Writer: Liam Luepker
"Become a doctor, lawyer, or engineer." Sometimes these expectations shift to meet the era's demands, but regardless, this is the implicit or blatant advice parents pass down from generation to generation. While many of us pursue genuinely self-designed lives, everyone develops a sense of standard due to expectations, a metric of intelligence that labels people from "prestigious" to "pathetic." In his book, Why School, UCLA professor Mike Rose argues that these labels perpetuate a hierarchy about the professional world whereby Americans view intelligence in a binary way: some work requires intelligence, while other "common" or "blue-collar" work does not.
The difference in educational requirements between common occupations and many of the jobs society labels as prestigious exist; however, the difference is generalized and often polarized. For instance, surgeons undergo decades of selective clinical and anatomical training to prepare for practice, including undergraduate school, medical school, residency programs, and other specialized coursework. When comparing the years of education required to be a surgeon—and the complexities of the practice itself—to monotonous labor, it is easy to assume that the working class is incapable of applying critical thinking to their jobs.
However, this could not be further from the truth. Rose exemplifies his mother's waitressing occupation as a key insight into the intelligence required to work a working-class job. The waitress must anticipate whether their "manager [is] in a good mood" or if the cook woke "up on the wrong side of the bed," and if so, needs to determine if they can make "an extra request or return an order diplomatically" (Rose 80). Simultaneously, the waitress must manage customers who enter "…with all sorts of needs, from the physiological—and the emotions that accompany hunger—to a desire for public intimacy" (Rose 80). Incompetence has dire consequences for the waitress, as their tips depend on how well they respond to these needs while managing the flow of work. As a result, waitresses get "good at reading social cues and managing feelings, both the customers' and" their[LL1] "own" (Rose 80). Waitressing, like millions of other working-class occupations, is not barricaded by selectivity or years of rigorous training. However, the profession requires diligence, intellect, and constant energy to maintain employment for just one week.
It is quintessential for Americans to qualify intelligence on an open spectrum rather than a two-sided scale. Polarizing labels that determine what future is admirable or pathetic negatively affect how we think about each other as people. We cannot continue to limit our opportunities to develop and exhibit behavior and values that have personal and social benefits.
[LL1] Pronouns get a little tricky here… I don't want to infer that women are the only people doing this job.