In an ever so changing society it is expected that principals such as education, demographics and much more continue to evolve each day. While most criticize society, others try to define it. Mike Rose, a professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Informational studies, is well known for his writing on issues of literacy. The article Blue-Collar Brilliance, written by Mike Rose, originally appeared in 2009 in the American Scholar magazine. The article not only presents a strong claim, but it also includes personal narratives, which increases the author 's credibility. In addition, connections between the opposing side and sufficient visuals strengthen Rose’s argument as a whole. It is not effective to simply state a claim without …show more content…
Such appeal can be presented by either figurative language or pathos. Furthermore, Mike Rose presented various appeals in his article by including personal narratives of his hard working relatives. He begins his argument by introducing his mother and proceeds by describing his childhood (272). This valuable information intrigues the audience and conveys some form of connection to the author and the article. In addition, Rose speaks on behalf of his uncle by providing details about his uncle’s experience while working in a paint factory. Mike Rose recalls a tour of the factory “The floor was loud---in some cases deafening---and when I turned a corner or opened a door, the smell of chemicals knocked my head back” This vivid imagery not only describes a setting, it also persuades readers to feel sorrow but most of all respect towards hard workers such as those who work in …show more content…
Rose took that into consideration when presenting his article. He included 2 significant photographs of his family members at work. The image of his mother evoked a strong sense of accomplishment, and a happy productive mother that many can relate to. Captioned as “Rosie solved technical problems and human problems on the fly” (Rose 273). This image, along with the description in the preceding paragraph, provides the reader with a heart filled example of a brilliant mother at work. A job which does not require schooling, is referred to as a Blue-Collar position. Needless to say, a waitress job, such as that of Rosie’s, is indeed a Blue-Collar occupation. Furthermore, Rosie’s content features, and the ability to hold many cups in one hand, as seen in the image, adheres towards the admiration that Rose has on blue-collar workers. “I’m struck by the thinking-in-motion that some works require, by all the mental activity that can be involved in simply getting from one place to another” (Rose279). Rose’s admiration towards blue-collar workers allows his argument to become credible in the reader’s
The articles “Blue-Collar Brilliance” has an excellence style that is very organized that helps the reader understand and collect their thoughts. The author gives us many examples including the author’s mother and uncle. Further in the article the author also examines many other jobs that others may not respect in society, The examples are very effective and support the author’s point of view very well. The article states “Eight years ago I began a study of the thought processes involved in work like that of my mother and uncle” (Rose 910). We also learn that the author has been researching and studying his topic for many years which shows us that the information is credible. The author uses very good language and tone while addressing the reader, he may have his own opinion but he is not harsh and abrupt about it. The article also has a great amount of detail that helps the reader understand the author’s point of view clearly. An example of great detail is when the article mentions “ Planning and problem solving have been studied since the earliest days of modern cognitive psychology and are considered core elements in Western definitions of intelligence. To work is to solve problems. The big difference between the psychologist’s laboratory and the workplace is that in the former the problems are isolated and in the latter they are embedded in the real-time flow of work with
Does the amount of schooling measure a person’s intelligence level? The essay “Blue Collar Brilliance” written by Mike Rose, argue that the intelligent a person has should not be measure under the amount of schooling, using the example of his uncle, who did not get a formal education, become the head of general motor. As for this, Rose suggest that education should be taken as priority. I agree with Rose point of view because the one who get formal education do not symbolize success. In older generation, many people could not afford the tuition, however they can also succeed. In the other word, having formal education does not grantee us a successful future.
Owens and Sawhill use pathos to evoke the feelings of their readers. This method establishes
“Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work Reading;” Tue 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.
Throughout the entire article, “Blue Collar Brilliance” the author Mike Rose is trying to show the real fact of Blue Collar jobs by describing his mother work as a waitress and his uncle as a factory worker who made his way up to manager. By giving evidence, he is also trying to open the readers eye that Blue Collar workers are in a same intelligence skill as other high-level workers though they do not have four years degrees. The author, Mike Rose, passed his childhood by watching his mom as waiting on booths and table with skillfully to assemble the skill to do work efficiently. He also watched out all other workers and interested by their adaption to coexist with each other. He got the chance as a first person to attend college in his family,
The average human would think that going to school and getting an education are the two key items needed to make it in life. Another common belief is, the higher someone goes with their education, the more successful they ought to be. Some may even question if school really makes anyone smarter or not. In order to analyze it, there needs to be recognition of ethos, which is the writer 's appeal to their own credibility, followed by pathos that appeals to the writer’s mind and emotions, and lastly, logos that is a writer’s appeal to logical reasoning. While using the three appeals, I will be analyzing “Against School” an essay written by John Taylor Gatto that gives a glimpse of what modern day schooling is like, and if it actually help kids
To be intelligent means to be able to apply what we learned in school and use what we learned in our everyday life to achieve a goals that is sit or one that we are accomplishing without knowing. Many people think that a person is intelligent because they went to a university, got a degree, and have a good paying job, so they must be smart and know everything however thats not always true. If we would ask a teacher or professor the chances of them knowing how to fix a car are slim. So why do we think teachers are so intelligent? We think teachers are intelligent because they know everything about their subjects, know how to teach it and know how to apply their knowledge to their everyday lives.
