Bilbeisi 1
Omar Bilbeisi
Rachael Landers
English 101
11 November 2013
Knowledge vs. Experience
College is known to be a very important stage of life because it helps and gets you
the knowledge you need to be a successful person. College helps especially if you have a big
dream of becoming a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. Many students who are about to finish
high school really do not know if they should continue onto college or university or if they
should just start working. The real question is: Is college really worth the time and money?
In Mike Rose’s “Blue Collar Brilliance,” he mainly talks about how his mother, father, and
uncle Joe did not finish school or college, yet they are happy with their life. Mike believes
that having a college degree is not really necessary because he thinks experience is more
important than education. I think that college is very important, even if you believe that
having a college degree is not essential for your career path because there are certain
things that you will only learn in college and not through experience.
I agree with Mike Rose’s “Blue Collar Brilliance” because most of the things you do
at your job, will be learned through experience. For example if someone wants to become a
car mechanic, he really does not need college, because college will not teach him all the
things he needs to know about fixing cars; those things are learned from practice and
everyday experience. In Rose’s “Blue Collar Brilliance”, he talks about how experience in a
certain field is better and more beneficial for most people than spending time and money in
college when they could start working right after high school. When comparing Rose’s
Bilbeisi 2
article to most university websites there is going to be a big difference between them. Most
universities really just want you to come for your money, and in return the university will
give you knowledge that will help you with your future life and career.
I compared Rose’s “Blue Collar Brilliance” to the University of Alabama at
Birmingham’s website. As noted before, Rose talked about the importance of experience
over college. He started out by talking about how his mother, father, and uncle dropped out
of school at an early age. However, even though they did not finish school or college, that
did not stop them from being successful and happy in their lives. On the University’s
website, the first thing you see under the university title is “Knowledge that will change
your world.” It is obvious that the most important thing at this university is knowledge.
UAB wants you to come to them so you will get the knowledge you need to not just be a
regular person who gets his degree, but also be someone who is going to make a change in
the world. Rose believes that experience is sometimes better and more beneficial than
college and university. He knows it is not a waste of time because it will help you in your
life. Rose says, “Intelligence is closely associated with formal education—the type of
schooling a person has, how much and how long” (Rose, n.p.). This agrees with UAB’s
website because the University of Alabama at Birmingham is all about getting the
educational knowledge. Most people who graduate from college will start out at good
paying jobs because they have the intelligence that is needed for that job. But some people
who did not graduate from college are more successful than the ones who did because they
had more cleverness in that certain field which they gained from their experience through
life. Lets take Steve Jobs and Bill Gates for example, Jobs dropped out of college to build
computers in his garage; now his company, Apple, is one of the largest and has one of the
Bilbeisi 3
highest net worth in the world. (Wikipedia, n.p.) Gates went to Harvard University, not
knowing what he wanted to do. He heard about the release of the new microcomputer and
he saw this as an opportunity to make his computer software. He started coding the
computers and eventually made Microsoft, which is also one of the biggest companies in
the world. (Wikipedia, n.p.) In Rose’s article he is saying that college is important for some
people, because they do not have that experience that others do. But for the people who
have the intelligence and experience then they really do not need to go to university and
could start working right away.
One thing Rose’s “Blue Collar Brilliance” and the university’s website have in
common is change. The word change means “the act or instance of making or becoming
different.” (Merriam Webster). The word change is used in the university slogan
“Knowledge that will change your world” which symbolizes the importance of change, and
being someone different. They do not want you to be a regular person, but someone who
will be able to help the people of the world through his knowledge. In “Blue Collar
Brilliance,” Rose talks about how his uncle Joe did not finish school, yet he learned things
he would not have learned in school. Joe said, “his job was like schooling, it was a place
where you are constantly learning…He lacked the formal knowledge on how the machines
under his supervision worked, but since he had experience with them he knew exactly how
to fix things when they needed fixing. He did not just solve problems, but he also looked for
problems to solve.” (Rose, n.p.) His uncle was not just a regular person who worked at the
factory, but through his experience he was able to make a change and be a different person.
If he did not work hard through his life in which he gained that experience then he would
just be one of the regular employees at the factory instead of a supervisor. When one works
Bilbeisi 4
hard and sets goals to make a change, he will come out to be a successful and achieving
person.
On the university website, you can see images of people who are smiling and look
like they are having a good time. From these images, the university is trying to send a
message that college is not just about learning and studying, but also a place to gain
experience in certain fields. In the first image it shows a nurse in a lab coat that is training a
military veteran. This shows that if you go to this university, it will give you opportunities,
while you are studying, to get the experience you need before graduating so when you
apply for a job you will be prepared. If you do not go to this university you will not have
this opportunity and many jobs may not hire you because you do not have the experience
that is needed for that particular job.
Since this university wants you to come and get your degree from them, and at the
same time they want you to have a great experience. These images on the university’s
website symbolize the fun and the good time you will have at UAB. They are trying to tell
you that when you go to UAB, it is not only about studying, but also about having a good
time. When you go to the university, you will have the opportunity to interact with others,
learn new things, and also learn new cultures and languages. For example if you become a
doctor and knew how to speak a foreign language, and a certain patient came to the
hospital, that patient will be directed to you since you have the ability to communicate with
them and you have a background on their culture. On the other hand, if you go with Rose’s
article and not go to college because you may think you might not need it, then you will not
have this opportunity.
Bilbeisi 5
These days, people are mostly distinguished by their school intelligence, or by the
grades they made in school. Rose says, “defining intelligence solely on grades in school and
numbers on IQ tests. And we employ social biases pertaining to a person's place on the
occupational ladder.”
Some people believe that university is very important for life. Others, who agree
with Rose, believe that it is not very important and it would be easier to just start working
after high school instead of going to college. In my opinion, I believe that everyone who can
afford going to college should go. When students go to colleges like The University of
Alabama at Birmingham they will gain the knowledge they need to achieve their goals and
get to the career they want. By going to this university students will also gain experience in
certain areas, not only from the educational point, but also from a social standpoint. When
they go to this university they will have the experience if interacting with people, which
will tremendously help them through out their career.
Bilbeisi 6
University of Alabama at Birmingham. University of Alabama at Birmingham. UAB. N.d.
Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
"Steve Jobs”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. n.d.
Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
"Bill Gates." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. n.d. Web. 11
Nov.
2013.
"Change." Merium-Webster Dictionary. Web.