Barack Obama 's ' Bowie State University Commencement Speech ' And Mike Rose 's Blue Collar Brilliance '

Jay Macleod’s ethnography, Ain’t No Makin It, sheds light on the institute of education in America and how the country’s capital economy both mirrors and produces inequality by creating hierarchies that make social mobility obsolete. He does this through the use of two groups of predominantly Caucasian and predominantly African American youth who reside in the same low income neighborhood and attend the same school. He soon learned that in contrast to the Hallway Hangers, the predominantly white group who for the majority believed that there was no escape from their socioeconomic background, the Brothers, the predominantly African American group do aspire to hold middle class jobs in the future that provided stable incomes and commit to long term relationships with significant others. However, in his pursuit to conclude his research on the two groups MacLeod found that with the exception of one or two, members from neither of the groups were able to climb up the social ladder and bring about change to their status. Although the two groups did share a common upbringing, they differed in race, beliefs, ideas, and attitudes and therefore their failure to achieve success cannot be seen as mutual.

In the article “Blue Collar Brilliance”, Mike Rose emphasizes that blue collar jobs should be recognized for their amount of work and intelligence levels required. Usually in today’s world, blue collar jobs are viewed as monotonous tasks that require little or no ability or intellect. Rose argues that individuals often judge people who work in blue collar jobs based on the level of education. Rose’s argument is that formal education does not define the level of intelligence in a person. He made his argument effective by providing the idea and evidence that intelligence should be respected, regardless of where it is learned or gained.

Writer, Mike Rose, in his rhetorical essay, “Blue-Collar Brilliance,” voices his familiarities with family members that labored blue-collar jobs as well as a few of his occurrences as a student. Persuading his audience, Rose judges that blue-collar jobs require intelligence and that intelligence should not be dignified by the amount of schooling that one has received. Mike Rose not only analyzes his mother, a waitress, but nonetheless of his uncle, who started a job working on the assembly line at General Motors and accomplished enough to become a supervisor. Comparing the lives of his family and the author’s experience in receiving a higher education, Rose describes his experience in observing

“What’s the key to success in the United States?”(Steinberg,2010), author Jacques Steinberg starts off his article “Plan B: Skip College” with a powerful question that has been asked by many Americans. Majority of Americans first thoughts would be higher education. The ideology that obtaining a degree is the best and sometimes only way to be successful in the American economy. This has been instilled in numerous children growing up. Steinberg states “perhaps no more than half of who began a four-year bachelor's degree program in the fall of 2006 will get that degree within six years according to the department of education”(Steinberg,2010). Students who tend to not excel in high school often take longer, or at times finish a higher education at all. These

College is the next stepping stone to better or advance ones social standing in life, whether it is moving from a blue collar lifestyle to white collar, or to continue to further their career path. However, it comes with an “unavoidable result.” Alfred Lubrano discusses this “unavoidable result” in his text “The Shock of Education: How College Corrupts.” Lubrano discusses the topic of how furthering ones education opens more possibilities but at the same time distances those held most dearly. He explains that the more knowledge gained, the bigger the gap caused between friends and family due to differences in levels of knowledge. That distance is greatly increase if one comes from a poorer region where blue collar workers are the social

The articles “Blue-Collar Brilliance” written by Mike Rose and “Are Too Many People Going to College?” by Charles Murray discuss the importance of education and its outcomes. Both authors talk about people’s careers on the aspect of whether a college degree made them succeed in life or it is just an expensive waste of time. Also, each article has its own opinion over the fact that some people with college education aren’t able to find jobs while others with no college background are able to succeed. Rose and Murray, both agreed on the idea that college isn’t for all just simply because of its cost, and how each person’s intelligence does not depend on their acceptance to a college; further, both authors also acknowledge the importance of blue-collar workers and their prosperity.

There is an expectation for this generation to attend college after graduating high school. There is also a stigma held by those higher on the social ladder, one that the less educated blue-collar workforce is inferior to others. In Mike Rose’s essay “Blue Collar Brilliance” he compares the level of education to the experience gained through challenges, and contends that blue collar employees are of equal intelligence to higher educated employees. This article is written to challenge the misconceptions that other classes hold about the amount of education that a person receives, and how It affects their work ethic. Through the use of pathos, ethos, and logos Mike Rose forges a connection with the audience to convey this message.

