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The Sociology department at the University, has decided that to use The Wire as a basis for their study of certain sociological issues, would be a better way to engage and interest students than by asking them to read more textbooks.
In response, national and even international media have taken up the story. Here in the UK over the last couple of days, the Independent, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph are just a few of the papers to cover this controversial module choice; and countless Internet-only news outlets, such as newslite.tv, have posted at least a few lines about the University of York's decision to implement this unusual mode of teaching.
The reception has been mixed. Some have criticised the university for its actions, labelling the decision as “dumbing down education”. The Daily Mail has accused the University of inviting students to “earn their degrees by watching DVDs”; implying that this module has no place in such a “leading” university. Similarly, Sky News likened the module to “other unusual courses offered in the UK”, quoting “golf management, surfing science and pop music performance”.
Not only is this unfair, but it is also grossly wrong. The Wire in this case is being used to substitute learning, rather than being the actual point of the module. Students will be less studying The Wire, than using the show to better understand sociological issues. After all, in English Literature, film versions of literature are studied quite prominently – therefore, why shouldn’t sociologists get to study TV shows that are based around real sociological issues? The issue is “cotemporary urbanism” according to Professor Roger Burrows, who has launched the module, and the medium through which this issue can begin to be explored, will be The Wire: all sixty hours of it.
In my mind, it is remarkable that such a thing as a simple creation of a new module could have gathered so much media interest, and it seems that people evidently agree, with this indifferent attitude being expressed by many commentators on the Sky News website. Commentators have asked, “What’s the problem?” and expressed bemusement as to the apparent outage of others. Apparently, the show is already part of a course taken by students at Harvard University in the US – and if that university isn’t “leading”, I don’t know which is.
To those who would argue that a TV show has no place in a degree course, I would reply that there are people who might have once said that fiction shouldn’t be studied in universities. Yet today, English Literature is a well-respected degree (if constantly mocked by science students). Change is important to keep the dynamism of university education, and without constantly re-evaluating the methods of teaching, subjects risk losing students to more “unusual courses” that may look more interesting and more fun.
After the story broke in the national media, members of the online forum, The Student Room, were asked to discuss the issue. On the whole, comments were positive, although some students did acknowledge it might seem a little “crazy”. One member posted that they wanted to criticise the University for the decision, but were actually “quite impressed at the progressiveness” of it.
But what do students at the University of York think of the decision? One first-year Politics and Sociology student expressed surprise – and was also rather speechless for a few moments after being informed of the idea. She had not heard anything about it, and initially termed the concept “ridiculous”. However, she then went on to admit that she'd be tempted to take the module, intrigued as to what it would be like. Nonetheless, she did say she didn't see what was so great about The Wire, and that she was fed up with “everyone going on about it” so much.
I think maybe that’s my cue to finish.
A huge number of commenters on online news sites appear to think that UoY is offering /a degree/ in The Wire, missing the point entirely that it's just a single module in a wider Sociology degree.
Great article. I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about fiction being taught at university as part of a well-respected degree - fiction is often analysed as representative of social commentary at the time of writing, so why shouldn't TV/Film be treated in the same way? After all, it is just fictional work (or non-fiction, as the case may be) in a different format. And, as you say, 60 hours of watching a programme is a lot of time to commit, especially when looking at it from an academic standpoint. Why shouldn't we experiment with forms of learning which aren't just reading?
The whole thing sounds quite academically dubious to me. But then, so does the whole of sociology.
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