Mike Rose wrote an essay in a newsletter for a college honor society. This essay dives into the working class and different perspectives of it. Rose writes about experiences he had growing up seeing people who in his family work blue-collar jobs. He talks about the skills used in their jobs and the skills that were learned during working in the jobs. Rose discusses his experiences with getting a college education and working as a professor. He then discusses how people in this job field may be unfairly judged, and how they possess intelligence even though it may be in a different way then white-collar workers. This essay has many claims that the author dives into, to show his viewpoint and justify his purpose. One of the author's claims is that people who work blue collar jobs gain knowledge and skills even if they …show more content…
This essay was originally written for a college honor society newsletter, yet I think that as the years go on the audience has changed. First and foremost, the paper was written in the college newsletter, in order to shine a light on blue-collar workers and the skill and the importance of the people that work in these jobs. Many people that are in college probably do not have parents or family members that work in jobs that are not white-collar and probably have a formal education. So in writing this essay Rose is trying to stop some of the stereotypes and prejudices that blue-collar workers face, and educate a younger generation on blue-collar workers as people and not just someone that may serve you food. This I felt was the purpose for the first audience, yet I feel as the essay has gained popularity the audience has changed. I do believe that it is still for college students, yet not primarily college students. The story is for anyone that doesn't quite understand the complexity and intelligence that goes into blue-collar
The Brothers faced this challenge in their, largely, futile attempts to achieve middle class status through achieving a proper education. Macleod highlights that, historically, the “overall structure of class relations from one generation to the next” is extremely reluctant to change(4). The Brothers evince this in their inability to earn work with greater wages than their parents, forcing them to live in working class neighborhoods like they did. Although some of the Brothers did manage to obtain middle class work, they struggled to keep those jobs as they either got laid off or were pressured out believing that they just didn’t fit in the workplace environment- though this is largely in fact due to differences in cultural capital, knowledge, disposition, and skills passed on generationally, that arise from the different upbringings of the supervisors and the Brothers.
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.
According to the stereotypes, blue-collar workers “aren’t smart enough to be that cynical” (Olson 1). The blue-collar workers symbolize being hard working but unintelligent, while white-collar workers symbolize being lazy but intelligent. This is not always the truth though. Both blue and white collar workers need the use of their body and brain, to give their best effort in their job. Blue-collar workers are the people who built our towns and cities, they just got over shadowed by the white-collar workers.
In contrast, a white collar is a person who performs professional, managerial, or administrative work with higher pay than blue-collar. They typical work in an office or cubicle. White collar jobs often don’t require manual labor. There is also a pink collar worker who performs jobs in the service industry. In the essay “Blue-Collar Brilliance” by Mike Rose who is currently a Research Professor of Social Research Methodology in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
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.
There is lower, middle, and upper class, but there are also subcategories that fill the gaps in between, like the impoverished and the top one percenters. “Class in America”, written by Gregory Mantsios, addresses the myths and realities about socioeconomic class in America and how they affect American lives. His article highlights the unequal divide that has persisted over the course of history and will continue to manifest in the future. To introduce the existence of this issue, Mantsios states that this country’s citizens “don’t like to talk about class...or class privileges, or class oppression, or the class nature of society” (Mantsios 378). This is the case in America today because people are neglecting to acknowledge the existence of these elusive
To conclude this analyzation of Mike Rose’s essay “Blue Collar Brilliance” and Gerald Graff’s essay “Hidden Intellectualism”, Mike Rose’s essay was more effective. He gave readers examples of real life scenarios to validate his point. He used rhetorical tools that would help the more academic successful audience. He also connected with the audience labeled as “Blue Collars”, with stories from his mother and uncle
We cannot know how the chemicals, tools, and technologies in these workplaces affect workers. ”(In the Global Apparel Industry, Abusive and Deadly Working Conditions Are Still the Norm)-many workers have to inhale harmful gases, face dangerous situation everyday. More, reports indicate that women make up the vast majority of the workforce, but men make up the supervisors, which is the same as what happened in the Gilded Age. “The darker side of the growing population in cities was racial tension and
Zachari Whipkey Professor Brandon Clay ENG141_03 Rhetoric & Intro Research Writing September 8, 2016 “Blue Collar Brilliance” by Mark Rose indicates the view that intelligence cannot be measured by the amount of schooling a person has completed. He describes that blue-collar jobs require more intelligence and skill than what people may think. He describes his experiences growing up seeing his mother as a waitress in coffee shops and restaurants. He portrays his mother as a dedicated and loyal woman who loved her job and put her heart and soul into her job as a waitress.
He enlists in detail how racial discrimination in the Latin American workforce during the export boom allowed white Europeans to come to the America’s and obtain better jobs than the natives of the region. The goal was to push out the Latin American workers and pull in pure bred white Europeans. Even for the lower paid jobs, employers preferred white workers over colored workers due to this crude, unworthy stigma that was perceived through the former slave revolts. Society developed stereotypes that depicted Afro-Latin Americans as lazy and uneducated and white Europeans has diligent, more educated beings. This led to a racialized employee preference in the workforce.
The American dream is a dream of a land in which one can prosper with ambition and hard work. This idea has created many illusions for some because in reality the American dream is proven to be something that is rarely achieved. No individual is guaranteed success or destined for failure, but it is apparent that women, people of color, and those born into poverty will face greater obstacles than others, despite being a greater part of the American population. An author that tackles the issue of class in the United States is Gregory Mantsios. In his essay, “Class in America-2009”, Mantsios aims to prove that class affects people’s lives in drastic ways.
The authors tell them they would understand it more due to him giving his personal life habits, of working hard and getting underpaid because maybe lack of experience or not having a certain degree. Mr. Andrew Braaksma is claiming in the article “Some Lessons from the Assembly Line”, "I have worked as a temp in the factories surrounding my hometown every summer since I graduated from high school, but making the transition between school and full-time blue-collar work during the break never gets any easier."(Braaksma 2005) He states in the reading, that it isn 't easy being a full worker then going to college. " but making the transition between school and full-time blue-collar work during the break never gets any easier.
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
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.
This is the blue-collared struggle. The blue-collar jobs use skills that white-collar use. In the article, “Blue Collar Brilliance”, the author’s mother said, “There isn’t a day that goes by in the restaurant that you don’t learn something.” Carpenters use math problems and have to solve them, when putting in a new cabinet.