Matthew Crawford's 'The Case For Working With Your Hands'

When one thinks of a scholar, the first people that come to mind are mathematicians, scientists, literary analysts, and other traditionally “academic” professionalists. However, these professions are not the only scholarly careers that exist. “The Case for Working with Your Hands” by Matthew Crawford is an essay which argues against the wrong perception of mechanics and other “hands-on” professions. In his essay, Crawford describes the intellectual challenges of working in a “hands-on” field and his own journey in becoming a mechanic. One of his primary inspirations is a man named Fred. Fred is an independent tradesman who teaches Crawford a considerable amount about being a mechanic. In paragraph 10 of the essay, Crawford pronounces Fred a scholar. This conclusion is entirely accurate, and this is apparent because of the dictionary definition of scholar, the way Fred inspires …show more content…
Crawford asserts that being a mechanic “frequently requires complex thinking.” To solve various technical problems, Fred has to think on his feet and devise creative solutions for each specific motorcycle. This takes just as much intellectual ability as balancing accounts, interpreting literature, or calculating the velocity of an aircraft. Crawford continuously calls being a mechanic “a learned profession” and claims “you just have to know a lot.” Fred needed a certain amount of intelligence in order to prosper in his trade and he continued to develop additional skills over his years of working as a mechanic. Also, when Crawford first starts out, he refers to Fred as his “most reliable source” with “an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure European motorcycles”. This shows Fred has seen some of the most obscure motorcycles and has learned skills from all of them. His repertoire of knowledge is very extensive. Fred's intelligence has helped him build his career and achieve an intellectual and scholarly knowledge about his area of