What Is Truly Necessary?

8 September 2015

Blue Collars and White Collars

Expo 1213 - What is Work?

Maddy Payne

What is it that most students are told growing up? What is it that most students are told will grant them success in the future?  A college education and a degree.  However, many people today get by without one.  Those who want to become carpenters or masons go through different career training programs called either technical or trade schools.  No, it is not a college degree; however, unlike what many believe, the classes and skills required to become a carpenter or mason/bricklayer actually quite detailed and specific.  

In the documentary we watched today, The Tradesmen: Making an Art of Work, we were able to understand the perspective of work and education from the working class.  Some tradesmen do their jobs because no one else will do it, other believe hands-on, dirty work is the only true work, and then there are some who genuinely like their jobs.  The documentary also it highlighted how essential their contributions to society are in order to keep everything up and running.  That being said, most stereotypes regarding blue collared works are wrong because they do contribute a lot to communities, their contributions just usually go unnoticed or unappreciated.  

Additionally, in the documentary, the beginning opens with a man talking about jobs and how physically and mentally involved people are with their job.  He states that out of every hundred workers, thirteen will have jobs based entirely on mental skills, eighteen will have jobs based solely in manual skills, and the remaining sixty-nine  require a perfect combination of hand and mind coordination.  Personally, I believe that many people assume the working class makes up much of the 18% who only use manual skills; however, blue collared jobs, such as plumbing, carpentry, or bricklaying, are all jobs that require a deeper understanding of a complex system.  Without knowledge of how to do it, it is wrong and the end product is usually dysfunctional.  Today, many people, such as executives and CEOs do not know how to use a hammer, fix their plumbing system, or how to remove shingles and do a repair.  

Consequently, it is hard for many blue collared workers to understand or handle criticism from higher social classes who look down on them.  Many white collared workers hold negative connotations towards blue collared work because of their lack of a degree or university education.  Furthermore, blue collared workers in general are never seen much in the spotlight or shown appreciation for what they do.  Their jobs are seen as basic and only requiring simple thinking skills.  

Opinion on this? 

To come...