Crawford’s book is one that at first glance I thought would be some boring story-telling book about a guy who made a drastic change in careers. Basically about a guy who has a mid-life crisis and needed help finding his way back. The book, while on the surface seems like a little bibliography about Crawford’s life is actually more about human excellence and why it is undervalued today. According to the author Americans have lost the appreciation and value for hands on work because of the belief that the only valuable work is work that is performed intellectually.
Crawford argues that high schools made a mistake by dismantling shop-class programs and instead preparing students to become “knowledge workers.” He says that our society believes …show more content…
They must be ready to add value to our world through mental work rather than any sort of physical work. The author argues that there are two things that are wrong with this idea. Firstly, he says that this notion undervalues blue collar work that involves the use of your hands, like manual labor. He says that expertise within specific things rather than ideas allows a person to have some control in their day to day lives. The second problem with this the office work is dull and unlike an electrician who knows his work is good when the lights turn on, a knowledge worker is caught up in meetings, calendars, and spreadsheets. None of those things can be evaluated and there really isn’t a way to achieve mastery or excellence. Mastery as a knowledge worker is an abstract idea. One of Crawford’s main points has to do with the dichotomy between knowing and doing. The fact is that most forms of knowledge including self-knowledge come from the struggle of understanding objects. To complete tasks like backing up a truck with a trailer on it, or loosing a bolt on a motorcycle without stripping the threads all require knowledge of the world as well as yourself and your own limitations. These skills can’t be learned by simply following rules, they require intuitive knowledge that comes from experiences and