Solidarity and Self-Reliance

Finally Crawford admits that even when we are self-reliant we are not autonomous. We depend on others for approval and discernment to provide a standard. We can excel above that standard, but we are not defining what is excellent. This is humbling when so often I think we believe that if we just go off and work on our own we will end up doing something new that makes us stand out as an individual, but that can only happen when we have a standard to work up against. Others have to have gone before us to make our work worth something in this world. We can not be completely self-reliant and that is an important lesson to learn.

Work, Leisure, and Full Engagement

It does seem it is a human desire to find a work that allows for "rational activity, in association with other." Crawford makes a good arguement for why most jobs don't seem to offer this anymore that being that we have become far removed from what we are producing and can't gain the satisfaction from a job well done. This makes sense to me. The most satisfying and fully engaging jobs have been the ones where I have made something or helped someone and seen the results.

We shouldn't have to live for the weekend. We work most of our life. Our life shouldn't be only two weeks a year when we get a vacation. Life should be happening as we work and are engaged in what we are doing. This means I have to find something I love to work at...hmmm.

Thinking as Doing

There is a big difference between knowing and being able to do something. I think I often fall into the category of people of learn/read about a lot of things but can't do anything well. When life hits us it is harder to problem solve because we don't have the experience at doing anything enough that we can problem solve on the spot. That takes practice and action. Someone like Crawford or his mechanic friends weren't able to learn how to fix a motorcycle by reading the manuel and following the rules. They had to have experience with weather, different conditions, and differently aged bikes to know how to fix an individual problem.This is something that makes the human brain unique. It is able to break the rules and learn/memorize amazing amounts of things from experience.The new "social technology" idea is actually a scary one. It seems to threaten the use of the brain and what it means to be human. When problems are fixed through artificle intelligence the meaning behind things is lost and the action is thoughtless. A computer might be able to fix something quickly, but what does that mean for humanity? Are we to be inferior to the technology we created? Are we trying to play God?

The Contradictions of the Cubicle

Yet another chapter in "Shop Class as Soulcraft" has me nodding my head in agreement, but I feel helpless in the changing the prevading system of work in our culture! I feels like his critque is too little too late. It's my last year of college; an education that encouraged mindless teamwork, reading to get through the text, and talking in circles. I have often felt as Crawford did in his InfoTrac job. He was filling a quota and not actually able to think about the articles he had to read. That's often how college feels. You are here to get through the work, to get a job, and who knows if you are actually able to do anything by the end? The object is to play the game right. You have to say the right things, act as a team member instead of a crew member, and then maybe you will survive.

I don't think you have to fall into this common trap. My education has not been focused on the job at the end, but what I want to learn now. I love history, and many other topics, and did not minor in anything because I just wanted to take a variety of classes in topics I actually wanted to learn about. Most of the time it was a good experience, but I did have to jump through some hoops and now I am at the point where I have to think about a job and I'm wondering if this culture will allow someone like me to enter it. I went to school to learn and to learn how to think!