Blue Collar Workers
Currently in society, many individuals consider blue-collar workers unintelligent and uneducated. Blue-collar workers are seen in this perspective because of their hands on jobs in which many individuals assume that intelligence is not required. “Our cultural iconography promotes the muscled arm, sleeve rolled right against biceps, but no brightness behind the eye, no image that links hand and brain.” (Rose 98) In Mike Rose’s text, he explains how being a blue-collar worker does not mean an individual is unintelligent. Rose shows how knowledge can be gained from many years of personal and work experiences. Mike Rose grew up in a cultural background of blue-collar workers who did not get a chance to obtain a formal education. This makes Rose
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However, Rose later shows that blue-collar workers do not need a formal education to have knowledge. He gives multiple examples on how in many cases having hands-on knowledge about a job is more useful than a formal education. “A worker must also know the characteristics of the material one is engaging….” (Rose 101) Rose gives evidence from his study about how the blue collar workers have certain skills such as speech, mathematical, and literacy. He mentions how the skills are important to the workers for them to communicate with other workers and also to do their jobs efficiently. Rose uses these facts from his study to show that knowledge is not only obtained from the education, but also a person’s job. His study shows that he is credible with his statement that blue-collar workers are skilled even though they have not obtained any serious form of education. Lastly, Rose mentions how problem solving is one of the core element to knowledge. “Planning and problem solving have been studied since the earliest days of modern cognitive psychology and are considered core elements in Western definitions of intelligence.” (Rose 101) This can directly connect to the statement Rose made about how his mother and uncle had to solve problems on the spot during their jobs and also how they had to sequence their every move to work effectively. This is another evidence that can be used to defend Rose’s credibility, because it shows that even without the education or learning the blue-collar workers are capable to problem solve on the spot or sequence out their moves according to the
However, Rose later shows that blue-collar workers do not need a formal education to have knowledge. He gives multiple examples on how in many cases having hands-on knowledge about a job is more useful than a formal education. “A worker must also know the characteristics of the material one is engaging….” (Rose 101) Rose gives evidence from his study about how the blue collar workers have certain skills such as speech, mathematical, and literacy. He mentions how the skills are important to the workers for them to communicate with other workers and also to do their jobs efficiently. Rose uses these facts from his study to show that knowledge is not only obtained from the education, but also a person’s job. His study shows that he is credible with his statement that blue-collar workers are skilled even though they have not obtained any serious form of education. Lastly, Rose mentions how problem solving is one of the core element to knowledge. “Planning and problem solving have been studied since the earliest days of modern cognitive psychology and are considered core elements in Western definitions of intelligence.” (Rose 101) This can directly connect to the statement Rose made about how his mother and uncle had to solve problems on the spot during their jobs and also how they had to sequence their every move to work effectively. This is another evidence that can be used to defend Rose’s credibility, because it shows that even without the education or learning the blue-collar workers are capable to problem solve on the spot or sequence out their moves according to the