The Blue Collar Brilliance Summary

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In the article, “The Blue Collar Brilliance”, Mike Rose communicates to the reader the idea that intelligence should not be dignified by how long you were in school. He also claims blue collar professions require more mental power than just physically doing a job and that we can’t limit ourselves to certain methods of learning. Rose supports this proposition by explaining how his mother and uncle learned from experience and still found prosperity in their life.
Rose describes his experience watching his mother and observing her ability to learn skills to effectively do her job. The demands of her job “of both body and brain,” (274) involves having to memorize who ordered what and strategize the most effect way to make customers satisfied. Blue collar jobs require using your head to plan, organize, and problem solve. His mother learned hands on problem solving of human behavior even without an educational background. …show more content…

Rose states, “Intelligence is closely associated with formal education,” (276) and brilliance is not just about being able to study in school for as many years possible but how you apply yourself to the world. Blue collar jobs are valued as all work and no brain. Many people think there is no thought process to what these jobs consist of but really their intelligence is all in learning more about their career. Rose talks about his uncle and how he made his way to the top with hard work but also learning. Joe’s work was a place where he learned to multi-task, budget, manage, and excel in the knowledge of the auto-industry to overall help the company he worked for. He achieved “the redesign of the nozzle on a paint sprayer, thereby eliminating costly and unhealthy over spray,” (277) and more by using his wit and solving problems. He illuminates that his uncle got a taste of rhetorical education when defending himself to other

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