Life — June 21, 1923 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Lowbrow" - College Boys This satirical cartoon and accompanying text mock stereotypical "college boys" of the era. The image shows a group of young men wearing glasses, depicted with exaggerated, somewhat buffoonish facial features gathered together. The text humorously catalogs contradictory college boy stereotypes: those "always on vacation" yet never vacationing, who read Schopenhauer but also *La Vie Parisienne*, who drive racing cars and get arrested, who smoke pipes with college initials. The satire suggests college boys are simultaneously pretentious intellectuals and reckless troublemakers—vacuous poseurs trying to appear sophisticated while behaving foolishly. The "lowbrow" title indicates the piece criticizes superficial, affected student culture, portraying college boys as ridiculous social climbers beneath the dignity of true intellectuals.