Rose’s background and credentials give him the credibility he needs in order to effectively express and backup his claims about blue-collar workers. As a professor who specializes in literacy and learning, Rose applies his studies and presents it to the audience in order to establish a high level of authority. Rose explains how his mother quit school in seventh grade and how his father never earned a higher education as well. As for Rose, he proved his education by saying, “I went back to graduate school to study education and cognitive psychology and eventually became a faculty member in a school of education” (246-247). By this alone, the reader can see Rose went farther in formal education than either of his parents did. Rose acquired extensive knowledge throughout his academic years. His studies revolved around human behavior and psyche, which created the basis for analysis of his own family who endured a life of blue-collar community. By including this in his article, Rose is letting the reader know that he can back up his own life stories with studies. Rose willingly exposes his childhood life as a way to express the complexity of such jobs, and to clarify that those jobs contain much more than just the physical aspects of it. While, yes Rose believed his mother’s job was more than just physical having seen her work first hand, that

In his article, “Blue Collar Brilliance,” Mike Rose, a professor at UCLA, exemplifies that your education level should not define your level of intelligence. Rose also discusses blue collar jobs and the stereo types that follow. He gives examples to support this argument by introducing his own family members. First, he gives the anecdote about his mother working as a waitress. He then tells the story of his uncle and how he worked his way up the General Motors Industry with little schooling.

In his essay titled “Yes A College Education Is Worth the Costs,” published in USA Today, former president of Southern Virginia University and a law professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law Rodney K. Smith, raises his concern about people willing to invest in material things rather than their future. By using the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the unemployed population to show that the unemployment rate is caused by the absences of graduates to satisfy the jobs in demand, he tries to convince the reader of the importance of education. As a 2010 report by the BLS indicates compared to 14.9% unemployed people without a high school diploma, only 1.9% graduates with a doctoral degree are unemployed. In addition, the average weekly income of a high school degree holder is 1106 less than a doctoral degree holder (qtd in Smith).

In the essay, “Are Too Many People Going To College?” author Charles Murray addresses the issue of the increasing demand of college degree from all individuals, regardless of their abilities and talents. “Today, if you do not get a B.A., many people assume it is because you are too dumb or too lazy”(Murray, 253). Murray puts a strong argument against this kind of growing culture among people. He believes that a B.A. degree is not a gateway to success as different people have different ability in various fields, making them unique. Murray also emphasis instilling the liberal arts education in the minds of young students of this country. Furthermore, he explains that the development in technology and an increase in the availability of online

According to Marian Wright Edelman, “Education is a precondition to survival in America Today. Unfortunately, a good quality education that will ensure a successful and economically stable future for our children today is not available to all children, especially young Black males. According to Jenkins (2006) in the needs assessment for African American Men of Arizona State University (AAMASU) program, the university noted that Black males experience a high level of underachievement in the higher education arena, over involvement in the criminal system, and high rates of unemployment, poverty, and dying via homicide (Arizona State University, 2004). All too often African American males have been caught in a web of stereotyped notions of race and gender that place them at considerable disadvantages in schools and ultimately society (Howard, 2008). According to Hooks (2004) more than any other group of men in our society black males are perceived as lacking intellectual skills. The 1900 census reports that 57% of black males were illiterate. Now as we move onward in the twenty-first century, black males make up a huge percentage of those who are illiterate (Hooks, 2004). Society will looks at our young black men and label them as lazy, uneducated, underachievers, and highly involved in the criminal justice system, however at the same time, it overlooks how they got there. According to Jenkins (2006) this has not always been the case. Prior to the segregation of schools, young

In this country, a college education is still vital. For many first generation students it makes the difference between continued poverty or the means of a much improved life. Yet once these students reach the campus of the typical Historically Black Colleges and Universities they are likely to be faced with what might seem like an impenetrable wall of resistance in the form of classist practices commonly found at must universities. As Fulwood (2012) suggests that in order to counteract classism, changes must be made in the systems which perpetuate it. Some of these systems mentioned earlier are the media, “White Privilege”, the economic system, government, and education institutions themselves. We must look at those policies,

According to Gerald Gaff, intellectualism sparked interest in many students that are labeled as “street smart” (Hidden Intellectualism). Gerald Graff in the editorial, “Hidden Intellectualism,” states that more and more students become more intellectual while attending college. He supports his statements by offering his own personal experiences and documenting biographies on students. “College-educated adults are more likely than others to be open to differing views of others, and the young children of adults with higher levels of education have higher cognitive skills and engage in more extracurricular, cultural, athletic, and religious activities than other children” (Education Pays). The authors in this publication of “Education Pays. . .” states this claim to provide facts and research over the topic of college benefits and intellectualism. With that said, society also benefits from college. These findings have important consequences for improving the current image of America so for its profile as a leader in

In Robert E. Sullivan, Jr.’s “Greatly Reduced Expectations”, Sullivan discusses the lack of employment available to college graduates. Throughout the essay, testimonials are given by four college graduates who expected more opportunity when they graduated with a four year degree. I sympathize with these men and women who are working in jobs that do promote their ability.