Big Endian or Little Endian?

How do you like your boiled egg, hard or soft? And where do you break your boiled eggs, the big end or the little end?  Who is or was hard and who soft at your school? When I was at school someone who was good at beating people up was 'hard' someone who was good at being beaten up was 'soft'. This unfortunate classroom logic labelled each of us - some were harder than others and some softer. A boy who played a violin was, inevitably, usually, 'soft'. If he was good at studying he was ripe for a good kicking. This language of 'hard' and 'soft' is not sophisticated in the classroom and is unbecoming of anyone who wants to use the same language to describe the relative values of disciplines and domains.

Carlos Acosta, a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet might be shocked to learn that he has chosen a soft option for his study and career. Michael Gove says that, "Every A-level is assumed to be of equal value when it comes to measuring school performance, but universities are explicit that they don't consider every A-level to be equally rigorous. Cambridge, the LSE and others have warned prospective students that taking "softer" A-levels such as media studies and dance will count against applicants at admission time." 

Now I know that some knowledge is considered 'hard', but in any quiz show is a hard question just one that you don't know the answer to? Is there an assumption that some knowledge is better than other knowledge? Is Music soft and Physics hard? Did Leonardo take a soft option when he painted the Mona Lisa, but worked hard on his 'spiral' helicopter? Is running a marathon soft but doing sums hard? Is boxing soft and reading Jane Austen hard? Is Reading English at Lady Margaret Hall hard? Whereas studying drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts soft? How should we decide? Perhaps Harry Hill's way of solving arguments should be recommended: "FIGHT!" Bryn Terfal could fight Stephen Hawking, Alan Rickman could have a bout with Michael Gove, in the spirit of 'Fight Club' Da Vinci could fight himself, the possibilities are endless and would make excellent Saturday Night television. 

The words 'soft' and 'hard' are not at all helpful in what should be a discussion about suitability. Are A levels in Dance, Art and Psychology useful for someone who wants to study PPE in Cambridge? Are A levels in Politics, Philosophy and Ethics and Economics useful for someone who, eventually, wants to study Art and Dance Therapy at Roehampton? Rigour is not something that can only be equated with academic study. Rigour should be a pre requisite of all study, learning, and exams; it should not be something that the fickleness of our politicians' particular bias and opinions should be involved in. As Gove himself says education should be moved, "Towards greater power for those who believe in academic rigour, and away from politicians meddling, micromanaging, and dumbing down." But by saying that some subjects are softer than others, those disciplines will inevitably be seen as dumbing down rather than valued as disciplines in their own right. A victory for hard boiled thinking?

Just for information, I'm a confirmed 'Little Endian'.