In general, society views blue-collar occupations as requiring less intelligence. Professor Mike Rose in his article “Blue-Collar Brilliance” states, “If we think that whole categories of people--identified by class or occupation--are not that bright, then we reinforce social separations and cripple our ability to talk across cultural divides” (254). This is one point Rose makes in his article as he challenges the view that intelligence is measured by the amount of schooling one goes through or the type of job a person has. Instead, Rose argues that blue-collared jobs require the same amount of intelligence just in different forms. Rose uses his mother and his uncle as real-life examples of intellectual capacity in the blue collar work force, and after addressing the ideas of intelligence in society, he disputes these claims with further evidence of intelligence in the workforce to persuade the readers to stop defining intelligence based on class or occupation.
Rose discusses his mother’s and uncle’s experiences in their work, and in doing so, he proves that intelligence is learned by direct experience and is demanded in blue-collar work. According to Rose, “A waitress acquires knowledge and intuition about the ways and the rhythms of the restaurant buisness. . .my mother learned to work smart, as she put it, to make every move count” (245). The essence of Rose’s argument is that even though his mother had a blue-collar job, she had to have just as much intellectual ability in her workplace as white-collared workers must have in theirs. Rose explains that his mother could sequence group tasks, solve problems within the flow of work, and take the emotional state of her coworkers into account as she tried to keep the restaurant running smoothly (245). Rose then addresses another real-life example--his uncle Joe. He describes the intelligence Joe earned while working, such as multi-tasking, evaluating high demands, keeping a substantial number of different events going on in his head, continuing interrupted tasks, and keeping his composure while under the looming demand of production schedules (248). Through these examples, Rose shows the intelligent performances that both his mother and uncle used to satisfy their job expectations.
Despite the knowledge the author saw demonstrated in his mother and uncle, society has been trained to observe intelligence in a different way. Rose explains society's view on intelligence: “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 that notation to a belief that work requiring less schooling requires less intelligence” (247). Rose’s point is that society has gone on believing that education and intelligence parallel each other. Society bases intelligence on the grades a student gets in school or a person’s IQ number and subconsciously places people in groups based on how achieving a person’s occupation is (250). Rose disagrees with this way that society judges citizens, and he aims to prove that a person’s intelligence is not strictly based on how well he or she performs on a test or the occupation he or she chooses.
Rose goes on to deliver examples of the intelligence required in jobs that are stereotyped as low intelligence occupations. In Rose’s view, “. . . the flow of talk at work provides the channel for organizing and distributing tasks, for troubleshooting and problem solving, for learning new information and revising old” (252). In other words, Rose believes that work-related actions teach numerous skills that workers must intelligently act out in their professions in order to do their job correctly. He exemplifies his point by discussing how different blue-collar careers all require intelligence. He explains that carpenters must have specific knowledge on tools in order to manipulate them in the right manner and must have knowledge in geometry. Hair stylists are experienced with shape, texture, and motion (251). Intellectual devices such as verbal, mathematical, and literacy skills are all required for blue-collar jobs, and through examples, Rose shows that intelligence is required in blue-collar jobs just like in white-collar jobs.
Professor Mike Rose believes that grouping people based on intelligence decided by class or occupation is wrong and will only continue to separate people. In the article “Blue-Collar Brilliance,” Rose uses his personal examples to show how, contrary to society’s thinking, intelligence is widely used in blue-collar work, just as it’s used in white collar work. Through his personal examples, Rose disputes society’s ideas of intelligence in the work force and uses further evidence to prove the point that blue-collar workers are not any less intelligent than higher paid workers.
Works Cited Rose, Mike. "Blue-Collar Brilliance." They Say I Say With Readings. By Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. Ed. Russel Durst. 2E ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 243-255. Print