TOPIC: ARGUMENT180 - The following is a recommendation from the personnel director to the president of Acme Publishing Company.
"Many other companies have recently stated that having their employees take the Easy Read Speed-Reading Course has greatly improved productivity. One graduate of the course was able to read a five-hundred-page report in only two hours; another graduate rose from an assistant manager to vice president of the company in under a year. Obviously, the faster you can read, the more information you can absorb in a single workday. Moreover, Easy Read costs only $500 per employee-a small price to pay when you consider the benefits to Acme. Included in this fee is a three-week seminar in Spruce City and a lifelong subscription to the Easy Read newsletter. Clearly, Acme would benefit greatly by requiring all of our employees to take the Easy Read course."
WORDS: 459 TIME: 0:30:00 DATE: 2006-2-21
The argument is well -presented ,but is not well-reasoned , by presenting that having many employee take E speed-reading courses has greatly improved the productivity , and that E read cost only $500 per employee , the argument for requiring all the employees to take the E read course seems logical .
However, looking deeper into the argument. I notice a inconsistency between the evidence of the argument and the conclusion it draws, no evidence to show that two examples can prove that take E read course can really improve the productivity, finally, even if taking the E read course can benefit the company , it does not mean that it is necessary for all the employees of the company to take the course .
Firstly ,no evidence to show that even if one graduate of the company can read more than 500 pages report in only two hours ,it does not mean that it really improve the productivity of the company . it is possible that although the graduate read 500 pages ,but he may not understand anything at all and he may gloss over the 500 pages in two hours . so the evidence of the argument may not be reasonable .
Secondly, another important factors overlooked in the argument is that there in no direct link between the rising of another employee from assistant manager to vice president and improving the productivity .since there is no evidence to show that after the promotion of the assistant manager , the productivity of that company improves .so the arguer must give more evidence to show this .
thirdly , although 500$per employee may not be so much to a company , if the company pay all the employees , it must be a big figure .Since taking the course all employees may not be effective , it may not bring about any good benefit to the company .
Last but not the least, even if taking the course can make a good contribution to the development of the company , requiring all the employees to take the course can not be a good means . since many work positions man not need the reading skills , requiring all the employees to take the course may waste a lot of money
Overall, the argument is not well reasoned and lacks credibility , because the evidence cited in the argument can not lead a strong support to prove what the arguer maintains , to make the argument more convincing , the arguer should provide more evidence to prove that taking the course can actually benefit to the company and the arguer should consider many other possible factors to improve the productivity before any final decision are made .