Life — January 29, 1920 — page 17: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon depicts a hiring or employment scene. A young man sits at a desk (appearing to be an interviewer or employer), while two older, well-dressed gentlemen stand before him. Based on the dialogue caption—"I THOUGHT YOU SAID, YOUNG MAN, THAT YOU HAD A COLLEGE EDUCATION." "I HAVE, SIR. I AM NO GOOD TO A VASSAR GRADUATE."—the satire targets class pretension and education snobbery. The joke appears to critique the era's social hierarchies: the young man is admitting his college education makes him *unmarriageable* to a Vassar graduate (a prestigious women's college), suggesting he lacks sufficient social status or wealth despite his credentials. The cartoon mocks both the superficiality of educational prestige and the rigid class consciousness of the period's marriage market.