Instructor Tells Student To ‘Look at Feminist Sources,’ Shouldn't Debunk Wage Gap

[Deleted]

Instructor Tells Student She Must ‘Look at Feminist Sources,’ Shouldn't Debunk the Wage Gap

"The reality is patriarchy."

http://reason.com/blog/2017/03/13/in...he-must-look-a

A sociology instructor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, barred a student from writing about the myth of the wage gap between male and female workers.

The instructor told the student, Jane Matthias, that the wage gap is "very real"—even though it isn't—and she should only consult "feminist sources" on the subject.

"Do NOT use business sources," the instructor wrote in an email to Matthias. "They blame women. The reality is patriarchy."

For the class's final paper, Matthias is required to write about a sociological issue. Her twin sister—Youtube personality Josephine Matthias, an anti-political correctness liberal—suggested she write about the purported wage gap, and why it's misleading.

But the instructor rejected this topic in an email to Jane.

"Your premise is wrong," she wrote. "The way the wage gap works is largely through the glass ceiling."

The glass ceiling—the idea that women and minorities are systematically denied high-level positions at companies—is an entirely different subject, of course. It may even have some validity. But its existence does not prove that the wage gap is really a thing. They are different phenomena.

As for the wage gap, Reason's Elizabeth Nolan Brown reviewed last year's most up-to-date data and found:

… when you consider men and women performing substantially similar jobs—i.e., situations in which the sexes are actually doing "equal work"—the wage gap shrinks significantly. A new examination of wage data from 33 countries around the world found that for men and women in the same position, men made just 1.6 percent more on average.

Of course, whether or not the wage gap exists isn't really the point here.

The point is that a university instructor disallowed any dissent on the subject.

Would it have been appropriate for the instructor to ask Jane to grapple with feminist sources that present a contrary argument? Of course. Demonstrating that she understands these arguments—and why they are mistaken—would be an important component of a successful paper.

But the instructor told Jane to ignore any information that might contradict the instructor's own leftist-feminist position. According to the Toronto Sun, the instructor prohibited students from consulting newspaper articles, encyclopedias, or government-compiled statistics—even though such statistics are incredibly reliable.

"Statistics themselves are devoid of analysis," the instructor wrote in an email. "Simply stating a statistic does not explain or explore any critical sociological analysis."

Ideally, though, the point of a university education is to equip students with the tools necessary for them to make sense of data and statistics on their own. This instructor does not seem interested in that project. In fact, she seems interested in just one thing: forcing her students to produce perfunctory papers copied from leftwing sociological sources—sources in conflict with reality.

Students should feel free to study a variety of perspectives in their classes. They should not be forced to write from a single perspective, especially when that perspective is flatly wrong about the phenomena it seeks to describe.

The instructor did not respond to a request for comment.

[Grimbold21]

[U] "Simply stating a statistic does not explain or explore any critical sociological analysis."

That one is gold right there, considering all some feminists do is throw around a number and yell women are discriminated

[Kathandira]

The instructor told the student, Jane Matthias, that the wage gap is "very real"—even though it isn't—and she should only consult "feminist sources" on the subject.

That is quite an anti-intellectual way of instructing your students. I would drop that class if they told me I should only look to one source for information. That is not the way to be fully informed. That is the way to be completely biased, and really, ignorant.

[Sinyc]

That is quite an anti-intellectual way of instructing your students. I would drop that class if they told me I should only look to one source for information. That is not the way to be fully informed. That is the way to be completely biased, and really, ignorant.

Welcome to the tolerant left and their followers. Where if you disagree or quote from something they don't consider valid, you are a racist, sexist, women hating animal.

To be fair, the far right has people who behave the same way. So it's not just a FAR Left issue. It's an issue with teaching young people critical thinking skills.

[I Push Buttons]

That is quite an anti-intellectual way of instructing your students. I would drop that class if they told me I should only look to one source for information. That is not the way to be fully informed. That is the way to be completely biased, and really, ignorant.

Welcome to the regressive left.

[NED funded]

That one is gold right there, considering all some feminists do is throw around a number and yell women are discriminated

I mean its true. Just using statistics doesn't say much.

