Blue Collar Brilliance Summary

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In his article, “Blue-Collar Brilliance”, UCLA Professor, Mike Rose, encourages society not to perpetuate the stereotypes that suggest people who work blue-collar jobs are less intelligent than people who work white-collar jobs, by failing to acknowledge the vast array of skills required of a person working a blue-collar job. An additional issue Rose brings up is the assumption many people make, that intellect is defined by the level of education a job requires. Rose addresses this naive assumption when he states, “Affirmation of diverse intelligence is not a retreat to a softhearted definition of the mind. To acknowledge a broader range of intellectual capacity is to take seriously the concept of cognitive variability” (283). Basically, Rose is advocating for society to accept that wisdom and knowledge are not only gained in a classroom, but through everyday experience. Ultimately, Rose is attempting to bring awareness to and eliminate these stereotypes. I agree with Rose’s school of thought on eliminating these inexcusable stereotypes against blue-collar workers intelligence, working to dispel the concept society believes that higher education is better than on-the-job training which is mastered by years of experience, and I personally identified with the fact that some of the smartest people I have ever known have been blue-collar workers. …show more content…

One way to get the nation to take notice of this issue, public figures would have to take a stand for the blue-collar workers. This act would also improve the image of blue-collar jobs and increase the demand in the job-market. Without blue-collar workers society would come to a halt, they are the backbone of our country. I believe people would be surprised if all the fine details were known that a blue-collar worker must master to succeed at a

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