Is media studies a ‘soft subject’?

According to the Independent and Guardian newspapers today, a report has backed-up some popular prejudices by showing that an A-level in media studies is easier than one in a ‘proper’ subject like English. Certain subjects, like media studies are therefore dubbed ‘soft’ as opposed to the hard subjects like maths and English.

Of course the report by the QCA says no such thing, it says that A-levels are of roughly similar levels of challenge, but recognises how difficult it is to compare different subjects in terms of difficulty using exam scripts, especially when 40% of the marks in media studies are based on course work, not the final exam.

What critics want, I believe, is to have their cake and eat it! A-levels are supposed to demonstrate what a person has learnt over the 2 years of study, and to allow selectors (employers or universities) to choose between different candidates. However, for the selection process, people want to be able to compare who is ‘better’ and who is ‘worse’ – hence the drive to be able to compare subjects. The idea is that someone with AAB, in any subjects, must be ‘better’ or ‘cleverer’ than someone with CCC, in any subjects. This harks back to Spearman’s concept of g or general intelligence, a sort of intellectual horsepower that is supposed to be at the basis of human ability. Why not just have a single IQ test for everyone taking A-level? Critics want to have different subjects which recognise diversity, but to have homogenous standards of comparison.

But people aren’t that simple – they have different talents, which is the point of having different exam subjects. A-levels are a step up from IQ testing, because they do give people a chance to demonstrate their ability to use their intelligence in an area where they have interest and talent. But does it make sense to say I am better at maths than you are at French? I think that this is really down to snobbery – ‘media studies’ is the new sociology.

Every generation wants to believe that the young people of today are fickle and lazy, so if they get good results, it must be because the exams are easier. Or as Socrates (469–399 B.C.) is supposed to have said (actually he probably didn’t say this, but it’s still a great quote!):

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”