35 pages • 1 hour read
Matthew B. CrawfordShop Class as Soulcraft
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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The Theoretical Shoelace
When Crawford is completely stumped on how to repair his VW Bug, his father offers an anecdote about the untying of a shoelace by just pulling on one string, even if double knotted. Though his father means this helpfully, to the author this kind of knowledge is anything but helpful. His father’s densely intellectual background gives him a very hands-off approach to information. Crawford is seeking more direct engagement and is looking for the kind of answers that can only be gleaned by solving problems directly, not by getting any answer in the abstract.
The Human Skeleton
Crawford uses the example of the skeleton he is asked to duplicate in a mechanical drawing class as a way of exploring mindsets and perspectives. When he first tries to draw the skeleton, all he can get down on page in a childish Halloween image that lacks the appropriate detail for the course. It isn’t until his friend Tommy, acting as the instructor, turns the skeleton so it is sitting end up that Crawford is able to see with fresh eyes. He realizes then how stuck he was in one particular way of thinking and how the same thing can happen to him in his shop and in his life.
The Assembly Line
Crawford cites the creation of the assembly line as a seminal moment in the devaluing of skilled craftsman and the movement towards the piecemeal doling out of little parcels of information that keep workers from fully connecting with their products. In the white-collar world of “clerkdom,” the assembly line finds its equivalent in the office environment where teamwork is celebrated over tangible, measurable individual achievements. In this sphere, workers are subjected to often goofy team-building exercises to keep them working as a unit, assembly line style.
