In this article we present ethnographic research from vocational educational institutes in Sweden and Finland who usually attracts boy´s with working class backgrounds. A common division in vocational settings is that between theoretical or intellectual work (usually core subjects) and practical or manual work (usually character subjects). In our analysis students and teachers argued differently for stronger or weaker classification of theoretical and practical tasks in the Swedish and Finnish contexts. In both countries in these settings, conceptions of a man as manual rather than mental and laddishness as a self-worth protection strategy had impact on what the students could influence in terms of challenging traditional divisions between what was considered theoretical and practical work. Here teachers’ classification of subjects and framing of lessons became important.