Argument28求拍

ahngUID: 2605383

TOPIC: ARGUMENT28 - The following is a memo from the superintendent of the Mylar school district.

"A recent six-month study, in which breakfast was made available at school for 100 schoolchildren ages five to twelve, found that children on the breakfast plan were less likely than other children to be absent from or late for school. Clearly, eating breakfast before school plays a role in reducing student absenteeism and tardiness. It is also well known that children who regularly eat a healthful breakfast tend to perform better in school. Therefore, in order to reduce absenteeism and tardiness and to improve academic performance in all of Mylar's elementary and secondary schools, we should provide breakfasts for all students before each school day."
WORDS: 401          TIME: 00:27:44          DATE: 2010-4-30 22:01:36

The arguer cites a survey in which 100 schoolchildren are tested, asserts a well-know fact that children who regularly eat a healthful breakfast tend to perform better in school and finally concludes that the absenteeism and tardiness could be reduced and the academic performance could be improved in all of Mylar's elementary and secondary schools by providing breakfast for all students before each school day. In my point of view, this argument is well presented but not enough convincingly, which suffers from several logical flaws.

Firstly, it is not sufficient to substantiate, with the survey, that the schoolchildren will be less likely to be absent from or late for school if they are provided breakfast. On one hand, only 100 children are tested in the study, which is too small and not enough to become any evidence. On the other hand, the prior information about the children is not given. Since these children may arrive school in time even before the experiment, without the previous information the survey could be not persuasive to us.

Secondly, the author fails to consider the fact that most of the students have breakfasts at home and the breakfast provided at school could be not enough for all the students. In another word, the breakfast at school could be worse than what the children have at home before. In this sense, the suggestion could be not practical any more due to another well-known fact that the better and more healthfull breakfast could lead to a better performance of a child.

Finally, even the breakfast provided is good, the assertation that children's academic performance will be improved due to the provided breakfast before each school day is unwarrented. It is common sense that the performance of a student is not only determined by how they eat. The breakfast only provide basic energy for children, with which they could better grow up and focus on their study work. While with a good breakfast but a bad teacher or bad teaching equipment, the children would also never achieve good performance in their academia.

To sum up, the author fails to consider several important facts and fails to persuasively cite the survey's results to support the viewpoint of the argument. To better illustrate the author's point of view, more evidences about the survey should be incorporated in and more facts about the children's life should be carefully considered and analyzed.