Recently, members of that school took great umbrage when a member of the School of Humanities & Languages—a new hire with strong credentials in the area of Women's Studies, acting on behalf of her department and School—approached them with a proposal to develop an inter-disciplinary program to be housed in H&L. (See Dissent's weekly "Hallway Blather"; Counselors' death grip on Women's Studies. See also Women's Studies at other colleges.)
Those who seek a more detailed look into these courses can consult the following links (available at IVC's Schedule of Courses for Fall 2013 and Spring 2014):
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| A text for WS 10 (Spring 2014) |
• WS 10 – Introduction to Women’s Studies
Topics Covered,• WS 120 – Women and Work
Learning Objectives,
Methods of Evaluation
Topics Covered,
Learning Objectives,
Methods of Evaluation
Women’s Studies Courses, Spring 2014
• WS 10 – Introduction to Women’s Studies
Topics Covered,• WS 20 – Women in Contemporary Society
Learning Objectives,
Methods of Evaluation
Topics Covered,
Learning Objectives,
Methods of Evaluation
I have read through these course outlines, and they are illuminating.As I read, I noted that one of the six “topics covered” in “Introduction to Women’s Studies” is “Relgion [sic] vs. Spirituality, and the Importance of the Distinction for Women.”
That surprised me a bit. But what do I know.
Also, I was surprised to find that the course's second learning objective (out of 8) is: “[Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to] Define feminism and list its three main goals.”
I do wonder if students will be let in on the fact that, as in the case of most other isms, the meaning of “feminism” and the nature of its goals are matters of controversy.
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| Young Teddy, cat, resting with his dad this afternoon |
5 comments:
Why is the instructor assigning a text on college success for an Introduction to Women's Studies? (WS 10) Could someone please explain that to me?
This seems to be the consequence of no oversight by discipline experts. If the instructor doesn't assign appropriate texts, and no one else in the entire school has any understanding of WS as an academic discipline, the process of the academy fails...
I can see people saying, "What's wrong with a textbook that helps students stay in college?" But of course the problem is that it is assigned in this particular course for some reason and seems to have no connection to the discipline. It choice and presence as a required text implies that women may be in more need of help, than say, male students. It seems like it is text more suited to a study skills class.
How can this be a required text for this class? I can imagine recommending it for some students - but not requiring it for a class. There has to be some justification in the COR - I don;t see it. What's the catch? Did a friend write it? Where's the oversight?
It's been awhile since I took a women's studies course but I find the outline for Women in Contemporary Society particularly odd.
Two examples of oddness:
Under "Learning Gender, subtopic "Family"" there are two points: "The Story of X (which is the title of a story first published in Ms. magazine in the early 70s and later turned into a children's book) and the next point is "Toys."
A little awhile later is another subtopic - "Music and Art" - with only two points underneath it: "The case of hip-hop" and "Feminist musicians." That's it for music and art. Yep.
Don't get me started on Family (found under Institutions which Shape Women's Lives" with its twin points of "Housework" and "Singlehood.
I think you can do better folks. I would hope someone would care enough to do better.
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