Education Is The Most Powerful Weapon Analysis

Analytical essay on the visual text ‘Education is the most powerful weapon’

Introduction

Education is widely regarded as a fundamental necessity for individual and societal growth and development. All children deserve the ‘precious gift’ of education, a gift that has the potential to become a powerful weapon that can be used to either protect or harm people. The chosen text is based on Nelson Mandela’s famous quote: “Education is the most important weapon to change the world”, with the designer taking the general idea a step further by creating a visual representation of Mandela’s message. The graphic artist succeeds in conveying this message with dramatic effect to readers of adolescent age and above, by use of vector in the overall image,

Although the main message conveyed to the audience is in the words of the text itself, the shape of the gun is just important in reinforcing this message. The gun symbolises how education can be used to either enhance or damage the position of oneself or others. Therefore, education can be viewed as a weapon with the potential to cause benefit or harm. The maturity of those exposed to this symbolic text would be a consideration in deciding just who should see it and in what context. Adults and older adolescents would be drawn to the image of the handgun but would then be able to see its symbolic meaning. They would then focus on the words used and the message they carry. However, by choosing the symbol of a hand gun, the graphic artist is taking a risk that his message could be misinterpreted by those of lower developmental ages or lower emotional levels. In addition, given the current concern over gun control and shootings in schools in USA, along with the U.S president’s recent suggestion that teachers should be armed with handguns, the suitability of this image for an American audience could be questionable. Having said this, while it may not be applicable to all social situations or groups, the strength of the message contained in the graphic cannot be denied. Largely because of the use of

Because the attention of the reader is drawn to the large “IS”, the immediate reaction is to search for exactly “WHAT?” is the subject of “IS”. The answer is “education”, whose font size is the smallest in the whole visual text, and which forces the reader to focus closely so as to find the answer. Similarly, by contrasting the colour of the words as either black or white, the creator links “we” and “powerful”. Again, this emphasises each individual’s control over the use of the “weapon” of “education”.

Conclusion On balance, therefore the image chosen is effective in conveying its message to the intended audience. The use of vector, along with the contrast in colours and sizes of the fonts, influences the reader to seek out the message, while the symbol of the gun suggests power and individual control. However, care must be taken to ensure that this text is seen by a mature, emotionally balanced audience, and a question mark hangs over its appropriateness for use at the USA given the current gun debate and recent school