Essay: Exploring Intelligence in Blue Collar Brilliance by Mike Rose

This essay provides an analysis of Mike Rose's 'Blue Collar Brilliance,' which challenges the conventional association of intelligence with formal education and white-collar work. The essay explores how Rose argues that intelligence is relative and present in various forms of work, including manual labor. It examines the skills, knowledge, and adaptability required in blue-collar jobs, using examples like waitressing to illustrate the cognitive demands of these roles. The essay also discusses the concepts of ethos and logos in the context of work and intelligence, highlighting how societal biases often devalue the intelligence of manual laborers. It concludes by advocating for a redefinition of intelligence to include the diverse skills and problem-solving abilities demonstrated in all types of work, emphasizing the importance of recognizing the intellectual contributions of blue-collar workers. The essay uses the text to emphasize that intelligence should not be judged by the type of work a person does or their level of education.

BLUE COLLAR BRILLIANCE 0
Blue Collar Brilliance
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Intelligence is a very relative concept and its definition varies as per the place or the context in
which it is used. However, it is often seen that intelligence is not associated with the process of
manual labor or in the context of the people who perform physical labor. The article, ‘Blue
Collar Brilliance’, clearly states that, “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 notion to a belief that work requiring less schooling requires less
intelligence” (Mike). The author Mike Rose, is a research professor associated with the Graduate
School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA (Mike). He is famous for his various
articles as well as blogs, apart from the 12 books written by him (Mike). In his early formative
years of childhood, he was surrounded by people belonging to diverse professional backgrounds
like waitresses, manual labors, factory workers and others who had a tremendous impact on his
writings and the kinds of social as well as psychological issues raised by him in his writings and
teachings (Mike).
“A waitress acquires knowledge and intuition about the ways and the rhythms of the restaurant
business.….. she could monitor an order that was taking too long at the service station” (Mike).
Modern theorists like George Campbell, argue that actions are often considered to be direct
result of the impressions. He is of the opinion that emotions are responsible for the way
particular individuals react to particular situations. Therefore, from the above quotation it
becomes clear that the actions of the waitress, Rose are determined by her emotional response to
perform better at her work. She, unlike the normally standards of intelligence is not highly
educated and as a matter of fact, the place where she works itself becomes the place of her
education, where she learns about the various aspects of human psychology and ways to perform
her work efficiently. It is the workplace where the process of her actual education takes place. It

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is also to be noted that she constantly needs to make changes to her strategies to enable herself to
perform better at her work. Therefore, it can be said the intelligence of a person should not be
judged as per the schooling a person had or the kind of work which he or she does.
‘The restaurant became the place where she studied human behavior, puzzling over the problems
of her regular customers … There isn’t a day that goes by in the restaurant that you don’t learn
something” (Mike). The concept of ethos can be as the character, which is used to describe the
ruling principles that defines the community, nation as well as the ideologies. It is normally seen
that the people, who do manual work are not as intelligent as the people who work in better
companies and had their schooling at better schools and colleges. However, in the context of
Rosie, it becomes clear that her kind of work requires the active use of her intelligence. She
needs to use her intelligence, to perform the various activities, which her work demands. She
also needs to upgrade her skills constantly to able to perform as per the expectations of the
customers and the owner of the place. Her work require her to constantly make changes in her
strategies as per the demands of the situation. Therefore, in a way she can be said to be doing
both manual labor and intelligent work.
“Our culture—in Cartesian fashion—separates the body from the mind, so that, for example, we
assume that the use of a tool does not involve abstraction….We also often ignore the experience
of everyday work in administrative deliberations and policymaking” (Mike). The concept of
logos relates to expectations and according to the philosophy of Heraclitus. It is coterminous
with the concepts of knowledge as well as order. Therefore, when the above quoted sentence, is
seen in this light, it will be seen that our society normally separates the physical from the
intellectual. Thus, the people, who perform manual or physical labor are not seen as intelligent

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and as per the article are often referred as ‘dummies’ (Mike). It is to be notes that people often
ignore the process of policymaking as well as administrative deliberations, which are normally
associated with any kind of work, even the work related to the physical kind. Therefore, it
becomes important the people should take into consideration these aspects of manual as well as
physical labor when they refer to intelligent work. The intelligence of a person should not be
judged on the basis of the work, which he or she or the kind of schooling they had.
Therefore, from the above discussion it becomes clear that intelligence is a very relative concept
and is often related to the kind of schooling, education and cultural background which a person
had. It is necessary to take into account the various policymaking as well as administrative
deliberations performed by the various manual labors. It is also noted that these people had to
apply various smart tricks and continuously upgrade their skills as per the demands of the
customers and the owners of the business. Therefore, it can be safely said that it is time that the
concepts of intelligence and intelligent work is redefined.

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References
Rose, Mike. "Blue-Collar Brilliance: Questioning assumptions about intelligence, work, and
social class." The American Scholar 78.3 (2009): 43-49.