Blue Collar Brilliance- Anthony Andino

In “Blue Collar Brilliance” Mike Rose talks about the every day laborer. In the article I think he makes against the everyday idea that the people of the blue collar world are not smart, or lack the cognitive ability of a person with a white collar job. Mike argues that even though people who do physical labor may not have educational intellect, their every day tasks require extreme skill, routine, and finesse. As he refers to his mother in the restaurant when he describes the work she does he points out the way she can multi task taking orders while keeping track of the time it takes for other orders to be prepared. He also talks about his uncle and how his knowledge of the machines he operated allowed him to make improvements and increase their efficiency. The level of intricacy and skill that it takes for some people who are laborers is as equal if not greater to any counterpart in the white collar world.

 

In the interview with Mike from “Working” by Terkel, he talks about how his work makes him a thoughtless mule. I think that this contradicts what Mike Rose’s piece “Blue Collar Brilliance” because Rose talks about how much skill and thought it takes to handle the tasks of every day labor and Mike in his interview goes as far as to say that his work causes him to stop thinking all together. Mike thinks that his work robbed him of his youth and intellect, but Rose however thinks that work builds intellect and character.