[unbound]

The instructor told the student, Jane Matthias, that the wage gap is "very real"—even though it isn't—and she should only consult "feminist sources" on the subject.

The author is clearly not biased at all... /eyeroll

Conservative trigger warning - the reality is that there is a wage gap. It isn't as large as some sources claim, but it is there (about 6% on average overall when you eliminate marriage and raising kid issues) in many professions, and it is continuing to narrow. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...y-gap-factoid/)

So to state that there isn't a wage gap is simply denying reality. It is there...sorry to burst your fantasy bubble. When that 6% or so becomes 0% and people still claim that there is a wage gap...then you can complain. Until then, you are just parading your ignorance for all to see.

[Aggrophobic]

Welcome to the regressive left.

Are you saying that only people on "the left" are stupid?
You must not get out much.

[Grimbold21]

I mean its true. Just using statistics doesn't say much.

I know, i had this argument with a girl the other day. Feminists - some of them to be fair - keep crying wage gap and throw random numbers/statistics, but it seems they don't even bother to look for the causes.

This reminds me a field trip we had to the local women's museum and this argument sparked out of nowhere between a dude and a whole bunch of girls. At one point i heard one of the girls telling him "omg! I know about this stuff! I've seen the statistics", and i wonder to myself "So what?"

[zenkai]

Yeah, fuck citing any source and giving people the chance to argue for or against that...

[Grimbold21]

The author is clearly not biased at all... /eyeroll

Conservative trigger warning - the reality is that there is a wage gap. It isn't as large as some sources claim, but it is there (about 6% on average overall when you eliminate marriage and raising kid issues) in many professions, and it is continuing to narrow. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...y-gap-factoid/)

So to state that there isn't a wage gap is simply denying reality. It is there...sorry to burst your fantasy bubble. When that 6% or so becomes 0% and people still claim that there is a wage gap...then you can complain. Until then, you are just parading your ignorance for all to see.

Most sensible people have moved on from the It's not real to Its there, but not for the reasons you think

[I Push Buttons]

Are you say that only people on "the left" are stupid?
You must not get out much.

Interesting...

You put words in my mouth and then insult me for those words...

Perhaps you should look up the "regressive left"... I am not criticizing the left, I am criticizing the regressive left... Hence why I said the words "regressive left"...

[Kathandira]

Welcome to the tolerant left and their followers. Where if you disagree or quote from something they don't consider valid, you are a racist, sexist, women hating animal.

To be fair, the far right has people who behave the same way. So it's not just a FAR Left issue. It's an issue with teaching young people critical thinking skills.

Welcome to the regressive left.

Indeed. As my Signature says. "PC/SJ culture is by very definition extremely authoritarian. It's regressive authoritarian left, since it's appealing to the higher institutions to censor and shut down any form of democratic debate on their points of view."

[Deleted]

There is a wage gap, but not in the way most people assume when they hear the term. The gap is slowly closing though, which is important. I sometimes get the feeling that feminists expect an over-night fix to the issue, when in reality the process has begun decades ago and will continue on for a long time.

[The One Percent]

One of the many examples why college outside of a STEM field is a joke.

[Kathandira]

Are you say that only people on "the left" are stupid?
You must not get out much.

No, that is what you understood. The reality, is it is the "Regressive Left" Which is not everyone on the left. It is those who pin the needle to the left and refuse to waver.

[Sunseeker]

awwww, how cute, Xarim is triggered again by some random professor in Canada.

[KrazyK923]

Dumb professor says dumb thing.

stop the presses, dem dirty ess jay dubyas are doing stupid shit again. this is new and important information vital to the survival of our species

xarim triggered yet again

i saw this on 4chan a few weeks ago and was waiting for you to make this thread.

i assume in 3 weeks we'll see a thread from you about jontron's dumpsterfire of retardation?

[Cizr]

no such a thing as wage gap.

Companies pay men and women same money. They wont risk being sued for discrimination.

[NED funded]

Yeah, fuck siting any source and giving people the chance to argue for or against that...

I mean if your professor tells you to write about something you just do it. In the wake of that girl that crushed cats I had tl write why was it moral for her to do that.