Blue Collar Brilliance Mike Rose Analysis

Mike Rose, the author of “Blue-Collar Brilliance,” argues that intelligence is not something that is defined by formal education, but rather the use of critical thinking and experience. In his essay, Mike Rose uses a plethora of examples ranging from personal experiences, historical examples, and visual content to support his assertion. The argument that education does not equal intelligence leads to an important question: how can intelligence defined and quantified? Mike Rose disputes the notion that blue-collar jobs are simple and mindless in his essay. Using personal examples of family members, Mike Rose appeals to the emotions of the reader. Historical and cultural examples are mentioned as a means to display how the stereotype of the unintelligent blue-collar have remained unchanged over time. Mike Rose describes early in the essay personal difficulties with learning …show more content…
The essay can be interpreted in different ways. The author’s description of personal determination such as his description of his, “freshman year was academically bumpy, but gradually I began to see formal education as a means of fulfillment and as a road toward making a living” (Rose, 2009) can be interpreted as inspiration for those who suffer academic difficulty. Examples of the complexity of the blue-collar workplace serve as a confutation to the stereotype that blue-collar workers lack intelligence. “Blue-Collar Brilliance” is an essay that is available on the internet. The author may have formatted this genre for a particular reason; the internet is a vast source of easily accessible information. The content of the essay can be conveyed to an enormous amount of people via the internet and electronic devices. Additionally, young academic readers may be more likely to find the essay due to the youth’s inclination to view content online via electronic