Grace Johnston-Glick
Bonny Bryan
English 110
August 27, 2016
Summary
Mike Rose discusses the lack of acknowledgment he feels blue collar workers get in his essay Brains as Well as Brawn. He has noticed that although the working class often gets credit for their physical contributions, not a lot of focus has been put on the mental skills these workers need to do their jobs. Rose argues that the intellectual separation society has created between white and blue collar workers has been around for a long time but is entirely unfounded. While he does recognize that there are certain distinctions between the two classes of workers he believes that tasks achieved by both groups require the same mental effort, just in different areas of focus. In the final paragraph Rose …show more content…
The concept was always floating around in my head but I had never really sat down and thought about all of the education (even if it is not from a formal institution) that workers need to do their jobs. Rose starts off his essay with the example of all the thought that a carpenter has to put into installing a set of sliding glass doors. The amount of math and problem solving skills necessary took me aback. Turns out it actually takes more than a couple of nails and a hammer to be a professional carpenter, a great deal of experience is needed to start down that career path.
I agree with Rose that even though there are differences between blue and white collar jobs workers on both sides are intelligent. The idea that “We need to honor the brains as well as the brawn of American labor” (Rose, 338) really resonated with me. This essay challenged me to think about the effort that goes into manual labor. Society tends to put less stock in the intelligence of its labor force and it is high time the average worker gets the recognition he or she
Bonny Bryan
English 110
August 27, 2016
Summary
Mike Rose discusses the lack of acknowledgment he feels blue collar workers get in his essay Brains as Well as Brawn. He has noticed that although the working class often gets credit for their physical contributions, not a lot of focus has been put on the mental skills these workers need to do their jobs. Rose argues that the intellectual separation society has created between white and blue collar workers has been around for a long time but is entirely unfounded. While he does recognize that there are certain distinctions between the two classes of workers he believes that tasks achieved by both groups require the same mental effort, just in different areas of focus. In the final paragraph Rose …show more content…
The concept was always floating around in my head but I had never really sat down and thought about all of the education (even if it is not from a formal institution) that workers need to do their jobs. Rose starts off his essay with the example of all the thought that a carpenter has to put into installing a set of sliding glass doors. The amount of math and problem solving skills necessary took me aback. Turns out it actually takes more than a couple of nails and a hammer to be a professional carpenter, a great deal of experience is needed to start down that career path.
I agree with Rose that even though there are differences between blue and white collar jobs workers on both sides are intelligent. The idea that “We need to honor the brains as well as the brawn of American labor” (Rose, 338) really resonated with me. This essay challenged me to think about the effort that goes into manual labor. Society tends to put less stock in the intelligence of its labor force and it is high time the average worker gets the recognition he or she