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Life, 1915-10-21 · page 47 of 52

Life — October 21, 1915 — page 47: what you’re looking at

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Life — October 21, 1915 — page 47: Life, 1915-10-21

What you’re looking at

This page contains a satirical essay criticizing American universities as institutions designed to suppress independent thought rather than encourage it. **The Satire:** The text mocks universities for teaching only "dead things"—dead languages, kings, and civilizations—while avoiding present-day problems. The author argues universities deliberately prevent students from thinking critically, instead feeding them "hand-picked facts" filtered through a rigid hierarchy: students believe what faculty say, faculty believe what trustees say, trustees believe what politicians say, and politicians answer to financiers and monopolists. **The Point:** The satire exposes how universities function as tools of the existing power structure, protecting wealthy interests by keeping students ignorant of current social injustices. Independent thought is portrayed as dangerous to the system. The remainder of the page contains period advertisements (Allen's Foot-Ease powder, cedar chests, and Gillette Safety Razors), typical of Life magazine's revenue model. This reflects early 20th-century progressive criticism of higher education as complicit in maintaining economic inequality.

📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

tion hout the such em- this nent and may onal alt Cross lucky ess as Sut it r the stands, chil- ent a aS got ls and which doing f one other some other wants what- make ntries y war, a 3g 7), vs Ps See the VS EE and behold the University. Yes, what a well-dressed and well-behaved University it is! What is the University for? The University is for the purpose of taking the youth of our country and making them refined and cultured and educated and superior. How does the University go about this? The University goes about this by teaching the students all about dead things—dead languages, dead kings, dead races, dead civilizations, dead theories, dead religions and so on, Why is that? The University aims to direct the attention of the students to the beau- ties of the past in order to prevent them from finding out too much about the horrors of the present. Are the students taught to think? No. They are merely taught facts which are carefully hand-picked, They are made to believe that it is danger- ous to think, because it might disturb some of our well-established and more respectable iniquities. ALLEN’S FOOT-EASE The Antiseptic Powder to Shake Into Your Shoes i Makes tight-fitting or new shoes feel A ‘25 ‘Allen's Foot-Ease has Ky| For 25 years been the Si Remedy for Tired, aching, swollen, smarting, tender feet. Nothing rests the feet so quickly and thor- oughly. It takes the friction from the Shoe, the sting out of Corns and Bunions and makes walking a delight. We bave over 30,000 testimonials. Try it TO-DAY. Sold here, 25c. Don’ sub TRIAL PACKAGE accept any: FREE cya Sater ALLEN 8. OLMSTED, Lo Roy, N.Y. FREE Trial for y Xm: Your choice of 100 styles famous Piedmont southern red cedar chest oa 1S days’ free trial. We pay the freight. | A Piedmont pro~ tects furs, woolens and plimes from moths, mice, Geet tiny. Finest gilttoany woman. Deart miss tis hoeral ber, ‘Wet tocsy lor big, new catalog and reduced factory prices. Piedmont Red Cedar Chest Co., Dept. 88, Statesville, N.C. Grand Prize—Highest Award IHE Gillette Safety Razor wins e Grand Prize, Highest Award at the Panama-Pacific Inter- national Exposition, Made in America: Known the World Over—at home everywhere. Asks no odds of the heaviest beard —is kind to theskin—keeps right on the GILLETTE SAFETY BOSTON, job—and No Stropping, No Honing. Seven million Gillette users in all countries will endorse this finding of the Exposition Jury of Award. If you are a Gillette user and know its value, think of your friends and remember the Gillette is “‘the happy thought in gifts.” Gillette Safety Razors, $5 to $50. Blades 50c. and $1 a packet. RAZOR COMPANY MASS. 2 Who decides what those facts shall be? It works this way. The object being to prevent independent thinking of every kind, the students think what the faculty tell them to think; the faculty think what the trustees tell them to think; the trustees think what the politicians tell them to think; the politicians think what the financiers and monopolists tell them to think, and the financiers think that nothing is so reprehensible as to try to disturb a profitable graft after it has once been stocked and bonded and distributed ac- cording to the rules of the stock market. Does the University realize what a small cog it is in a very large wheel? No, except upon those rare occa- sions when a member of the faculty breaks through the lines and insists upon expressing opinions which are not orthodox. BLO... comicbooks.com