Knowledge: The Educated Fellow vs. The Working Fella

My whole life I have heard it said that in order to obtain a decent paying job, I need to graduate from high school, get into a good college, and achieve some sort of post-secondary degree. Banal statement by all accounts, I’m well aware; but I’m probably speaking for a large majority of my peers when saying such. I’m also sure that at least a few of us have questioned the purpose of a higher education and the reason to why it is so important. Which brings me to the question: what besides the want for that professional dream career drives us to pursue a college education? If we go through it to enhance intelligence or overall knowledge and wellbeing, does that imply these facets cannot be obtained anywhere else, say in a blue-collar atmosphere?

The standard way of thinking about knowledge in general, is that it is based solely on IQ scores, academic grades, and the amount of education received. Through this cultural belief, intelligence and formal education—and in that, professions that require post-secondary schooling—go hand-in-hand. However, this school of thought also seems to dictate the notion that “work requiring less schooling requires less intelligence.” The scholar, Mike Rose, makes point on this in his 2009 article, Blue-Collar Brilliance, where he asserts his position in contrast to these stereotypical views, arguing that working class occupations actually involve a lot more intellect than given credit. As Rose himself put it: “Although we rightly acknowledge…the play of mind in white-collar and professional work, we diminish or erase it in…physical and service work”. In comparison, the late novelist David Foster Wallace, would too probably contend against such a prejudiced notion, though under a different circu...

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...ty.” Wallace might agree when bringing up the importance in how we view people—and in that, maybe how we perceive their intelligence. So is a post-secondary education meant to further the ideology of intellectual knowledge? While a formal educational experience differs greatly from its informal, on-the-job counterpart, both have the potential to emit great knowledge.

Works Cited

Rose, Mike. “Blue-Collar Brilliance”. “They Say / I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing with Readings. 2nd ed. Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. 243-54. Print.

Wallace, David Foster. "Kenyon Commencement Speech". "They Say / I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing with Readings. 2nd ed. Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. 198-209. Print.