The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American WorkerFeaturing a new preface for the 10th anniversary As did the national bestseller Nickel and Dimed, Mike Rose’s revelatory book demolishes the long-held notion that people who work with their hands make up a less intelligent class. He shows us waitresses making lightning-fast calculations, carpenters handling complex spatial mathematics, and hairdressers, plumbers, and electricians with their aesthetic and diagnostic acumen. Rose, an educator who is himself the son of a waitress, explores the intellectual repertory of everyday workers and the terrible social cost of undervaluing the work they do. Deftly combining research, interviews, and personal history, this is one of those rare books that has the capacity both to shape public policy and to illuminate general readers. |
Contents
| xi | |
Mind and Work | xxxiii |
The Working Life of a Waitress | 1 |
Styling Hair | 2 |
The Intelligence of Plumbing | 3 |
A Vocabulary of Carpentry | 4 |
Electrical Wiring and Construction | 100 |
A Welder and a Foreman | 116 |
The Paradox xi xxxiii I 31 35 56 67 IOO 116 14I of Vocational Education | 167 |
Working Life | 195 |
On Method | 217 |
Acknowledgments | 225 |
Notes | 229 |
ix | 232 |
167 | 240 |
229 | 248 |
Other editions - View all
The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker Mike Rose No preview available - 2005 |
The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker Mike Rose No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
ability academic activity aesthetic African American Altoona American Barbara Garson beliefs boys cabinet Cambridge chapter client cognitive course of study craft cultural curriculum customers Devries Dwayne economic emerging example feel Felipe frame Gary Alan Fine Guthier Habitat for Humanity hair hand high school Howard Gardner human industry intellectual intelligence interaction interviewed involved Jerry Devries's Jim Padilla Joe Meraglio kids kind knowledge labor Lisa look Lordstown manual material mathematics ment Mike Rose mind mother move observation occupational one's panel Pennsylvania Railroad physical Physical Therapy plumber problem provides restaurant routines salon Sam Maloof says Schmidt sense skill social social class structure Studs Terkel style stylist talk tasks teacher techniques there's things tion tional trade traditional uncle University Press Vanessa vocational education VocEd waitress welder welding workers workplace York young