Mike Rose's article "Blue-Collar Brilliance" from They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing With Readings challenges common beliefs that blue-collar work is less skilled or essential and highlights the specialized knowledge these workers have. Rose uses pathos, ethos, and logos in his essay to challenge societal assumptions about skill. Through rhetorical appeals, Rose effectively argues that the value of blue-collar work must be recognized rather than overlooked. Mike Rose establishes his ethos in "Blue Collar Brilliance" by sharing both his personal and professional experiences. Rose mentions he is a professor of education and has done extensive research on the cognitive demands involved in blue-collar work (Rose, 2018, pp.
The author Andrew Curry thinks that workers today are unfulfilled because they would rather work a job they do not like and earn more money than work a job that they are passionate about and earn less. He also talks about how people seem to work more than relax in today's age like when he says “instead of working less, our hours have stayed steady or risen.” (Curry, Kirszner and Mandell 399) the evidence that he uses to connect his view is the amount of people who complain about their jobs. Nowadays everyone knows a person that constantly complains about his or her job but they still work that same job because of the financial gain. Many people today hate the job they work but that same job is the reason they have a car, house etc.
With less work available, the skilled
The amount of time spent with something will change your views and thinking, that is what Barbara Ehrenreich and Lars Eighner share in their papers. Both had low status jobs after having a college education and their work is similar, yet opposites in some ways. The difference is that in Ehrenreich’s, “Serving in Florida”, she believes that restaurant waitressing jobs are degrading to workers because she only had one experience for research and had to stick with it for a short time that she chose, it was unnecessary work to her. While in Eighner’s, “On Dumpster Diving”, he thinks of them as a privilege and enjoyable because he had no other choice than his line of work, he had to put up with being homeless for 3 years to survive without any help.
He explains how he observed different types of blue-collar and service workers in action, and came to the conclusion that each of these tasks have a skill that takes a lot of mind power to master. Their work is educational at every degree. Blue-collar workers develop intelligence and skills in a workplace through proper planning, problem solving, social interactions and multitasking. Most blue collar jobs are constantly faced with new problems every day, in the midst of busy schedules, that demand instant solution. Blue Collar jobs require just as much intelligence as jobs that require formal academic credentials.
These highly skilled jobs require highly trained and educated workers. However, Wilson explains that some African Americans are not given the exposure or opportunities to reach this level of skill. This concept of technology
Looking at the modern office there are many “glass ceilings” that Steele refers to not only apply to minorities but to genders in general. Some bosses may stop people from being promoted because they are intimidated by women and do not think they should be placed on the same level as themselves, even though they are equally qualified for the position. Steele also talks about how a misused privileged can turn out to be a disadvantage such as the concept of welfare, because people use it to their advantage so much that it become a crutch for the rest of their lives. Wiley addresses a more individual process of failing to meet educational standards hence; “You get ballplayers who could barely form a compound sentence to keep a dog off them.” This statement is still true to this day due to the fact that so many people get accepted on full ride sports scholarships but their academics are below par, so that if something happens that keeps them from competing in sports they can not afford to stay in college nor can they keep their grades
Alexandra Robbins portrays as a credible individual in the book The Overachievers by justifying ¨.. I was these students, rushing through the same hallways, cramming anxiously for tests in the same classrooms,¨(14). Robbins shows that she once felt the same pressure that these students are going through not only because she attended the same school as the characters but as well as that is the way high school is. Robbins justifies the actions of the characters in the book so that way readers can see a different perspective of what really is going
King establishes the labor the working class executes is a valued part of business through panicked tone. When Jack and Danny are arguing during their violent confrontation, King writes Danny says“‘Any minute now! I know it! The boiler, Daddy forgot the boiler! And you forgot it, too!...
December the 6th, 1865 marks the end of slavery and white supremacy. A glance at the 21st century America manifests otherwise. Racism is an ongoing issue that contributes largely to class boundaries within significant aspects such as economy, education and society of the United States, making people of color inferior to white people. The key components that construct a country into greatness are economy, education and society. The inequality and injustice present in these interlinked components, bound by social class hierarchy, can lead to desisting the full potential to be a globally respectable nation.
“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” (Rose). What Rose is trying to infer is that just because you are labeled blue collar: meaning you have to earn your income from manual labor, and have lack of educational knowledge, does not mean you cannot earn the knowledge in your work career. There are many opportunities to learn from your job even if you are less experienced. “...One who is so intelligent about so many things in life seems unable to apply that intelligence to academic work.
In "Blue-Collar Brilliance" Mike Rose Shares his perspective on how education is not Intelligence. He lets us know how growing up he was around a bunch of Blue-Collar workers himself, and how intelligence is not based on the education you have but what you can Develop on your own from just being open minded. He explains to use how blue-collar jobs take a toll on both body and mind. He believes that you don't need to be taught things to develop intelligence that your intelligence comes from within. He shared the different stories of blue-collar workers life that he experience such as his mother and his uncle to help us see that even if you don't have a high education and a college degree you can still become a successful.
He is a professor who specialized in literacy and learning. He also did a “study of the thought processes involved in work like that of his mother and uncle. I cataloged the cognitive demands of a range of blue-collar and service jobs, from waitressing and hair styling to plumbing and welding. To gain a sense of how knowledge and skill develop, I observed experts as well as novices. From the details of this close examination, I tried to fashion what I called “cognitive Biographies” of blue-collar workers.
That just basically states that more skills are used at the blue collar job level than at the white collar job level. I think Mike Rose was successful in being persuasive when he wrote this. I think he was successful because he not only states the jobs that require extra learning in the essay but he uses his own connection. He put his mother in the essay and talks about her work life and he puts in his uncle’s work life and talks about his transition to a higher position and the problems he had.
So with this data I can confirm that the higher the education that you get the more money you get so people with no degree will end up stuck behind and unable to really help the economy
