Summary Of Mike Rose's Blue Collar Brilliance

In “Blue-Collar Brilliance” by Mike Rose, the author argues the idea that intelligence can only obtained by formal education. He proposes that blue-collar jobs requires more intellect than what meets the eye. He shows through example how blue-collar workers are as intelligent as white-collar workers. Their education is gained by hands on experience you can only gain by working.

In the U.S society, there is a distinguishment between the different classification of employment. Those categories of employment are either classified as “blue-collar” or “white-collar”. Blue-collar jobs are referred to the line of employment that require manual labor such as factory workers and truck drivers, as for the white-collar jobs require high skills and higher education such as doctors and lawyers (Chambliss and Eglitis 159). Although, the professions are labeled as blue or white collar through its needs, the different labels indicates one’s position in the ranks. Each rank is often associated with characteristic that either make them upper class or lower class. Furthermore, “people’s life experience and opportunities are powerfully influenced by how their social category is ranked”(Chambliss and Eglitis 159). Therefore, one’s lifestyle depends on which category they fall into within the rank. That being the case, journalist Alfred Lubrano wrote the book, Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams, which describes the cultural conflict experienced by white-collar professionals that grew up in blue-collar homes. It tells readers how the white-collar professionals found it difficult to apply to their blue-collar families, due to the fact, that they often held values and engaged in behaviors that apply to the upper-class. As in order to fit in within the groups, they would have to adapt to the upper class life. So the transition from a blue-collar life to a

In his article he talks about how blue-collar work is a very unstable job to have. There are long hours and small pay checks at the end of the day. He tells us that another thing to worry about when working a blue-collar job, is one day not having your job at all. He makes this statement, “The most stressful thing about blue-collar life is knowing your job could disappear overnight.” He proves this statement with an example from one of the factories he was working at.”

Blue Collar workers as the fundamental that makes up America. One such man, author Mike Rose a professor at UCLA, who wrote "Blue-Collar Brilliance," published in a reputable magazine in 2009 in the American Scholar, what Rose argues, is that blue-collar workers often overlooked. In effect, that the establishment of where you work acts as an institution of learning and those without a formal education have valuable types of "brilliance." Rose argues his claim by using pathos, logos through personal stories, credentials, and comprehensive counterarguments.

There is a Chinese proverb that says, “ Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it.” Steve Olson wrote an essay that talks about that very principle. He titled his essay “Year of the Blue-Collar Guy.” It is about the hard working blue collar guys (BCGs) living in America. Steve Olson is a writer that does not have the usual degrees, awards or publications. Though he has written several books, he says that he is a construction worker. He writes for the average American, so what is Olsen’s purpose in writing about BCGs? To accomplish his purpose I looked at what kind of modes of persuasion he uses, how he responds to the arguing side of his point, and what logical fallacies he uses.

To start off, the article “The Case for Working With Your Hands” is about Matthew B. Crawford and his decision to start a car repair shop after getting his Ph. D in political philosophy. Crawford starts off the article by discussing a television show called “Deadliest Catch,” and how in today’s society, many people can never see the effects they are having in their career. He goes on by creating a stance that in today’s society, many people will assume that a student must attend a college or university to achieve an overall success instead of following their “own inclinations” (Crawford, Matthew). Crawford talks about how he chose to open up a motorcycle shop to work as a mechanic instead of

Mike Rose has spent most of his life watching those defined as “blue-collar” workers with much appreciation. He would watch his mother, Rosie, and his uncle, Joe, work to their fullest potential with skills he had never really seen anywhere else except in their “blue-collar” world. Mike believes that the way his family worked, as well as others considered “blue-collar”, are intelligent in their own ways and are underappreciated compared to the way he sees them.

First and foremost, what is Olson’s purpose in Writing “Year of the blue collar guy? ” His purpose is to convince the working class of America to show recognition to the BCGs.

