Why Not "Work" Passionately?

Something I find myself asking from the readings of both Mike Ross in “Blue Collar Brilliance”, and Mike Rowe’s personal reflection in “Why “Work Smart, Not Hard” is the Worst Advise in the World”; is higher education worth the price? Answer: If you are happy… yes!

According to Mike Rowe in his “Lessons from the Dirt” website, lessonsfromthedirt.com, “We have a massive skills gap. Even with record unemployment, millions of skilled jobs are unfiled because on one is trained or willing to do them. Meanwhile unemployment among college graduates is at an all-time high, and the majority of those graduates with jobs are not even working in their field of study. PLUS, they owe a trillion dollars in student loans. A trillion! And still, we push a four-year college degree as the best way for most people to find a successful career?” All this because career paths are being manipulated by others?

Hard Working Man!

If it were not for the blue collar workers, America would not be the country it is today. The infrastructure of the United States was built with the hands of the blue collar worker, the universities that we all seek our college educations were built with the hands of the blue collar worker, the foods on our tables were grown by the farmers of this country, most of which did not seek a four-year college degree, yet society today seems to put so much weight on obtaining a higher education in order to “succeed”.

I guess the bigger question is… what is success?

 

We cannot disregard the great triumphs that have been the result of individuals who have gone the path of higher education. Feats in science, medicine and engineering, etc. supporting advances in the understanding of our existence within the world we live and the universe itself.

Great minds can be observed every day.

I have worked pretty hard over the past few decades to get where I am today. Some jobs I loved, some jobs I hated, but each job provided me with a learning experience. “I have been to the University of Life” is my typical response to the question “what college did you attend?” I can’t say that I personally have been treated any differently by not pursuing a college education, but then, I worked smart AND hard to get where I am today. Mike Rose stated in “Blue Collar Brilliance”, “Given the ridicule heaped on blue-collar speech, it might seem odd to value its cognitive content. Yet, the flow of talk at work provide the channel for organizing and distributing tasks, for trouble shooting and problem solving, for learning new information and revising old. A significant amount of teaching, often informal and indirect, takes place at work.”

Life is full of lessons. Whether college educated or educated by life lessons, never stop learning. Find your passion and doors will open for you. If your passion is picking up a tool or picking up a scalpel, you are working with your hands, your mind is engaged and learning. I feel the decision to pursue a career should be driven by what an individual loves, and not the control of what others feel is the “smarter” path.

I sit here reflecting on both the research paper written by Jean Anyon, “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” and the article by Professor X “In the Basement of the Ivory Tower”, I am struck with a profound thought. I have been asking myself some of the very same questions from the Professor X article. Have I screwed up? “I am trying desperately to get to a place where I do not have to”? “I am showing up for class exhausted from working my full-time job, carrying a briefcase overspilling with the contents of my hectic life”. So many of his statements rang true. The most profound thought I’ve had recently, even prior to reading these two papers, “Am I prepared educationally to enter into the college learning experience?

As I sit in class some nights thinking “why does this sound so foreign to me”, “I’m not really sure what they mean by that”, “I really don’t ever think I’ve had to write an essay” or “I don’t ever remember talking about that in school” I start to question my preparedness. Then, enters Anyon’s “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”. BINGO!!! No, I was never prepared for this…

I was actually eleven years of age when Anyon’s study was underway. How ironic that I could have actually been one of those elementary school students she was researching.

Reading Senior High School

Born and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, I entered into my educational experience in an intercity school system made up of clusters of elementary schools throughout the “Urban Jungle”. The daughter of two blue-collar workers, dad a candy line worker and mom a sewing machine operator in a local mill, they did the best they could to get me into the Northeast section of the city as we just moved into the home that would turn out to be the one I grew up in and to which they still live, just before my kindergarten years

                                                                                                                     

The Northeast section was thought to be the more affluent section of the city, but, it was still the city. I would categorize it into a combination of “working class schools” and “middle-class schools” from Anyon’s research. And looking back on the quality of my education, it is very much the building blocks contributing to who I am today.



12th and Marion Elementary School

It saddens me to think that the path of children’s success can be based on the “class” their parents find themselves in, which in many cases is the result of the “class” of their parents and grand-parents, etc. To find facts behind research showing the lack of encouragement for creativity, self-thought, and quite frankly, free-will in the working and middle class schools, I’m not sure why the need to “control” the learning experience in this way was encouraged. Is it any wonder I sit and question myself even to this day?

I stated at one point that I felt I lacked guidance from my school system. I was never really encourage to pursue anything other than enter into the working class, take a few business courses, general accounting, typing (computers were not on the scene yet) and dictation, “you can become a secretary, it will keep you out of the factories”. I was not prepared to be a Doctor or Lawyer or Executive, but prepared for the “cubicle farm”. This is why I’m trying so desperately to get to the place I WANT to be. To prove that the classification you were labeled with as a child is just that, only a label. Labels can be ripped off and replaced. But it is a very eye opening experience to begin to understand a little more each day how children are most often times products of their environment. Again the question arises… Nature or Nurture?

I had the pleasure of getting to know Jee hyun Lee the other night during my writing class.  I found her to be so very fascinating not only in her life experiences as a young child in South Korea, but also her passion and enthusiasm for her chosen field of study; Nutrition with a minor in Psychology.  Here is an irony... my chosen major is Psychology with a minor in Nutrition...  it's amazing how circumstance brings people with the same like minded philosophies together.

Something I admire most about Jee hyun, she is grasping the opportunity to learn abroad here in the U.S. as an exchange student.  At her age I hardly left the borders of Pennsylvania let alone travel to another country.  Also at her age, I had no idea of the direction I wanted my life to take.  Jee hyun seems to have a very specific target in mind.  "Help people understand the benefit of good nutrition to better improve their abilities to live healthy lives"

Jee hyun spoke to me about the fact that many in South Korea are influenced by the media and it's effects on the culture and the need to be thin.  Her experience in the U.S. has been somewhat different, in the U.S., obesity seems to be an epidemic and she is interested in using her studies to understand the nutritional deficiencies that lead to obesity and the psychological and/or genetic components involved. 

At this point of the conversation, our talk shifted from less of an interview to more of a in depth conversation of the topics that have captivated both of us.  Psychology and Nutrition.  How funny is it that though generations, cultures, and oceans separate us we find a common interest.

So, this young woman from South Korea, who traveled first to the U.S. at the age of 8 years old, returns once again far from her family and much loved Yorkie, "Pepper", to pursue her passion in Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. at Cedar Crest College.  I wish her many blessings and I'm sure Jee hyun Lee will be very successful in anything she sets her mind to achieving.

Greetings!!

Hi All!

Welcome to my Blog.  Yes, I said Blog...  I never thought I would consider myself a "Blogger" but, thanks to my writing class... yes, I also said "writing class" as I have decided after almost 30 years of being out of school, to return and pursue my BA in Applied Psychology.  I guess if one is going to have a mid-life crisis, this is not a bad way to have one.

This blog will be my story from this point out.  Enjoy the ride!  I sure will.  ;-)