Argument169,拍吧，有拍必回

Jamin_CheungUID: 2752925

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."

提纲：
1.忽略了选择工作学校的其他因素
2.应用的调查有问题，两个学校类比错误，样本的代表性也令人质疑
3.说能提高士气是毫无根据的
4.建议未必有实用性

In this letter, the department chairperson advises the president of Pierce University to offer employment to the spouse of each new faculty member they hire in order to absorb more gifted teachers and he also considers the advice as a way to raise the morale of their faulties. To corrobrate his recommedation, the writer cites some studies conducted by Bronston College. The suggetion sounds kind of sensible while close scrutiny will unveil critically increadible evidences in it.

Unfortuately, the writer fails to take other factors into consideration for people to choose their workplace. Obviousely, good academic atmosphere and research resources matter greatly for professors. Espectially for the most gifted teachers, it's likely that they would put the career planning in the first place during hunting for occupations. That is to say, regardless of the jobs offer to their spouses, they are more interested in whether they can reach a relatively high goal of their causes. They evaluate the institutions through how much supports and how many chances it can give them in their personal development. Thus, I think the author has put one-sided emphasize the essential element of the assignments of spouses of teacher.

Condidering the studies conducted by Bronston College, I cast doubts on the vauge information on these studies and found the analogy false between BC and PU. Without introducing more details about the two towns where the two schools are located, the author hastily assumes that teachers at Pierce University hold the same opinion with those at Bronston College. Perhaps, the former town provides more convenience and comfort such as beautiful sceneries and profound culture atmosphere while residents have to suffer from poor environment and noise all the day in the latter town. Under such condition, the new faculty memembers likely try not to bog their lovers in the poor life instead of living together. In addition, whether all professors are happier living in small towns when their spouses are also employed in the same area is uncertain in that the reprenstativeness remains to be futher disscuessed by taking the number of participants to the studies into account.


What's more, the author unsubstantially concludes that efforts to offer teachers' spouses positions can improve the morale of their entire staff. It is needed more statistics for us to evaluate the potential results. Beyond the concession of the studies by BC, it worries me whether living together would distracts the staff from their work. They spend more time sharing with their lovers instead of devoting all time to studies. As a result, the policy wouldn’t increase the moral but weaken their will.

Finally, it sounds quite unpractical to offer positions to all the spouses of the faculty. Aside from the complex backgroud of each professor’s spouse, it is also a headache for the university to create new positions. Any adjustment would surely give rise to big changes in human resource, which adds more unanticipated factors to the development of PU. With such possibilities, the decision makers have to think over the suggetion and balance the benefits and troubles it may bring about.

To sum up, the supports to the author's recommedation are not rational. To convince the president, the writer should show more surveys on how much the assignment of their lovers’ jobs would influence teachers' choice. Even if I concede that the consideration of their spouses would have influence on teachers' choices, we had better seek other measures, such as offering high salaries. Because teachers can make more money and there seems no urgent need for their spouses to have a job.