argument140 {长征队} 请狂拍,必回拍

staroceanUID: 2271193

140The following appeared in a report of the Committee on Faculty Promotions and Salaries at Elm City University.

"During her seventeen years as a professor of botany, Professor Thomas has proved herself to be well worth her annual salary of $50,000. Her classes are among the largest at the university, demonstrating her popularity among students. Moreover, the money she has brought to the university in research grants has exceeded her salary in each of the last two years. Therefore, in consideration of Professor Thomas' demonstrated teaching and research abilities, we recommend that she receive a $10,000 raise and a promotion to Department Chairperson; without such a raise and promotion, we fear that Professor Thomas will leave Elm City University for another college."


1．classes largest→popular→教学好
2．Brought more money to university in research grants than her salary in last 2years→research ability
1，2→值得升官涨钱，而且不这样他就会去别的地方→should raise her salary and promotion as chairperson

提纲：
1．攻击上述1 large class 不代表popular可能是强加的，可能是必须得上的基础课，本来就人多，这门课只有他一个人教，也不代表他的教学水平高，可能是他个人魅力，宽容，给分高，好过等等。
2．攻击上述2。没有对照组，其他人怎么样，是不是比她还多？是不是她所在领域就好得到这个grants？
3．是不是会去别的地方？她是不是本身就挺满足的，不想升，是不是喜欢这个学校，工作环境，同事等等。别人想要她吗？
4．就算是，是不是值得涨这么多钱，而且有能力作chairperson?

In this report, the author attempt to convince us that to prevent professor Thomas leave the university, they should give her a $10,000 salary raise and promotion to Department Chairperson. To bolster this conclusion, the author notes that professor Thomas is popular among students and she brought lots of money to university in search grants. However, the report is unconvincing as it stands.

First of all, the fact that professor Thomas has the largest classes fails to lend strong support to her popularity—let alone her teaching ability. It is entirely possible that students are all required to take the basic classes she taught. Perhaps they do not have other choice to maintain enough credit hour. Or maybe the course itself is attractive no matter who taught it. Even if professor Thomas herself is popular, this may have little to do with her teaching effectiveness. Students may not focus on teacher’s professional ability all the time, instead they may appreciate other factors such as humor, tolerance, personal charisma, or maybe the homework and score a teacher will give them. None of these characters can indicate one’s teaching ability at all. Therefore, without considering and eliminating these and other possible alternative explanations, the author cannot conclude that professor Thomas’s teaching ability deserve a raise salary or promotion.

Meanwhile, just given the mere fact that professor Thomas attracted lots of grant money to the University’s, we cannot evaluate either her teaching ability or her research capacity. How much money did other teachers attracted last year? Did they attracted more money than professor Thomas? And how about the number she attracted other years? Lacking such details, it is impossible to demonstrate that professor Thomas deserve the raise and promotion.

Moreover, even assuming that professor Thomas is a excellent teacher and preferable among students, there is no evidence showing that she will leave the university unless get the raise and promotion. Perhaps professor Thomas herself is satisfied with her current position and salary. She may enjoy the working conditions, the faculty team, or the environment in Elm City University very much. Under either scenario, even by given the lower salary and position, she will not leave as well. In addition, the author fails to provide information concerning the preference to professor Thomas among other universities. Therefore, it is fully possible that no university is willing to hire her with a relatively high salary.

Finally, even if the author can substantiate all the foregoing assumptions, I remain unconvinced that professor Thomas's worth a 20 percent raise as well as a promotion. How did the $10,000 raise calculate? Why did the money be asked for? And how about her capacity as a department chairperson? We just do not know.

In conclusion, the author cannot justify his of her claim on the basis of the scant evidence provided in the argument. To bolster the claim, the arguer would have to provide clearer evidence with respect to professor Thomas's teaching and research ability, her attitude toward present salary and position and whether she will receive a more satisfied offer except from our university. Before I accept the conclusion, I still need more information about why she need such high raise and whether she is effective or not as a department chairperson.

[ 本帖最后由 starocean 于 2007-1-6 13:22 编辑 ]