Mike Rose on 'The Mind at Work,' valuing the skills of American workers

Mike Rose grew up in a working class family and has been a teacher for more than 40 years. He is known for his extensive study on intelligence and education, especially his groundbreaking publication "The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker."

A decade after its publication, the questions Rose poses about intelligence, school and work have become increasingly prevalent.

"This groundbreaking study finds that the intelligence, integrated skills and achievements of blue collar and service workers have been consistently undermined and marginalized by cultural stereotyping," wrote Publishers Weekly.

Rose joined The Daily Circuit to discuss the intellectual skill that physical labor demands, as well as the educational, economic and social costs of ignoring that intelligence.

A truck driver listening to the show called in to talk about the complexities of his job:

Tiffany left a comment on The Daily Circuit page discussing the skills required in her retail job:

I am the manager at a specialty running retail store. It took me many years to be okay with doing this kind of job, rather than doing a "real" job. But listening to Mike makes me think about all of the skills that it takes to be successful at this job. Not everyone can do it. I have to be a motivational speaker, a therapist, a medical professional, and a personal trainer; I have to know which questions to ask; I have to know all of the details about all of the different kind of shoes and which shoe will fit what kind of customer. I use memory skills and have to be a good multi-tasker when working with 6 different customers on a busy day. I use math skills at the POS. I need to track trends when ordering products and use my social skills to form relationships with customers. I need to know how to best use social media, and keep the bottom line in mind when scheduling or ordering. This is probably the hardest job I've ever had, but by far the most rewarding.