THE TROUBLED CRAFTMAN

CHAPTER ONE: REVIEW

-ISHIKA SARAWAGI

When we think about what a craftsman really means, it comes to our mind that someone who is a
worker skilled at a particular craft. But even doctors, musicians, a mother, are people who are skilled at
the particular job they do. As quoted by the writer “they are dedicated to good work for its own sake.”
According to the writer craftsmanship is poorly understood and therefore explains when practical
approach and theoretical knowledge is separated, both understanding and expression is impaired. We
explore certain problems that a skilled person faces. These problems result in creating an environment
that pulls back the craftsman from performing their best. The various problems that we talk about
throughout the reading are somehow related to one another. Now to solve one we have to also keep in
check the others.

Our understanding of the troubles, faced by craftsmen, continues on by the writer comparing the state
of the ancient craftsmen with their modern counterpart. He begins by reciting a hymn on Hepesthetus -
The Greek God of Tools, which tells us that earlier craftsmen were revered by the people of that time as
they were the one who led humanity from a group of wandering gatherers to a civilized society with the
help of their tools. They had a social standing of a middle class men and were called Demioergos
( demios-public ergon-productive). Even the craftswomen at that time of patriarchal societies had higher
social standing. The women were being seen as child bearers while men were considered strong and led
many to believe that men were more muscular than women in their brain too. Hence this gave rise to a
problem that we still see in our society. This creates a very different definition of who a craftsperson is.
Can we really classify the craftsperson on the bases of their gender? A women working equally hard as a
man is also termed as a handworker, who is trying to produce the best work she can.

The modern society has changed substantially. Now the craftsmen are considered to be the
programmers and engineers. Perhaps the biggest embodiment of old craftsmanship remains in Linux
which is open source software in which anyone can contribute and improve on. The problem with
modern time is how to make our current concept of craftsmen give their best in the work.

The writer first talks about facilitating an environment of competitiveness between the workers to
improve their work. But the case study shows that doing this is actually harming the work as people will
then tend to hide their ideas and work from other person to get better results which decreases the
quality of work. The better way to do this is to follow the Japanese who are the leading innovators and
makers of our time. Their working environment is about direct and harsh comments on anyone’s work.
The positon and post between people doesn’t matter, what matters is that everyone is focused on
improving the work and not themselves through competition. This gives us an understanding, no matter
who the person is, what the gender is as long as we believe in making our work better the true spirit of
craftsmanship remains.
Lastly, the author talks about the sad state of the modern craftsmen. In this corporate world every
company wants only the best and cheaply available worker for their company. Due to this the
competitions between the craftsmen have increased substantially. If someone is working as good as you
but cheaper then you are fired. If you are getting old and getting established in a company then you will
be fired to make way for a young prospect that will not go against a company. Many people believe that
they can protect themselves from this situation with their talent but sadly they all have been wrong.

I am a staunch supporter of the authors’ point of view in this part. The writer in the fractured skill talks
about advancement of skill and its impact resulting from the dependence on technology. It adversely
affects the work produced. A skill is basically the ability of a person to do something with expertise. It is
not necessary that an individual with specific skill and appropriate practice can be considered to excel in
that skill. A person’s interest and dedication plays a big role in developing that skill. Hence, believing in
Isaac Stern rule, “the better our proficiency the longer we can practice with repetition without getting
bored”. The fact is building skill through practice is hindered by the misuse of machine today. This
results in conceptual and practical perspective of humans suffering. As we go deep into this problem we
wonder how such a powerful and helpful technology could be misused. Taking the writers example, use
of CAD by the architects, the fact that computer makes the job easy. However, hand drawing is a
practice which helps in making pictures of possibility and process of refining by revisiting again and again
to make changes for better results. It is my belief that even though the writer is correct but the reality is
different. When we think about it this way, supposedly I am work on a huge project. I want it to be a
success. I have all the software that help me makes my design a little sorted. Why can’t I use both
machine and my practical skill to achieve a great piece of work?

The result produced by the machine may produce the solution to the existing problems but when
altered in the future may create difficulties to resolve the new problems. A hand on experience fails
technology but I believe that better work and skill could be produced when we combine the hand on
experience with the technology. Referring to an example of a designer, when he produces an art, he has
the flexibility to use the technology to simplify complex structures. All this again depends on the
individual and their ways to benefit from technology.

There is a big difference between how a particular task should be done and how we really make the
work happen. But should the ultimate goal for a task be that it is completed? Rather than understanding
the process to do it. It is necessary to maintain high standard of quality completing the work with
perfection instead of hiding imperfect works. Working with the example given by the writer about NHS,
where I conclude that good work means to be curious, investigate properly and learn from doubt. The
new system introduced to measure the work performed based on quantitative targets, that is, the
doctor’s performance was measured by the number of patients attended. Using the new system of
measurement, the quantity of the medical care might have increased but the need for curiosity and
experiment is missing. Such reform tends to stall the judgement by not allowing a constant interplay
between tacit knowledge and self-conscious awareness. Hence correctly implies that you cannot apply
the practical and correct knowledge that you acquired as logical propositions. I believe that writer is
correct when they say that arousing self-consciousness drives the craftsman to do better. I strongly
commit to the problem that the writer is trying to make us understand. Making a job easy shouldn’t
always be our target. Ones curiosity to know new thing shouldn’t be destroyed. This makes me highlight
another problem that I personal face if a particular task is made easier for me. I stop looking for different
approaches that I can use and learn to solve a problem. This decreases my radius of the knowledge that I
should gain. Also makes me unaware of all the new developments and technologies that go around.

This piece of reading has encouraged me to think beyond the limit rule that a person with skills abide by.
We as students should value all aspects and terms that make us a better craftsperson. Taking the easy
way out of work won’t help us really get know where our talent and ambition lies. In conclusion,
craftsmanship faces problems that have disrupted its organization. The problems are summarized
below:

 The competition in current scenario has demoralized the craftsmen to perform and showcase
good work, and is under appreciated. How do we make the craftsman give their best in the
work?
 Skill is a trained practice. The fractured skill is the gap between practical and theory which
results in mental impairment of the craftsmen. In the end, hands on experience overtaking
technology.
 The true meaning of doing good quality work is conflicted by either correctness or practical
experience. The craftsman at work is pulled in contrary directions.

I fell that even though we over these problems, somewhere certain things on personal level need
fixing. The first and most is self- motivation and confidence. The second one being the interest in
doing the work that we do and always tend to complete what we have started. Doing these on
personal level can also help fix the troubles we as craftsperson face.