Social Classes In Mike Rose's Blue Collar Brilliance

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In todays society, social classes have a huge effect in the Americans lifestyle. What does it exactly mean to be considered an upper, middle or lower class? These three social classes are defined by the lifestyles of different racial families and their income. Education also plays a huge role in defining one’s social class. Someone’s social class doesn’t define how successful they are but those with a further education most likely will have a higher income and live a better lifestyle. Besides the major differences with the standard type of education one receives, they make a career out of it of people in the different social classes. That shows who will go to college based on if they can afford it with out without having other priorities in …show more content…

He mentions, “I’ve since studied the working habits of blue-collar workers and have come to understand how much my mother’s kind of work demands of both body and brain” (Rose 1034). Rose’s mom and uncle both worked blue collar jobs. Instead of going to school, Rose’s mom, Rosie had found her new pursuit, working at a restaurant. She had treated her workplace as her own classroom because she was never able to experience formal education. Rosie had several strategies while working at the restaurant where she had to memorize the orders and how long the dish will take to prepare. Similar to people who are in an academic environment, they would memorize information for an assessment and then have their own strategies of remembering that information. Rose’s uncle Joe had also worked a blue-collared job as a factory worker but he eventually was able to become the manager. In Rose’s essay, he gets across his readers by showing that people who have manual labor jobs are not different than those who are more educated because they both are are intelligent in their own way and they can both be successful with whatever they do with their