Mike Rose describes his first-hand experience of blue collar workers in his monograph “Blue Collar Brilliance”. Patiently, he observed the cooks and waitresses whilst he waited for his mother’s shift to end. He noticed how his mother called out abbreviated orders, tag tables and so on. Mike Rose describes how his mother, Rosie, took orders whilst holding cups of coffee and removed plates in motion. Rose observed how her mother and other waiters worked and concluded that blue collar work “demands both body and brain” (Rose 274). He describes that Rosie devised memory strategies and knew whether an order was being delayed. She was assiduous in sequencing and clustering her tasks and solved any technical or human problem simultaneously. Managing
Rose uses very detailed description of what his mother did on a regular basis to get a point across to his readers. He wants us to see that working a blue collar job requires a tremendous amount of brain power. And the reason he is so successful, is because of the detail he uses. When I read this specific paragraph I honestly can imagine what Rosie used to do while at her job. How she adapted to new situations. How she was able to remember what each person ordered out the nine tables she was in charge of. To being able to know if something was taking too long to cook and check-in with the chef to see if there was a problem. These are just some of the problems Rosie would face each day while working as a waitress. I believe that even today waitresses are looked down upon by most people. But they are hard working people and deserve respect for what they
There are about 60 million school aged children in the world who are not in school, according to the article “Education”. Educated children have more opportunities compared to non-educated children, however, it is not just educated children that get more opportunities, but also educated adults. It does not matter how old someone is when they get their education, but that they are getting an education at all. This is portrayed in the excerpts “Me Talk Pretty” by David Sedaris, “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” by Jonathan Kozol, and “Learning to Read” by Frederick Douglass. Education leads to individual success and empowerment.
Blue-collar jobs are incredibly diverse; his examples of a waitress, factory assembly line worker, hairdresser, plumber, and carpenter do not accurately represent this class of workers holistically. Rose emphasizes his mother’s and uncle’s work life for much of the article. His observations portray a biased insight of the manual labor his family members would endure. If Rose were to observe and judge non-family members, then their circumstances would permit a separate outcome. If Rose discussed a wider variety of situation with the same prominence as his mother and uncle, this could have been avoided. He just makes the argument for accrediting blue-collars for being more intellectual than the misconception, but if Rose wanted to place the worth of these workers on the same level as professionals of the white and pink collar workers, he does not make the cut in my opinion with the finite extent of information. Rose suggests this when slightly compares his mother, Rosie, to a psychologist, Rose states: “No wonder, then, that Rosie was intrigued by psychology. The restaurant became the place where she studied human behavior, puzzling over the problems of her regular customers and refining her ability to deal with people in a difficult world” (281). This appears to be a ludicrous endeavor to make a common demand of a blue-collar job
In “The Closing of the American Book,” published in the New York Times Magazine, Andrew Solomon argues about how the decline of literary reading is a crisis in national health, politics, and education. Solomon relates the decline of reading with the rise of electronic media. He believes that watching television and sitting in front of a computer or a video screen instead of reading can cause the human brain to turn off, and lead to loneliness and depression. He also argues that with the decrease of reading rates, there will no longer be weapons against “absolutism” and “terrorism,” leading to the United States political failure in these battles. The last point Solomon makes is that there is no purpose behind America being one of the most literate societies in history if people eradicate this literacy, and so he encourages everyone to help the society by increasing reading rates and making it a “mainstay of community.” Solomon tries to show the importance of reading in brain development and he encourages people to read more by emphasizing the crisis and dangers behind the declination of reading.
Vargas attracts attention to the readers by showing his hardships that he has been going through since he was a child, which is an example of appeal Pathos. From a child knowing not enough English, for many years learn at school and self-learn, he becomes co-editor of The Oracle, the student newspaper at Mountain View High School then a journalist. He is also part of a Post team that won a Pulitzer Prize for the paper’s coverage of the Virginia Tech. However, he is determined to do his best and trying to be as involved as he can with everything, working hard throughout high school and earn better positions with his job. He convinces himself that if he worked hard enough he could really earn his citizenship. Living along with his status, he builds his career as a journalist and tells his secret to some people. After reading this article, the readers can feel his tone such as a good person, a fellow citizen, which is the way to express his use of pathos throughout the entire essay.
“Intelligence is closely associated with formal education- the type of schooling a person has, how much and how long- and most people seem to move comfortably from the notion to a belief that work requiring less schooling requires less intelligence” (Rose 276). My Dad has worked blue collar jobs his entire life. Security guard, lawn service, woodworker, carpenter, plus anything else that involves his hands. He didn’t have any schooling past his high school diploma. But he’s always told me, “Yeah, I wish I went to college, but I’m sure as hell glad I was taught and forced to learn the skills I have now. Like doing things on my own and working with my hands, my work ethic, and my ability to absorb as many things as I could to get the job done.” Blue collar jobs can never be outsourced. There will always be a need for plumbers, electricians, machine operators, carpenters and many, many more
The Quality of a child’s education often either limits or opens up a world of opportunities. Those who study the purpose of public education and the way it is distributed throughout society can often identify clear correlations between social class and the type of education a student receives. It is generally known by society that wealthy families obtain the best opportunities money can buy. Education is a tool of intellectual and economical empowerment and since the quality of education is strongly influenced by social class, a smaller portion of the American population obtains the opportunities acquired from a top notch education. Many people believe that educational inequalities are perpetuated from the interests of specific classes, but some researchers like John Gatto believe that there are even stronger social forces in play. In the essay “Against Schools” the author John Gatto presents three arguments: (1) that are educational system is flawed, (2) that the American educational system is purposely designed to create a massive working class that is easy to manipulate, and (3) alternative teaching methods should be applied to teach children to think for themselves. In this essay I will be summarizing and relating each of these arguments to other educational essays. Also, I will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s argument.