[lbo-talk] School Debate: Central Focus

Wojtek S wsoko52 at gmail.com
Thu Feb 16 07:50:57 PST 2012


Sean: "These two are joined by the fact that working class jobs - crafts and other sorts of labor - are not culturally prized in the US because they aren't seen as intellectual or worthy of middle class salaries or existence. "

[WS:] I realize that, of course, but I come from a different cultural environment (Europe) where skilled "manual" labor was highly prized. My grandfather was an electrician (and a card-carrying Communist who remembered listening to Lenin in person in St. Petersburg in 1917) and many of my childhood friends went into vocational schools and explicitly rejected the value of college education. My best buddy and role model while I was in high school, was a guy who trained to be a welder, and my significant others came, for the most part, from the working class background. More importantly, I met many blue collar workers whose level of political sophistication was was higher than that of college graduates. I also understand that skilled manual labor is highly respected in Germany and Sweden as well.


>From my pov, the "manual" labor can be as if not more intellectually
challenging than many white collar jobs.

Wojtek



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