【big fish】3.1---Argument No.169

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TOPIC: ARGUMENT169 - The following appeared in a letter from a department chairperson to the president of Pierce University.

"Some studies conducted by Bronston College, which is also located in a small town, reveal that both male and female professors are happier living in small towns when their spouses are also employed in the same geographic area. Therefore, in the interest of attracting the most gifted teachers and researchers to our faculty and improving the morale of our entire staff, we at Pierce University should offer employment to the spouse of each new faculty member we hire. Although we cannot expect all offers to be accepted or to be viewed as an ideal job offer, the money invested in this effort will clearly be well spent because, if their spouses have a chance of employment, new professors will be more likely to accept our offers."


From the studies conducted by Bronston College, the Pierce University assumed that if they can offer employment to the spouse of each new faculty member they hire, they can have more talent professors to improve their staff's morale. However, in my perspective, these studies can not support this opinion.

Firstly, from the survey, we can not know exactly what is the main reason that why these professors decided to live there. Although Pierce University lies in a small town like Bronston College, in spite of the reason given above they may have some differences in their circumstances which can also lead to the same result. Perhaps the living environment in Bronston College is much softer than Pierce University’s, or the former one has more authority in a certain field. These all may be the main reason.

Secondly, we have no idea about whether the city or the small town these professors prefer. There is no control between the big city and the small town. We should not deny the possibility that professors are much happier to live in the big city under the same condition.

Thirdly, to improve the morale of the entire staff, Pierce University may need more experience professors not the most gifted ones. If they can have a higher educating standard, they can win some kinds of rewards about education so that their morale might also get improved.

Fourthly, the Pierce University got a false assumption that if they did the same thing like offering working opportunities to the professors’ spouse they can hire gifted ones. From the studies, no evidence supports this ridiculous idea. The survey only told the professors are more likely to live in the small town, did not pointed out they are gifted. Different kinds of professors may have different requires.

The last one, the chance of the employment given to the spouse may not only in the university. In some way, the relationships would like to tale the jobs relate to the social economic or something else, not limited in a certain area.

So, from the reasons above, we can conclude that the argument is unconvincing as it stands. To bolster this argument, the Pierce University should show the evidence that the only main reason for attracting gifted teachers is the chances of employment provided to their spouse. And they also make sure whether this kind of teachers can improve the morale. Furthermore, to strengthen the argument, they need to investigate that what do other professor feel working in the big city.