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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Seminal Book on Blue Collar Work, September 30, 2004
This review is from: The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker (Hardcover)
This book forces you to look at things in a new light. When you hire someone to do some work around the house, cut your hair, or bring food to you in a restaurant; you really don't want someone that's too dumb. Otherwise you house, your hair, or your food isn't right. But we have been conditioned to think that these kinds of workers do not need any brainpower.
In this book, Mike Rose, a member of the faculty of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies grew up in a working class family and witnessed first hand the skills it takes to do the manual work about which he writes.
With that a basis, he begins to look at intelligence in a new, broader sense. Perhaps our traditional IQ tests are wrong. And if we think of these workers, these people as being not too bright, then we shut down opportunities for advancement and it makes you think seriously about how people will vote in the upcoming presidential election.
This is a seminal book. It establishes several points, but it is just a first step. How should we change education to be more meaningful to people who are just as smart but not oriented the same way. Are the traditional three R's simply not applicable? If not, what should we do? We don't want to condemn people who are just slow starters on the traditional path, yet we want to provide the best education possible for all.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What My Class Thinks about This Book, October 28, 2008
We read The Mind at Work in Comp 201 at SUNY Potsdam. Here are some informal comments from students in the class:
--He does belabor his main point
--It is an eye opener
--It changes the way you think about the working class
--Rose backs up his work by using documented research and real experiences from real people.
--Dr. Springsteen did not appreciate the citation style
--We gave it 3.5 stars as a class average
--It could be useful for high school students who have to choose between academic and vocational tracks
--Rose's writing style was kind of boring, but easy to understand. He wrote in a person-to-person style, like you were talking to him.
--Some of the writing was too technical (but maybe that's because I am a creative writer)
--wouldn't recommend to an average person...it's like an acquired taste, you really have to be interested in learning about society and the ideas instilled in us by society
--it reads like a textbook until the 7th chapter when you get to hear his argument
--with the section on vocational education, he tied in younger generations; interesting generational approach
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Seminal Book on Blue Collar Work, September 30, 2004
This review is from: The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker (Hardcover)
This book forces you to look at things in a new light. When you hire someone to do some work around the house, cut your hair, or bring food to you in a restaurant; you really don't want someone that's too dumb. Otherwise you house, your hair, or your food isn't right. But we have been conditioned to think that these kinds of workers do not need any brainpower.
In this book, Mike Rose, a member of the faculty of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies grew up in a working class family and witnessed first hand the skills it takes to do the manual work about which he writes.
With that a basis, he begins to look at intelligence in a new, broader sense. Perhaps our traditional IQ tests are wrong. And if we think of these workers, these people as being not too bright, then we shut down opportunities for advancement and it makes you think seriously about how people will vote in the upcoming presidential election.
This is a seminal book. It establishes several points, but it is just a first step. How should we change education to be more meaningful to people who are just as smart but not oriented the same way. Are the traditional three R's simply not applicable? If not, what should we do? We don't want to condemn people who are just slow starters on the traditional path, yet we want to provide the best education possible for all.
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