argument238

vangossUID: 2761618

TOPIC: ARGUMENT238 - The following appeared in a memorandum from the president of Mira Vista College to the college's board of trustees.

"At nearby Green Mountain College, which has more business courses and more job counselors than does Mira Vista College, 90 percent of last year's graduating seniors had job offers from prospective employers. But at Mira Vista College last year, only 70 percent of the seniors who informed the placement office that they would be seeking employment had found full-time jobs within three months after graduation, and only half of these graduates were employed in their major field of study. To help Mira Vista's graduates find employment, we must offer more courses in business and computer technology and hire additional job counselors to help students with their resumés and interviewing skills."

Before suggesting the college's board of trustees to adopt his three measures to help graduates find jobs, the author should exam the evidences provided in this argument. The author seems to make such an assertion without considering other factors that may influence the employment of graduates.

First of all, the evidences given to support the conclusion that the percentage of graduates of Mira Vista College who has found jobs may be larger than that of Green Mountain College are unconvincing. "70 percent…" is based on a study lasting three months. However, the author does not mention that whether "90 percent…" is the same case. Perhaps this statistic has relied on a study of six months or even more. In addition, having job offers does not mean they will receive them. Maybe they are not satisfied with the jobs and finally some of them refuse their offers. Meanwhile, all of the 70 percent of graduates of our college has found their own jobs. Without providing sufficient and convincing evidences, the author's assertion that the employment rate of Mira Vista College is higher than ours is unwarranted.

Another crucial point to consider it that: failing to provide the percentage of Mira Vista College's graduates engaged in occupations of their major field of study, the author cannot conclude that the number of our graduates of this kind is more than that of MVC. Perhaps the same scenario also appears in MVC, maybe even lower. Having not ruled out this possibility, the author has provided us other unconvincing evidences.

Secondly, there is no causal relationship between employment rate and the number of the business courses. More courses in business don’t necessarily result in the high employment rate. Reversely, excessive courses may merely enable students to get the surface of these courses. Perhaps it is better for students to just learn several core lessons but entirely master them. Additionally, there are other causes may influence the employment rate. For example, the demand of society usually has a great impact on it. One year is more. Another may be less. Therefore, a study which is just based on one year's record can't persuade us.

Further, the assertion that we should hire additional job counselors to help Mira Vista's graduates find employment seems to be unreasonable, let alone the computer technology, which has not been mentioned at all. Although job counselors can help us improve our kills during the process of finding jobs, the other aspects, such as personality, communication skills with others, reaction to changes and knowledge learned in college are placed much concern. Usually, it is these abilities that determine whether a graduate is suitable for the job.

In conclusion, to support the assertion, the author should undertake a study to provide convincing evidences about those statistics mentioned above. As this argument is almost entirely flawed, such as the employment rate of MVC may be actually higher than that of GMC, any suggestion is meaningless.