As I watch my dad take three measurements and then murmur to himself, I know he is calculating the length and angle the piece of crown molding he's cutting needs to be. My dad, a specialty carpenter, might not encounter crazy calculus problems like a rocket scientist would, but he does understand measurements and geometry. Only having reached the seventh grade, my dad learned most of his trade working as an apprentice. My dad's blue-collar work never required major schooling or specific certificates and that should not devalue his career. Mike Rose, author of Blue-Collar Brilliance, advocates the same ideology. In his article, he states, “Generalizations about intelligence, work, and social class deeply affect our assumptions about ourselves and each other” (Rose p.282). For instance, if I generalize carpenters to be uneducated people I can assume them not to be skilled in classes that an educated person would be. This assumption is easily debunked when I look at my dad. If he did not understand measurements, geometry, and spatial reasoning, all subjects an educated person would understand, there would be no way he'd be able to complete his job. The stereotypical intellectual capacity that has been stapled to blue-collar workers is a pure fallacy. A new view of open mindedness is necessary so blue-collar workers can receive the proper appreciation for their different, but extraordinary intellectual capacity. I believe the blue-collar workers knowledge has been belittled for quite sometime. Rose, who I mentioned earlier, states that this has been going on as early as the American Revolution when physical workers had been deemed illiterate and, “therefore incapable of participating in government” (Rose p.282). There may be some physical jobs that are rather repetitive and do not require crazy, critical thinking, but work like my dads could leave even the best mathematicians with their heads spinning. The amount of adding, subtracting, and multi-tasking going on in my dad's head throughout the day is unreal. I am not saying no mathematician would be capable of completing the same work, but would that be able to do it in their head on the spot with expensive material at risk? My dad is working under a combination of pressure to get the job done correctly and the intense physical nature of the work, yet he still has the ability to think critically and problem solve when necessary. Blue-collar workers, like my father, need to be acknowledged for their extensive intellectual capacity that is clearly undermined in society. The undermining of these fields of work has a detrimental effect on the value of these individuals as well as the amount of money they will make. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a white-collar lawyer collects an average salary of $113, 240 a year compared to the blue-collar electrician who only earns a median annual earning of $47,180. Unlike the white-collar's privileged salary, blue-collar workers tend to work on an hourly pay rate. Not only does this mean there is a slim chance 401 K or health insurance is included, but sick days are likely unpaid and overtime pay is improbable. Besides the incomprehensible gap in pay, blue collar workers simply lose value to their character because of the way their jobs are stereotyped. Rose emphasizes our cultures “no brightness behind the eye” (Rose p. 282) stereotype of blue collar workers. This devaluation should be meaningless when it is clear that with no college degree, the blue-collar worker is still a plethora of knowledge. The importance and complexity of our blue-collar workers intellectual capacity should no longer be devalued in our society. Effects of doing so might be subliminal now, but will only worsen in the future. As Rose urges in the conclusion of his article, “When we devalue the full range of everyday cognition, we offer limited educational opportunities and fail to make fresh and meaningful instructional connections among disparate kinds of skill and knowledge” (Rose p.285). There is hope that soon there may be an end to the deprivation blue-collar workers suffer. Blue-collar workers represent another part of our society that has the ability to think differently. White-collar workers would be silly not to try and understand blue collar workers thoughts and vice versa. Both workers are required to think, but only one is being socially separated. Whether you are reading this on a computer or piece of paper, a blue-collar worker had to think to make that happen. Never devalue the abilities of the blue-collar worker, for their intellectual capacity is no worse, but rather different, than that of the white-collar's. Works Cited Rose, Mike “Blue-Collar Brillance” Acting Out of Culture. Ed. James S. Miller. Bedford/St.Martins, 2015, pp 280-285