Throughout the entire article, “Blue Collar Brilliance” theauthor Mike Rose is trying to show the real fact of Blue Collar jobs bydescribing his mother work as a waitress and his uncle as a factory worker whomade his way up to manager.
By giving evidence, he is also trying to open thereaders eye that Blue Collar workers are in a same intelligence skill as other high-levelworkers though they do not have four years degrees. The author, Mike Rose, passedhis childhood by watching his mom as waiting on booths and table withskillfully to assemble the skill to do work efficiently. He also watched out all other workers andinterested by their adaption to coexist with each other. He got the chance as afirst person to attend college in his family, and he chose psychology as hismajor. In his education level, he studied the relationship between intelligenceskill and formal education by looking the difference between blue-collar andservice jobs. He clearly realized ability cannot be measured by formaleducation, but it can be developed by observation and practice.
Rose makes anargument using rhetorical appeals such as pathos, ethos, and logos to persuadethat intelligence should not be linked with formal education.As an appeal to attempt as pathos, the author uses hispersonal story. He represents his mother as a dynamic woman who loved her joband put her heart and soul into being a perfect waitress. He described clearly theway his mother, Rose Meraglio Rose (Rosie), memorized the order number, theapproximately time to prepare selected item, and the skill to became a pro byunderstanding the emotional needs of her customers and colleagues alike asstated, “…what I observed in my mother’s restaurant defined the world ofadults, a place where competence was synonymous with physical work.
” (Rose,274). He also details his uncles work in a General Motors factory, and how herose from production line jobs to supervising paint jobs by his intelligenceskill. The author also lists the skills required for blue collar work logicallyby following his mother and uncle jobs which is not less then white collar orother service jobs. He uses his own credibility to appeal the ethos. Heexpresses about his mother working at the restaurant is what made him and thisarticle credible. He got to witness and experience his mom and her “waitingbrilliance” up close and personal (Rose, 273). He also states, “I’ve since studied theworking habits of blue-collar workers and have come to understand how much mymother’s kind of work demands of both the body and the brain” (274).
In this statement he establishes his owncredibility as a source of authority on this issue. Rose, the author, wants to opensocial minds by showing “mental activity” (279) required in blue-collar work isstill under-recognized and undervalued by society. The blue-collar workers arenot as valued as they deserve but the capability they have is not less thanother high-level workers, even sometimes it’s more than them.
To appeals the sense of logic, the author makes a list ofcommon quality of both white collar and blue-collar workers. He explains how heobserved different types of blue- collar and service workers in action and thatconcludes that each of them has a skill that takes a lot of mind power tomaster. “To gain a sense of how knowledge and skill develop, I observed expertsas well as novices… I tried to fashion what I called ‘cognitive biographies’ ofblue-collar workers” (Rose, 278). For example, verbal and math skills arevalued. As a blue-collar worker, when carpenter builds a cabinet he uses thoseskills for measuring but these skills are not recognized. ” “Toacknowledge a broader range of intellectual capacity is to take seriously theconcept of cognitive variability to appreciate in all the Rosies and Joes thethought that drives their accomplishments and defines who they are.
This is amodel of the mind that is worthy of ademocratic society” (Rose 283). Tosum up, in today’s society, many people cannot complete their higher education dueto their personal issues that does not mean they do not have good skills. For lackingformal education, they have to do blue collar work. But their ability and qualityare not less than formally higher educated person. But still they are under recognizedand undervalued in society.
Though higher education is definitely worthwhile venture,its not best for all. Attending college does not make a person perfect. Rose’spurpose for this article is to represent the idea that, more education does notmeans more intelligence.
