Some Lessons from the Assembly Line by Braaksma, Andrew
Some Lessons from the Assembly Line is an enthralling article authored by Andrew Braaksma. Braaksma, a college student, shares his personal experience working in the blue-collar industry over the summer school break. He introduces the audience to the daily lives of factory workers, describing the hardships of living without a college education. The article also shows how students’ expectations differ substantially from the reality of the employment world. In the article, he champions for education as the only way out of blue-collar employment. Therefore, more or less, the article is a wake-up call to all students and serves as a challenge to students to take learning seriously. This paper seeks to argue the claim that education is priceless, can guarantee a stable source of income, and whether it undervalues hard work, and that invaluable life lessons are learned from any situation.
Education provides an opportunity for young people to change and improve their living conditions. However, without education, things can always change for the worst. Braaksma comes to this realization when he witnesses the hardships the factory workers experienced primarily because of little or no education, “Factory life has shown me what my future might have been like had I never gone to college in the first place” (Braaksma). Besides, the lack of education almost guarantees a spot in the blue-collar industry. Working in the factories is frustrating, and most of the times leave an individual exhausted after working for the better part of the day, and for meager pay, “After a particularly exhausting string of 12-hour days at a plastics factory, I remember being shocked at how small my check seemed. I couldn’t believe how little I was taking home after all the hours I spent on the sweltering production floor” (Braaksma). The value of education is further echoed by one of Braaksma’s co-workers who encourages him to treat his studies with utmost seriousness. This is after she saw him reading a book while also working, “This job pays well, but it’s hell on the body,” said one co-worker. “Study hard and keep reading,” she added” (Braaksma). Knowledge offers opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable to blue-collar workers. Besides, joining the workforce with a solid educational background creates a vantage point and offers remarkable earning prospects in the competitive labor market.
Throughout his time at the factory, Braaksma is continuously reminded of the importance of education. Most of his co-workers are living a consequence of little knowledge. As part of this workforce, he is forced to live the typical stressful life of blue-collar workers where job security is nothing but a dream. This fact is revealed to the audience in a conversation between the author and a co-worker, “…downsizing and overseas relocation had always seemed distant to me until my co-workers at one factory told me that the unit I was working in would be shut down within six months and moved to Mexico, where people would work for 60 cents an hour” (Braaksma). Here, what he otherwise thought was just another distant issue suddenly became a reality. This part of the article underlines the true worth of education. Braaksma shows that education is an essential component in acquiring a stable, more lucrative career.
Further, despite the value attached to education, the article recognizes the central role hard work plays both in the workplace and in school. Rather than idle, or spend his summer break “doing nothing,” the author opted to work hard for his money, “I chose to do this work, rather than bus tables or fold sweatshirts at the Gap…” (Braaksma). Also, he concedes that the factory experience has taught him valuable life lessons, including hard work. Braaksma writes, “The things that factory work has taught me – how lucky I am to get an education, how to work hard…” (Braaksma). He also discloses that, after that “life-altering” experience at the factory, he was going to put more effort towards his education. He says, “When I’m back at the university, skipping classes and turning in lazy re-writes seems like a cop-out after seeing what I would be doing without school” (Braaksma). The above examples show that Braaksma values hard work the same way he values education. This sentiment is shared throughout the article, where he encourages the readers to work hard in everything they do, whether its work or studies.
Lastly, although most people believe schools are the best places for learning, other areas can equally live up to the challenge. This truth is evident in the article where the author acknowledges that working at the factory has taught him crucial life lessons, “These lessons I am learning, however valuable, are always tinged with a sense of guilt” (Braaksma). The extract shows that, even though institutions of higher learning are ideally the best investment, crucial lessons are not only learned in school.
Education is far more valuable and stretches far beyond the classroom confines. Braaksma demonstrates how little knowledge can influence the ability of students to secure stable employment in the future. He shows that, even though education is priceless, we should not undervalue hard work. If anything, hard work and learning go hand in hand in the pursuit of a better future. Also, essential life lessons emerge from every situation.
Work Cited
Braaksma, Andrew. “Some Lessons from the Assembly Line.” 12 September 2005. Newsweek. , Vol. 146, Issue 11, p17-17. 1p