Public High Schools & Preparing Students Literature & Language Essay

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What role should public high schools play in preparing students who do not want to do “knowledge work”? public high schools and knowledge work
Public schools have an important role to play to prepare students who ought to choose from a variety of subjects and their strengths. Reading schemes that emphasize literacy should be emphasized as children grow in confidence and are better placed to learn what is relevant to attain skills. At the same time, there should be greater emphasis on technical skills as the assumption that the future is in the information economy and knowledge, ignores that not all people can be knowledge workers. Matthew B. Crawford in "The Case for Working with Your Hands" argues against placing too much emphasis on the knowledge economy, and cubicle workers yet trade skills, are practical, fulfilling and needed in well paying jobs for those who do not need to go to universities and colleges and fix things based n hi experience from a philosopher to a motorcycle mechanic. In "It Is Expensive to Be Poor ", Barbara Ehrenreic pointed out that there is a high cost to being poor in America and the lowly paid workers as here are hidden costs in necessities, and this further affects their economic wellbeing in the long-term. There is low prestige in the trades because of the perception that dirty work is stupid, but the works are challenging and require experience and patience (Crawford 37). Public high schools ought to focus more on the practicality of education, and the non-knowledge workers paid based on the value of their work.
America's working poor mostly work in minimum-wage jobs unlike the knowledge workers, and they struggle to pay their bills. “For most women in poverty, in both good times and bad, the shortage of money arises largely from inadequate wages” (Ehrenreic 3). Many people are poor as they get low wages and spend a large percentage of their disposable income, but the low-wage jobs are not necessarily for unskilled labor. Furthermore, these jobs are mostly physically demanding and for women, there are fewer options in high paying jobs that do not require a college degree. Costs more for those who are poorly paid and mostly with a high school diploma and even when people are living in a knowledge-based society; they are alienated and ignorant about how different knowledge can improve their skills levels. The US is less of a maker than before that know there fewer products made in the US and the low paid jobs in the service industry make it more difficult to get out of poverty when workers are overworked and people have fewer chances for professional development advancement or creating things. “Working in an office, you often find it difficult to see any tangible result from your efforts” (Crawford 36). Even as many of the people in minimum-wage job lack skills, expensive and higher education does not necessarily improve the wellbeing of those who would seek education. To Crawford, there is a need to address the issue of skills shortage in manual labor even as few recognizing that trade skills are some of the most marketable and well paying jobs. In the minimum-wage job, there is a lot of repetition and the w...