The Mind At Work

Mike Rose. The Mind At Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker

In this the introduction and beginning chapter of his book, Rose discusses the general opinions and assumptions of American society. It is widely believed by Americans that education equals intelligence and that can be seen by our positions in the work force. Many people consider hard labor to be a manually fulfilling job and by no means try and take that away from the worker; yet people do not generally associate that hard work with intelligence. Rose points out that many of the "blue collar" jobs in this country require a lot of mind work as well as the physical. Rose discusses his family of immigrants and what it was like to be raised by them. A waitress for instance may be looked down upon for her low position on the totem pole; yet Rose had the experience of watching his mother at work, noticing things he would never notice, remembering things he would not remember, all the while her arms stacked with plates. Intelligence in this country is based on social status as well as tests such as IQ. Rose points out that IQ tests generally ask many questions that can only be learned through formal education, thus tipping the scales in detriment to the uneducated. Rose quotes sociologist Steven Peter Vallas when talking about the way we classify work. Vallas says that although classifications such as "blue collar" and "white collar"and "mental" versus "manual" labor are sometimes useful, they fail to show the commonalities between the different forms of work. Rose states "these limiting categories reaffirm long standing biases about particular occupations and cause us to miss too much"
I am instantly reminded of a poem by Tom Robbins called "The genius waitress". As a self proclaimed intelligent woman who has done some hard labor in her day, I find the subject of Rose's book quite fascinating. Waitressing is my labor experience and let me tell you, it is a great way to learn a lot about human nature. I can almost guarantee I have more education and intelligence than more than half the people I have ever waited on. Customers in restaurants, for the most part, do not want their waitress to be intelligent, just perfect. While looking down at the waitress (or up I suppose with the intent of looking down) assuming she is the dumbest person on earth, or at least just as dumb as her coworkers; the customer asks questions the waitress is very used to, yet it is assumed they have no answer to. Of course if the waitress forgets to bring the bread or, god forbid the cook over cooks a steak, she is then reprimanded by the customer. All the while, the waitress is thinking the customer is a moron with absolutely no regard for human beings, certainly no respect. I actually had a group of women once who were discussing some world traveling. I commented that their lives sounded like a lot of fun, simply because it is not everyday you here people discussing trips to Africa and Asia in the same year. One woman looked at me with sympathy and said. "You will make it out of the country someday" she may have well said dear at the end of the sentence. Being the argumentative loud mouth I am, I informed her I have not only been out of the country numerous times, I actually lived in Europe for half a year. She of course assumed because of my position, I must not have ever had the opportunity to travel. Oh the feeble minded. Anyway, I have many very intelligent friends in "blue collar" positions, I think Rose's subject is one that should reach the masses.