In the military, its members wear their accomplishments on their chest this means that, as Rose puts it, "competence synonymous with physical work" (379).
#BLUE COLLAR BRILLIANCE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS HOW TO#
As a mentor told me over a phone conversation, “The problem is Human Resource departments would not even know how to hire you.” This phrase came in response to my anecdote depicting the irony that members of the profession I was targeting had all shown their support and I had heard comments like, “You could do this job with your eyes closed.” The problem was that they all had four-year college degrees and I did not, which lead them to conclude with, “Sorry, Ernesto, but you are just going to have to check that box.” My ideology was rooted in what I knew, meritocracy. So logically, my first thought upon reading Rose's essay was to be in denial, not having come to terms with the divisionary caste system that has dominated American society for so long.įollowing the days after my initial read reality slowly crept in – no doubt due to my ruminating thoughts – and I realized my very own "Blue-Collar Brilliance" was being scrutinized and found wanting by employers. One veteran consultancy agent even told me he was struggling to find employment beyond a Help Desk for many of the veterans he works with that did not have college degrees. Instead, the reception that awaited me was one of many, let's keep in touch. My understanding was that based on my time invested in preparing, dedication and work ethic I would be able to seek out the employment I felt a calling to perform, and my substantive merits and accolades would speak on my behalf and allow me to plead my case in front of hiring managers. In it, Mike Rose condenses years of research into a thirty-minute read indented to grab the attention of fellow scholars because bringing fellow academics into the conversation is a crucial step in challenging the current status quo and creating a shift toward greater recognition of the intelligence found in the working class. "Blue Collar Brilliance" is an essay meant to question assumptions about intelligence, work, and social class. Criticizing Mike Rose for writing "Blue-Collar Brilliance" meant I did not have to accept my daftness and holding on to my flawed ideal was acceptable. Why is that? I won’t learn the same things that Mike Rose’s mother learned by going to college, but my generation is still practically forced to undergo excess education passed high school.Intelligence is closely associated with formal education-the type of schooling a person has, how much and how long-and most people seem to move comfortably from that notion to a belief that work requiring less schooling requires less intelligence. In today’s world, an education is needed in order to get any type of job, and why is that? Back then men could be firefighters (my grandpa) or a warehouse manager (my dad) without any excess education outside of grade school, but today you have to have some college experience to be a firefighter. But he always uses examples of how people skills are extremely important and school doesn’t necessarily teach that being friendly and being consistent isn’t in a school’s curriculum. He uses many different examples of how people have to use basic math skills, writing skills, and reading skills that you typically learn in a classroom, to preform a job. I think that Mike Rose is correct in his arguments. Joe learned things being a supervisor that school would have never taught him, and he became a supervisor without a high school level education. From there, he jumped from job-to-job and ended up being a supervisor in the paint-and-body department at General Motors. He uses his Uncle Joe as his primary example: Joe (like his mother) dropped out of school at a young age to become a worker. Many people think that schooling is the only way to gain intelligence, and history somewhat proves this. All in all, he thinks of his mother as a very intelligent human being who “solved technical problems and human problems on the fly” (page 244). He used many different examples to support this statement, too. He explains that a waitress and those who work at similar family restaurants (who have “blue collar jobs”) have to use their “body and brain” to be good at their job. She was a waitress, and a successful one, at different family restaurants. Mike Rose begins this passage with explaining his mother’s job. Intelligence is closely associated with the formal education- the type of schooling a person has, how much, and how long- and most people seem to move comfortably from that notion to a belief that work requiring less schooling requires less intelligence.
243-255. Print.īlue-collar, Waitress, Intelligence, Schooling, Work, Cognitions, Communication, Skills ” They Say/ I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing With Readings.
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