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Review of “Blue-Collar Brilliance” Society has considered blue-collar workers to be less intelligent, than the other working classes, for a very long time. Mike Rose, a professor at UCLA, wrote “Blue-Collar Brilliance” to provide evidence to show that blue-collar workers are just as intelligent as anyone else. Rose’s works typically focus on eliminating the “gap between the academic and nonacademic worlds”. Through his article, “Blue-Collar Brilliance”, Rose has effectively shown what he believes about the intelligence of blue-collar workers. Rose provides two examples of blue-collar workers, in his article: his mother, who was a waitress, and his uncle, who worked at General Motors. Rose explains to the reader that his mother stopped attending school during the seventh grade and his uncle stopped during the ninth grade. From society’s standpoint, people would consider Rose’s mother and uncle to be “unintelligent” compared to someone who completed their education. This is exactly what Mike Rose provides evidence against, in “Blue-Collar Brilliance”. Rose tells the reader how his mother and uncle are still intelligent, even if they did not finish their education. Mike Rose tells us that in both places, where his mother and uncle worked, the employees were frequently learning something new. Rose also informs the reader that both, his mother and uncle, were regularly face with new challenges. The challenges were different for his mother and uncle because of where they worked. However, in some ways the challenges were similar. They were similar because every challenged provided at least one problem or obstacle that need to be solved or avoided. Rose’s mother had many challenges, but they were usually intertwined. She was having to juggle herself, the emotional state of her co-workers, and the demands of her customers’, all at

once. She had to make decisions based on what everyone else was feeling and needing. This was a lot to juggle all at once. In order for Rose’s mother to be as effective as she could, she developed strategies and new abilities. She developed a way to recall what customer ordered what, so that there would be no mix-ups with their orders. She also developed the ability to read social cues and to manage her feelings and her customers’. Since Rose’s mother developed her strategies and new skills, she was able to constantly juggle her challenges even when it was difficult. Rose’s uncle, Joe Meraglio, faced many challenges and learned many things while working at General Motors. While Joe was working at General Motors he went from working on the assembly line to being a supervisor of the paint-and-body department. When Joe was working on the assembly line, he learned how to move efficiently so that he could save as much energy as he could. While he was a supervisor, he learned about budgets and management. However, this is not what shows how Rose’s uncle was still intelligent, regardless of when he quit school. While Joe was working for General Motors, he was solving problems and finding others to fix. One of the issues he fixe was the “nozzle on a paint sprayer”. He managed to take away the problems, the cost and health hazards, that the “overspray” was causing. Joe solved this issue without even finishing his education. He fixed this problem because he had experience with the machine and knew its abilities. So, how would an “unintelligent” person manage to fix and solve these kinds of issues? An unintelligent person would not have been able to correct those problems. Throughout the rest of his article, “Blue-Collar Brilliance”, Mike Rose provides more evidence that proves that blue-collar workers are intelligent. He tells the reader about the

different skills a blue-collar needs to have, which most people would not think they would need. Rose continues by informing the reader that by considering blue-collar workers to be “unintelligent”, society is limiting people by convincing them that certain working classes are more intelligent than others. This form of thinking causes people to think they are better than others and widens the gap between the working classes. Rose concludes his article by informing the reader that acknowledging “diverse intelligence is not a retreat to a softhearted definition of the mind”. Mike Rose’s “Blue-Collar Brilliance” shows the reader that blue-collar workers are still intelligent, regardless of the level of formal education they acquired. He provides examples of how blue-collar workers are just as intelligent as workers, from other classes, are. In “BlueCollar Brilliance”, Mike Rose tells the reader where he stands regarding the intelligence of the blue-collar worker.

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