MFA & PhD: The Privilege of Theory

Good Grief.  Not everyone wears chevrons, Charlie Brown.

Nudged there by professors, the issue of privilege floats frequently to the forefront of classroom discussions.  White.  Male.  Abel-bodied.  Western.  Wealthy.  Heteronormative.  Unexamined.  Media-reinforced.  Encouraging students to question and define social norms for their generation is our duty.  It's also our pleasure.  We seem frequently to take delight as the powerful squirm beneath the light of examination.

But who might squirm if the same light were turned on those who themselves study Communication?  Who are the powerful among Media professors and administrators?  Who are the wealthy?  Which groups are favored by history?  How might we identify (and challenge) the privileged among us?

CREDENTIALS & PAYCHECKS

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports $68,970 as the median annual pay of postsecondary teachers.  But peel back a leaf or two of that artichoke.  PayScale.com pegs the salary range for PhDs some $40,000 higher than for MFAs.  "Big deal," you yawn.  A doctorate ought to command higher pay than a "mere" master's degree.  And I'd agree with you.  But -- though inconveniently named for our time -- the MFA isn't a master's degree.

Once, the fine and useful arts were acquired primarily through apprenticeships.  After years of progress from sweeping the studio to mixing paints to completing works begun by his teacher, the apprentice finally announced his entry into the working world by creating a truly original work -- his so-called masterpiece.  Over time, that word has come to mean the apex of a career.  But the title "Master of Fine Arts," was historically conferred upon debutantes.

Owing primarily to a reverence for tradition -- and in spite of the fact it may disadvantage their paychecks -- today's MFAs are reluctant to surrender the "Master" moniker.  It connects them with the exemplars of their craft.  But college compensation policies frequently equate the MFA with the MA.  Master's degrees can often be earned with as few as 30 credit hours; MFA programs frequently require more than 60... in the same range as the typical PhD.  

Why begin a study of privilege in college Communication departments with a comparison of graduate degrees?  Because -- too simply put -- credentialed movie makers have MFAs and credentialed movie theorists have PhDs.  Thus in many post-secondary institutions, production profs are paid less than theory profs.  If you work at a school which acknowledges the MFA as a terminal degree eligible for equal remuneration, good for you.  But if that were the Academy's commonly accepted standard, what would account for the $40K spread?

ADMINISTRATION & POLICIES

Administrators who value parity between academic producers and consumers of media are PhDs who have been successfully lobbied by MFAs.  Put another way, MFAs are seldom administrators.  For many, that's a choice of temperament.  I don't know too many painters who would willingly surrender easel and brush for budget spreadsheet and committee meetings.  But it could also herald a blind spot.

Consider this policy statement from the University Film and Video Association.  It's a primer for the care and feeding of the academic filmmaker.  But it's not preaching to the choir.  Its audience, rather, is the PhD administrator.  And it generally presumes that people who aren't members of a class (be it Production profs, the hearing-impaired, or ditch-diggers) can seldom imagine the circumstances of those who are.  

Thus those who advocate for for the MFA filmmaker must frequently reference first principles.  The statement begins with the contention that Media Production is not unlike fine art.  Thus, gallery exhibitions, recital reviews, and dance performances offer better models for evaluating film scholarship than does the publication of articles or books.  From there, it gently converts reader expectations for so-called "traditional" scholarship into a language of production that accounts for project length, number, complexity, collaboration, dissemination, and other factors that are likely unfamiliar to administrators and colleagues in the related discipline of Media Studies.

The discussion continues tomorrow with a list of perspectival questions...

Previously:  Scheduling as Pedagogy
Next:  Questioning Equity