Greg DeSilva
10-28-09
Pappas
Summary

In “Shop Class as Soulcraft”, the author, Matthew B Crawford, argues the importance of craftsmanship and manual labor; and how he feels these things have been negatively influenced by technology and society.
Crawford states that “It appears shop class is a thing of the past, as educators prepare students to become “knowledge workers””. As more and more schools seem to be dropping their shop programs. Pointing out that the idea of working with your hands is being lost at an early age. Crawford is most definitely, a do it yourself type of person and touches on how big companies try to “hide the works” by for example concealing the engine under the hood of a car or buy making a bolt or screw that requires a exotic tool, preventing the average person from doing something themselves and having to hire a professional to fix something. Not only the saving of money is important to Crawford, as he also touches on how craftsmanship can be very positive in a person’s life from: the hard work one overcomes, the ability to be able to say you built or fixed that, and the simple thanks you get when you help a friend and save them some money.
Crawford is in the subculture of the manual laborers; from machinist, mechanics, and metal fabricators as he ran his own motorcycle shop. To be in such a subculture is a reward that comes with his work. As Crawford goes on he talks about technology replacing manual labor jobs and how some jobs are lost to technology. For example premade door frames make carpentry work easy and take out the overall craftsmanship even though the intentions of cutting down labor are good.
In conclusion, yes Crawford very much appreciates and looks up to those who do manual labor but he understands that it is not for everybody. He thinks college can be a great thing, but don’t do it for the wrong reasons. As a human being money, peers, and family should not influence your overall goals in life, if you like working on cars by all means do so and if you want to find a cure for the swine flu go to college.