Mickey Mouse Degrees - Examples

Examples

In 2000, Staffordshire University was mocked as providing 'David Beckham Studies' because it provided a module on the sociological importance of football to students taking sociology, sports science or media studies. A professor for the department stressed that the course would not focus on Beckham, and that the module examines "the rise of football from its folk origins in the 17th century, to the power it's become and the central place it occupies in British culture, and indeed world culture, today." This is of course a perfectly accurate description, but presumably the objection is that it is inappropriate material for an undergraduate degree course. Similarly, Durham University designed a module centred around Harry Potter to examine "prejudice, citizenship and bullying in modern society" as a part of a BA degree in Education Studies.

Other degrees deemed 'Mickey Mouse' include golf management and surf science. One thing these courses share is that they are vocational, which are perceived to be less intellectually rigorous than the traditional academic degrees. Perception has not been helped in the United Kingdom by the conversion of polytechnics to New Universities. These universities then have trouble competing with the more established institutions instead of being judged as polytechnic universities (though some Polytechnics have been around since 1838 - London Polytechnic) and have been offering bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees in academically challenging subjects such as engineering, physics and mathematics and natural sciences since the early 1900s.

Defenders of these courses object that the derogatory comments made in the media rely on the low symbolic capital of new subjects and rarely discuss course contents beyond the titles. Another factor is the correct or incorrect perception that the take up of these subjects, and the decline of more traditional academic subjects like science, engineering, mathematics, is causing the predictable annual grade rise in the United Kingdom.

Although it is perceived as a recent phenomenon, accusations of "dumbing down" have historical roots. In 1828, University College London was criticised for teaching English literature, a subject which has now become relatively prestigious.

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