Kindergarten to Cashier: No One Told Me I Had Other Options

1015 Words5 Pages
Kendra Professor Ball English 101 18 Sept. 2012 Kindergarten to Cashier: No One Told Me I Had Other Options Education is not about limiting people by their race, class or beliefs. Education is meant to expand children’s minds, excite them about the world, and to help them to find their strengths and passions in life. Are our urban schools standardizing our children and predetermining their career choices based on local business demand (Kozol 335)? Analysis of both Mike Rose’s “Blue-Collar Brilliance” and Jonathan Kozol’s “Preparing Minds for Markets”, reveals that groups of people are being limited by social, professional, racial, as well as cultural prejudices. In Rose’s essay, he argues that much of the skills acquired in blue-collar work are learned on the job. Rose wants us to believe that work experience is just as important as a formal education; and the people holding these jobs are just as intelligent as those who have attained a higher education. Rose tells us how he has extensively studied blue-collar workers and their behaviors and practices on the job. Throughout his essay he illustrates to us the direct connections between labor work and intelligence. Rose introduces us to his mother, Rosie, a career waitress. He tells us how she learned to read customer’s emotions and to control her own. How she learned to “work smart, to make every move count" (Rose 310). Rose walks us through the working life of his uncle Joe, and how even though he left school in the 9th grade, he managed to build an impressive career for himself (311). Rose tells us how he used his mind and intelligence to solve problems at the factory he worked for. How he introduced a redesign of a paint sprayer nozzle in order to save the company money and create a healthier working environment for employees. How he learned about budgets and management (Rose 311-312).
Open Document