[DeltAlum]

I don't know enough about these particular courses to comment, but ran across this story in Friday's Ohio University Post just after looking at this thread. I offer it for information purposes:

Women’s studies responds to review of texts
by Jen Strawn
Staff Writer

Students spend hours taking notes in class and reading textbooks on a daily basis, but could the facts presented in these books mislead students, or even present false information? Christine Stolba, author of Lying in a Room of One’s Own: How Women's Studies Textbooks Miseducate Students said they might be.

In her review of five women’s studies textbooks Stolba found several errors. For example, information in the books she reviewed contained factual errors such as publishing debatable or incorrect data as factual knowledge.

“The books also committed errors in interpretations because they would present evidence, but they were only telling part of the story,” Stolba said. “Among specific topic areas mentioned in these texts they silenced outlooks that were more conservative.”

However, professors in the Women’s Studies department at Ohio University feel that while some textbooks may contain such errors, their program does not mislead students. Women’s Studies faculty member Christie Launius said the textbook required for her class, not reviewed by Stolba, offers multiple sides to many issues.

“Certainly, when choosing a textbook I am interested in finding one that offers a range of viewpoints,” Launius said. “I guess the problem is that these books do offer a feminist perspective. If you don’t agree with the feminist perspective on issues such as work and family, of course you’re going to have a problem with them. It’s a loaded issue from the get-go.”

Stolba said the problem with many women’s studies textbooks is that the feminist perspective often is based in ideology and not scholastic knowledge. Scholastic knowledge and not ideology is key to a liberal arts education, she said.

“Women’s studies have not created scholarship,” Stolba said. “They had the opportunity, and they squandered it by being too invested in their ideology.”

Director of Women’s Studies at OU, Susan Burgess, said the program has created scholarship. The American Association of Colleges placed women’s studies within the top 10 disciplines that further a liberal education.

“There are over 600 plus programs at universities across the country,” Burgess said. “I don’t know why someone would say that it is not academic.”

Stolba said instructors could combat biases in textbooks by assigning reading assignments written by critics of women’s studies.

Launius said she encourages the students to provide the alternative perspectives. Through discussion, students are challenged to examine the book in a critical manner.

“I’m not asking for students to agree with the analysis in the book. I want them to engage in it,” she said. “What I want the class to do is take the book’s analysis seriously, chew it over, and see what they think of it.”

The textbook offers one of the many viewpoints examined in class discussions, Launius said. She said in her class it is important to respect all students’ opinions, even though they may disagree with what the text presents.

“My end goal isn’t to convert all my students into feminists,” Launius said. “My goal is to help students become more knowledgeable of the feminist analysis on the institutions that shape women’s lives.”