Chapter 7: Rethinking Hand and Brain (Kaitlyn Metz)

(Summary and Response pg 159-166)

Chapter 7: Rethinking Hand and Brain
Pg. 159-166
Summary: In this section, Mike Rose talks about the beliefs and judgments people have towards different occupations and how many people believe some jobs are more work than others. He says “each type of work is powerful in its own way” (159). The way different jobs get defined has many consequences for example The American Federation of Labor declared welding as a tool rather than a trade and this judgment prevented them from making a separate trade and took away any thought of skill they had. He also talks about how the Department of Labor’s Standard Occupational Classification System can be misleading because they’re analysis come from outside observers. The department’s discussion of waitresses indentifies memorization and manual dexterity as important abilities but then rates coordination and negotiation as low importance. From an outsiders perspective this could seem correct but to a waitress these skills are greatly needed. Mike Rose says, “I find myself thinking of Joe Meraglio’s dictum that there’s no such thing as unskilled work. Sure building a flight of stairs involves more variables, technique, and training than does digging a ditch or hoisting freight. But even the most basic labor requires thought and technique if it’s to be done effectively and without injury…” (162). People make judgments of different jobs based on what they believe about race of gender.
Binary Oppositions:
Brain-hand
Abstract-concrete
Intellectual-practical
Academic-vocational
Pure-applied
Reflective-technical
New knowledge work-old industrial work
Neck up- neck down (165).
Mike Rose says that these binaries make us think that we know the phenomena better than we do and they limit our ability to see, and to honor, the considerable play of mind in physical work (166). Mike Rose believes the most influential binary is academic and vocational because it has had great effect in the high school curriculum which has led to the kind of instruction one receives or the crowd one associates with. “The divide between the two curriculums has been one of the most longstanding and visible institutional manifestations of our culture’s beliefs about hand and brain, mind and work. Thus, I think, it has a great deal to teach us about the contradictions and consequences of those beliefs” (166).


Response: I thought this section was really interesting and made me think a lot. It made me think about how each type of work does require some sort of effort. I found the quote form Joe Meraglio about unskilled work very true. There isn’t one job that doesn’t require work. One job may require more work than others. When I read this section, I thought about my view on different occupations. I always assumed that work that requires and education would consist of more skilled work than an occupation that didn’t require a college education. I now have a different view.