Whose Life is the Most Significant?

In my "Leading Lives that Matter" course yesterday, we came upon the issue of the significance of life. We viewed it through the eyes of two authors. One romanticized the blue collared workers life, as though their life was better and more meaningful because it involved "struggle." He said that they held the "secret of life". On the other hand, he went to a place of wealth, stayed a while, and found that place to be boring and without a purpose. He ridiculed those who were educated and sought to live their lives with the significance of gaining more knowledge. Here was my response to this subject (What do you think):

"The danger is in romanticizing one way of life over the other. The danger is doing things and not knowing or understanding why you do them but going off of what others say or think. There is an inherent wisdom that comes from learning from others, BUT you must be careful not to put people into boxes and make broad generalizations. We all are pieces of the same puzzle, with one part missing, the puzzle is not complete. You take away intellectualism you risk the failing of the democracy, liberty and freedom, the very laws of which we are governed. You take away the coal miners and you give away your countries independence and pull away the threads of the foundation of the things which are the basic necessities of life. However, the wheels will continue to turn because we are made to survive one way or another. Take away what we know as food, any man will find it in the trees, take away the water well, any thirsty man will dig til he finds it. However there is a level of accountability that will always be required, good and evil will always be present, and justice will always be sought."

In my view there is a need for both. What are your thoughts?