Letter to HDFS 201 Students

Dear LBCC Students taking HDFS 201 during the 2020-2022 academic years,

You are taking HDFS 201 in remarkable times; an era that has and will change the experience of many students and families in the United States.

This text differs from commercial texts not just in its price (it’s free!) but also in its approach. I’ve taken an approach that closely matches the OSU and LBCC course outcomes for HDFS 201 Contemporary Families in the United States. Emphasis is placed on social institutions, social processes, and providing an historical context for the ways that families experience privilege and oppression in the United States. I included student experiences and perspectives with the aspiration of including topics that are most meaningful to college students and their families.

To learn more about the thirteen students who contributed to the text, see “The Authors” section.

You are the first group of students to read the text in pressbook form!  A small group used four of the chapters (in google docs format) Spring term 2020. I hope you will bring both your critical eye and a touch of patience  when you read the text.

You will undoubtedly uncover errors. I hope that those are mostly small, but whatever you find, there will be a process for you to give feedback provided by your HDFS 201 faculty. Errors occur in every book. I am in a continual process of improvement; I fit that work around my teaching and other paid work.

More important than the small errors, I hope you will think and question critically the content of the text.  Ask yourself as you read:

• What could be added to the content that is important to today’s families?
• Are there examples or definitions that could expand and clarify existing content?
• What do you want to know more about?
• Are there features that you have seen in other textbooks that we could add and that would help you learn better?

I am working to access funding to expand the text; your feedback in that process will be valuable. Thank you for taking the time to give your ideas. You an access the spreadsheet to give feedback here.

Wishing you and your families the best during this challenging time.

Elizabeth B. Pearce

Corvallis Oregon

September 14, 2020