Judge — January 22, 1927 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Bachelor of Arts" — Judge Magazine Cartoon This satirical cartoon depicts a disheveled man in formal attire sprawled on the ground outside what appears to be a college building (marked "ARNOLD COLLEGE"). Several well-dressed women gesture dismissively at him from the steps. The satire targets the "Bachelor of Arts" degree—suggesting that a humanities education leaves graduates unprepared for practical life, literally knocked down by society. The women's rejection implies the degree holder lacks marketable skills or status. The scattered hat and his prone position emphasize his failure and humiliation. This reflects early 20th-century anxieties about liberal arts education's value amid rapid industrialization, when critics questioned whether classical education adequately prepared men for economic competition. The cartoon mocks both the degree and its holder as impractical and unmarketable.