I do believe that schools should allow vocational classes in schools because that way people can have more opportunities out in the real world. Instead of being spoon fed lectures, tests, etc with information about how people should work in offices and that’s the best way to make a living. According to Matthew B. Crawford, “It appears shop class is becoming a thing of the past, as educators prepare students to become “knowledge workers.” In other words, Matthew believes that schools aren’t preparing students for black collar jobs. For example, My mother works as a care manager and she’s good at it I’m not gonna lie to u, but she’s good at it because that’s all she was taught throughout her life. She even tells me “I want u to work with your mind, not your hands”.
Another quote by Crawford is that “ Sears catalogues included blown-up parts diagram and conceptual schematics for all appliances and many other mechanical goods.” Matthew is corroborating the age-old adage that people used to know what those diagrams meant and even how to put the appliances together, but now people are forgetting that or very few people still know compared with how many people know how to use a computer or how to handle daily office meetings. An example of this would be when I used to work at an art space, everyone there was more hands-on but I was more of a computer guy and there lies the problem. I was taught how to use social media and writing emails to artists, but eventually, they made me set up the space for the artwork and it helped me realize the hands-on aspect of the job and I learned a lot. According to Mathew, “ Articles began to appear in vocational education journals around 1985 with titles such as “The Soaring Technology Revolution” and “Preparing Kids for High-Tech and the global future.” Matthews point is that fairly recently we have shied away from black collar learning and replaced it with blue collar. We should be able to corporate both teachings to provide a broader range of opportunities for our youth and give them the choice to decide between which they wanna do as a living.
Matthew himself writes, “ I never ceased to take pleasure in the moment, at the end of the job, when I would flip the switch. “And there was light.” In other words, he enjoyed working with his hands. He used to work as an electrician’s helper and after that, he started his own small electrical contracting company after college in Santa Barbra. He enjoyed it. This is evidence of how black collar labor can be a nice alternative to the blue collar so schools should reintroduce black collar practices and let students experience some hands-on learning.
In Matthew Crawford’s view, “The satisfaction of manifesting oneself concretely in the world through manual competence have been known to make a man quiet and easy. They seem to relieve him of the felt need to make offer chattering interpretations of himself to vindicate his worth. He can simply put: the building stands, the car now runs, the lights are on.” Matthews point is that manual labor can also make a man feel modest while also feeling sure of his work. Like he won’t ever feel the need to explain his work because he feels confident it works which also lead other people to also feel confident in his work as well. He also feels that “Boasting is what a boy does, who has no real effect on the world.” So this shows that black collar can also help a person build modesty and confidence in their work so much that it even affects the people their working for or helping.
According to Crawford, “The craftsmen is proud of what he has made, and cherishes it, while the consumer discards things that are perfectly serviceable in his restless pursuit of the new.” In other words, Matthew believes that a craftsman takes more pride in his work then the people who ask for it because the consumer is always looking for what’s new instead of something that’s handmade and made to last. This is yet another good point as to why we should reintroduce black collar practices in schools because it would help people understand the value of good craftsmanship and when it’s better to pick something handmade then something made in a factory or by a machine.
Matthew also states “ The craftsman is then more possessive, more tied to what is present, the dead incarnation of past labor; the consumer is more free, more imaginative and so more valorous according to who would sell us things.” Mathew is saying that a craftsman understands past labor and the value of a table, chair, door, etc because they took the time to make it and therefore understanding its true value in the world. Whereas the consumer just goes through different things, always changing just to keep up with the new, not truly knowing the value of what he’s throwing away. Schools could also teach us the value of things instead of taking advantage of what we have and this skill could help us in not just work life but in every aspect of our lives in general.
Matthew himself writes, “ Being able to think materially about material goods, hence critically, gives one some independence from the manipulation of marketing, which typically diverts attention from what a thing is to a back-story intimated through associations.” Basically, he’s saying that knowing the value of something help u to not fall for manipulations from media and advertisements which doesn’t really portray the true value of an item.
