Oh What a Difference Two Chapters Can Make

The writing style and content of the final chapters and conclusion of Mike Rose’s book, The Mind at Work, was of a much higher quality than the first six chapters. The redundancy, for the most part, is gone and the historical background incites emotion – outrage to be exact. His conclusion offers more than just wringing of hands and pity for the plight of the common laborer. He offers solutions to the inequity of the wage system and the prejudice that defines the common worker as “intellectually substandard.” In place of viewing the common worker in his environment, Rose shifts to the professional in his working environment – surgeon, physical therapist and teacher. With concrete examples, the author reveals just how both the common and professional workers use similar manual techniques and intellectual processes in their work. Chapter eight was an education in itself. Rose exposes the vocational education system for depreciating the “intellectual dimensions” of the trades. The educational sorting of minority and economically disadvantaged students by “probable or evident destinies,” focusing more on their limits than their potential, is nothing more than race and class prejudice. And, according to Rose, the second rate education received by these students “will affect the work we create in the future.” This is apparent today as businesses draw attention to young workers who are unprepared for the workplace. In his conclusion, Rose reiterates the inequities of economy and opportunity faced by today’s young people. He suggests that this broken system can be fixed, but only “through the lens of democracy.” Last week I never thought I’d say this – Mike Rose is my hero.