyn, NY 11215.
Thank you!
Students will deepen their understanding of the context surrounding the choice that each of the recruits makes. They will draw connections between their own lives and the lives of Lauren, Bobby, Matt, and Chris. In addition, they will develop an understanding of the benefits promised by the United States Army, as well as the impact that war can have on young men and women. They will enter a discussion as a class about whether or not the army succeeds in providing adequately for its soldiers, and whether or not the benefits associate with enlisting, outweigh the costs. They will gather the background information necessary in order to begin watching The Recruiter, with a deeper knowledge of the opportunities that Lauren, Matt, Chris, and Bobby are pursuing by enlisting in the army.
In this lesson, students will rely on the film, as well as outside readings, to develop an understanding of the role that poverty and the pursuit of educational and economic opportunities, play in the decision that young men and women make to enlist in the army. Students will focus on the circumstances of Matt and Lauren, in particular, and discuss the choice that both soldiers make, in the context of their family responsibilities and circumstances, and their goals for the future.
In the previous lesson, students examined the role that poverty plays in shaping the choices of men and women who enlist in the United States Army. In this lesson, they will continue to examine the reasons behind enlistment, by looking at the promise of family, support, and mentorship that the army offers. They will focus on the relationship that both Matt and Chris form with Sergeant Usie, and consider how young men and women might be drawn to military service, because it offers them a chance to recreate themselves with the promise of an army family to support their personal growth.
In this lesson, students will be asked to discuss various forms and definitions of national service, including, but not limited to, military service. Through outside readings, they will consider the extent to which serving underserved communities within and outside of the United States is a form of national service. They will consider whether or not they support mandatory national service, and what that might mean to their generation.
Students will analyze the messages and assess the effectiveness of advertisements used during the First and Second World Wars, as well as images from the United States Army website, promoting the benefits they offer soldiers. They will consider the ways in which war and the soldiers who enlist to fight are portrayed in these advertisements. In addition, they will analyze the words and strategies Sergeant Usie uses to earn the attention, trust, and commitment of potential recruits. Throughout this lesson, they will assess the difference between advertising and propaganda, as well as the difference between informing and manipulating one’s audience.
Students will understand the factors that shape the debate around the presence of military recruiters on high school campuses. They may consider the economic and racial factors that have contributed to and heightened this debate. In addition, they will build on their analysis of war-time recruitment strategies to debate whether or not the need for more voluntary soldiers in a time of war justifies the means of obtaining them.
Students will discuss various definitions of patriotism, and arrive at their own definition(s). They will engage in several readings in which individuals affected by the Iraq War in distinct ways, discuss their own beliefs about war and the address issues of patriotism and the rights and responsibilities of everyday people.
In this lesson, students will analyze and discuss the realities of war, as portrayed in The Recruiter, and compare these realities to the myths that surround war, and which initially persuaded Matt, Lauren, Chris, and Bobby to enlist. Through close analysis of the film, they will assess the following: What beliefs about the war did individuals hold before their departure for basic training; what realities are the soldiers confronted with upon their arrival at basic training; do they all believe they made the right decision to enlist? Does the army offer them what they hoped it would?
Through this lesson, students will develop their own position on the question of resuming the military draft, in an effort to create an armed forces representative of the demographics of all of the United States. They will analyze statistical information, and arguments in favor of reinstating the draft. After synthesizing the reasons offered in support of a military draft, they will develop their own positions arguing for or against the proposed legislation.
The following articles capture soldiers’ voices through excerpts from letters and interviews. The first article, “Six of the Fallen in Words They Sent Home,” tells the stories of soldiers who never made it home, focusing on the hopes they had for themselves and those they left behind, their fears, losses, and sacrifices. The articles that follow focus on the struggles that many soldiers encounter upon their return home. These resources are intended to broaden the story of the men and women in the armed forces, and the challenges and losses that they and their families endure.
