Hall 1101-351

Ahsham Nasir

English 1101

Dr. Carrie Hall

September 17, 2018

Community as a Whole

Community is defined as many things, but what really defines a community is the people we associate ourselves with, for example my community is the people I belong with which are immigrants from South East Asia. Different communities differentiate the importance of “white collar” and “blue collar” labor, differently. While some communities might find blue collar labor more important, at the same time, another community might find white collar labor more important, and vice versa.

People from South East Asia usually tend to prefer jobs such as white collar jobs while the fact is that about 90% of these peoples work is considered blue collar. While they prefer white collar jobs for their children and the new generation, majority of these peoples children in and from South East Asia have hopes of a white collar job but like their parents are unfortunately stuck in a blue collar job. People from South East Asia think that white collar jobs and “golden jobs” that these jobs lead to a life of comfort and relaxation, as well as that they will be paid a significant amount of money. The same people consider Blue collar jobs as low income jobs that require a lot of labor, these jobs are commonly called “common jobs” where the individual is forced to work more than 10 hours a day and is barely paid or is under paid for his or her service.

People from South East Asia get this type of bias thinking, from coming to the United States and realizing that America is not like back home. On top of that when they see people with white collar jobs they feel jealous.They get the bias towards white collar jobs by see and thinking about the comfort in their life they could have, and move away from their hectic jobs and life styles.

On top of seeing what they could have, with white collar jobs, immigrants from South East Asia feel that white collar jobs are from the educated people only and is where all the thinking is done. Most importantly people from South East Asia really support the fact “All possible brain work should be removed from the shop and centered in a planning or lay-out department.” They get this bias after seeing and believing that only educated people can do white collar jobs, because their jobs require a tremendous amount of knowledge. Even though immigrants from South East Asia believe this way, me personally I don’t believe in this theory, all jobs require “brain,” or thinking is involved to complete daily tasks in that job.

On the other hand these same people from South East Asia believe that blue collar jobs are from the uneducated because they do not need to use their mind,  they get this bias  from realizing that they do the same task everyday and can almost do those tasks without thinking about how they need to do the task, its like they have mastered the skill they are doing but they feel as if they are not using their mind to complete that task. Immigrants from South East Asia will agree with Crawford when he quotes  “All blue collar work is mindless as assembly line work
” the factory work or any work in general is “mindless”meaning they are not thinking about what they need to do they just do it, and their work is just too simple and required no thought. Even though immigrants from South East Asia believe that blue collar work is “mindless”, I would have to disagree with their opinion and because all work requires thinking even the simplest action as writing something on paper, just because you have been doing that same action constantly and became an expert at it doesn’t mean you are not using your brain.

As an individual from South East Asia and more importantly a child of immigrants from South East Asia I have learned that even though some work may become easy or too simple for an individual to do, doesn’t mean that the task is doesn’t require “brain”or thinking, it just mean that you have mastered that skill and you should move on to learn something new. Crawford states “much of the ‘jobs of the future’ rhetoric surrounding the eagerness to end shop class and get every warm body into college, thence into a cubicle
” Crawford wants the reader to know that one can only get a job of the future by going to college and getting an education, which South East Asians support, but at the same time Crawford is also saying that just because they someone gets an eduction doesn’t mean they can get their dream job but instead are going to be forced into a cubicle where they will be working from a simple job, that the person might not enjoy in the long run.

People from South East Asia prefer jobs that are white collar jobs and look down on blue collar jobs, while the fact is their work is considered blue collar work. At the same time they prefer white collar jobs for their children because they believe that white collar have a life of comfort and a person can make a good amount of money. Immigrants from South East Asia also believe that white collar jobs are the only jobs that require thinking and are only for educated people. While that fact is the even though you might be an educated individual, but you might end up working in a “cubicle” as Crawford himself puts it “get every warm body into college, thence into a cubicle”. Even though people from South East Asia might agree with Crawford, but the reality is that no matter what type of work you might do all work require thinking and there is always a thought process involves in any work no matter how big or small the work might be. Matthew B. Crawford is incorrect in Shop Class as Soulcraft, because no matter if educated or not all work is important and requires the individual to use their head to solve daily problems placed in front of them.