“Blue-Collar Brilliance.” The American Scholar.

**MUST READ ALL ATTACHMENTS** Reading: “Blue-Collar Brilliance.” The American Scholar. N.p., n.d. Web. Instructions: • Use MLA standards to format and cite your paper. • Title your essay. • Refer to the author and the title of the work in your first paragraph. Anyone picking up your writing should know what author and work you are discussing. • Be sure to set off the title in quotation marks in your introduction. Write a fully developed essay that responds to each of the questions below. Your essay is not merely a summary of the reading, but a thoughtful response that explains, persuades and supports your main idea with facts, examples, and reasons. • Include direct and indirect quotes from the reading. Be sure to document correctly. • Include a clear thesis statement early on in your essay. • Avoid starting sentences with “I think,” “I believe,” or “In my opinion.” • You must answer all three questions. • Answer the questions in any order that makes sense to you. 1. In his essay, “Blue Collar Brilliance,” Mike Rose says, “I’ve … come to understand how much my mother’s kind of work demands of both body and brain.” What does he mean by that? What examples does Rose use to illustrate those demands? Does your field of study or chosen profession also “demand of both body and brain”? Explain. 2. Rose claims that, “Generalizations about intelligence, work, and social class deeply affect our assumptions about ourselves and each other, guiding the ways we use our minds to learn, build knowledge, solve problems, and make our way through the world.” Do you agree? Explain. 3. Isolate two claims made in this essay. What kinds of evidence does Mike Rose use to back up those claims? Is it enough? Is it credible? What other kinds of evidence might make his arguments stronger and where would you go to gather such evidence?