In the article “Blue-Collar Brilliance”, Mike Rose’s main focus was to convey that there are forms of intelligence than just being intellectual. Rose, suggest that a broader perspective of education allow us to expand our understanding of what intelligence is. Rose explains what our culture views as intelligence: “Our cultural iconography promotes the muscled arm; sleeve rolled tight against biceps, but no brightness behind the eye, no image that links hand and brain” (Rose). In making this comment, Rose urges us to take a step back and to look society’s perception of blue-collar work as not as demanding or requiring as much brain powering as white-collar work. Often people do not realize that a person who has a blue-collar job is just as

White collar jobs and opportunities were stratified amongst the college educated and the well connected, while blue collar workers of the 1970s struggled to maintain the lifestyles they had created when employment was solid. This period shows an increase in college educated women from blue collar homes and a decrease in college educated men on a whole, as young men often banked on going straight into blue collar trades similar to the jobs held by their fathers, in hopes of attaining competitive wages directly out of high school. By this time, the majority of Americans held white collar jobs in major cities, commuting to suburbs each evening, collectively clawing at the American Dream, consistently leaving behind the unskilled

Second, the Army is governed by two related ethos. On the first day of initial training Soldiers are taught the importance of the seven Army values and begin to memorize the Soldier’s Creed. Like doctors and lawyers, “the military is an expert group, charged by its client to conduct work governed by a professional ethic” according to Lieutenant General Robert Caslen. A recent study commissioned by the Army found that 93% of Soldiers share their personal with the one set by the Army. Again, according to Caslen “the Army Values have sustained our institution through some of our most difficult years and will continue to be the foundation of our profession.”

The story “Blue-Collar Brilliance” by Mike Rose, was originally published in the American Scholar, in 2009. Rose is an American education scholar and was born in 1944. Rose has written several articles on literacy matters. He studied the struggle of the working-class America. Throughout the article, Rose used personal stories to persuade the reader blue-collar workers are very intelligent despite having a formal education. Rose’s agenda could be compared to that of Aristotle regarding their similar ideas on persuasion. Aristotle, was a well-known Greek philosopher, implemented three key terms: ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade his audience. Much like Aristotle, the author of Blue-Collar Brilliance, portrays the importance of his mother and uncle’s jobs by them showing intuition, intelligence, and multitasking thus demonstrating ethos, pathos, and logos.

The modern day American society hosts a broad spectrum of industries with various occupations and professions to engage today’s workforce. America, much like most first world countries is a service economy based on the exchange of knowledge and expertise rather than materials and products. People have a long history of work and work evolution that has ultimately brought America to a service economy producing both strengths and weaknesses within the society and its economy. As America has moved to a service economy, much of the manufacturing and production jobs have moved oversees to third world countries creating a reliance on other economies. This globalization of the workforce as well as unionization, and the

Throughout history the lives of the people in the working class have not always been easy. People always work hard to earn money and support their families; however, people don’t always work in a suitable working area. The term “Blue Collar” is jobs that require manual labor from people. The problem with these kinds of jobs is that the places the people work in can be extremely unsanitary and may cause a bad working environment for the people in it. Blue collar work is also the work most people do not want to do but it is needed for the people who do white collar jobs to prosper. Also blue collar workers are known as people who did not do well in school or people that aren’t smart. Well that is not the case with these workers because

C. Wright Mills defines the meaning of work for white-collar workers. A white-collar worker is an educated person who performs non-manual, professional, managerial, or administrative work. He states “ White Collar stands, after sixty years, as the most comprehensive work that American social science has produced in the study of the new middle class. “ classifying white collar workers as the new middle class full of intellectuals in intermediate positions, to what he describes as the “enormous file” of clerical labor. C. Wright Mills connects the meaning of work for white-collar workers to the types of leisure activity they pursue. Modern white-collar workers attach an extrinsic value to their wage work because they work to live. Jobs have lost their intrinsic value due to the emptiness that comes with the job. For example, white collar workers are subjected to manipulations and control of their superiors thus in return; they lose their creativity and freedom of action.