Life, 1915-09-30 · page 11 of 45
Life — September 30, 1915 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This *Life* magazine page contains two satirical pieces about education and war strategy. **"Those Diploma Holders"** critiques college graduates who treat their diplomas as final achievements rather than starting points for lifelong learning. The cartoon shows a pompous graduate, and the article argues such people stop educating themselves and gradually forget what they learned. **"The Real Line of Retreat"** appears to mock Russia's military situation during what seems to be World War I (references to "the war" and Russian retreats). An optimistic student claims Russia's retreats are merely strategic, but the piece skeptically notes Russia's actual supply problems. The Devil's Decoy illustration below appears to be a separate satirical cartoon about deception or trickery, though its exact meaning is unclear from the image alone.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“TEESE ° Those Diploma Holders Atul holders of diplomas may be di- vided into two classes: those who are educated and those who are merely college graduates. If a man takes his diploma home, stores it away in his private archives without even attempt- ing to decipher its Latin, assumes that he is thoroughly educated and there- fore avoids all further acquisition of knowledge, then he is merely a college graduate, and by the time he is fifty he Aw will know much less than he did the day he strutted forth from the walls of his alma mater. But, on the other hand, there are those who look the bald, unsentimental facts squarely in the face and realize that “Commencement” was only the beginning of their education and not the end, and that the most a college could reasonably hope to do was to give young men a vague idea as to how much there is to learn. It is possible for such as these to keep right on and by diligent application to become educated by the time they are fifty or sixty. Many do this without the initial assist- ance of the university, and do it better. Hence the eternal argument as to which are the most efficient, college grad- uates or non-college graduates. The erroneous idea as to the finality of a college diploma is, of course, largely due to the diploma itself. It would be remedial, first, to print diplomas in plain English, and, second, to state more specifically what they signify. The following is suggested as a tentative form: This is to certify that Joux Numoskute has spent four desultory years attending classes in the University of the Academic Obfuscators; that during those years a few more or less unimportant and detached facts have been made to penctrate his reluctant cranium. Nevertheless, the professors have zealously tried to make the said Numbskull realize that there is much he does not know; that vast fields of knowledge lic all about him, and that if he will browse in some of these fields with ordinary concentration, there is no reason why he should not ultimately become educated and thus be of value to himself and his fellow-men. (Signed) Franx Ernest Canvor, President, “REALLY, ISABELLA, THIS SUNDAY MOXNING CUUKCH- GOING IS ALL VERY FINE, BUT IT PLAYS THE DEUCE WITH ONE'S GOLF” The Real Line of Retreat N optimistic student of the war tells us that Russia’s continuing retreats are merely strategic. “She is merely falling upon her base of supplies,” says he. This statement should cause us some uneasiness in this country, for Russia’s chief source of supplies at this writing, barring a few things she gets from Japan, seems to be located somewhere between Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Bridge- port, Connecticut. Von Hindenburg may be able to get a view of the San Francisco Exposition after all, THE DEVIL’s DECOY comicbooks.com