January 2009
The
September issue of the Bulletin depicts as “Reminiscent of McCarthyism” the U.S.
National Association of Scholars’ (NAS) plans to identify university programs
peddling ideology masking as knowledge. But it is ironic that this issue also
contains an article justifying NAS concerns. The accumulating evidence
notwithstanding, the article (“Women Still Lagging & Losing in Sciences”)
insists on portraying the continuing so-called “under-representation” of women
amongst physical sciences and engineering faculty as a consequence of
discrimination. That this persistent pattern cannot be rationally discussed was
spectacularly demonstrated by the resignation of Harvard’s president Lawrence
Summers, following the brouhaha caused by his merely raising the idea that
factors other than discrimination might be considered.
Yet
evidence that other factors may play a role has been available for decades. To
cite just one example, the work of Canada’s internationally respected Doreen
Kimura strongly supports the idea that there are biology-related subtle
differences in the cognitive abilities of males and females, with these becoming
significant at the high end of ability scales. Furthermore such evidence also
suggests that even those women possessing the requisite skills for success in
the hard sciences tend to prefer “people-oriented” over “object-oriented”
disciplines.
I
have observed these patterns in my four decades of involvement with the
University of Toronto’s Engineering Science program. Originally an exclusive
male preserve, from the 1990’s we actively recruited women, and I taught
mathematics to many of these very talented individuals. But at the end of the
second year, when the students select a specialty program or major, it was
obvious that women tended prefer those specialties emphasising disciplines which
could be considered more people-oriented.
Feminist cant appearing in the CAUT Bulletin was a factor in my decision to be a
sometime member of NAS, and to support the Canadian equivalent, the Society for
Academic Freedom and Scholarship.
CAUT Bulletin, November, 2008.
Help us maintain freedom in teaching, research and scholarship by joining SAFS or making a donation.
