Life — August 22, 1930 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Schooling Raises Pay" - Metropolitan Life Insurance Advertisement This is **not satire but persuasive advertising** by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The page uses a domestic scene—a boy asking his father about quitting school for work—to argue that **education increases earning potential**. The ad presents statistics: high school graduates earn $1.00 for every 72 cents earned by boys with only elementary education. The father counsels his son that while self-made men exist, they are exceptions. Better-educated workers receive preference in employment and earn higher wages across manual, mechanical, and professional fields. The underlying pitch: education provides financial security, making life insurance (and Metropolitan's policies) a worthwhile investment for families' futures. The message reflects early 20th-century American faith in education as economic mobility.