argument231 4月作文小组3月30日第六次作业 by寂寞樱花

寂寞樱花UID：2306511

TOPIC: ARGUMENT231 - The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper.

"The members of the town school board should not be reelected because they are not concerned about promoting high-quality education in the arts in our local schools. For example, student participation in the high school drama club has been declining steadily, and this year the school board refused to renew the contract of the drama director, even though he had received many awards for his original plays. Meanwhile, over $300,000 of the high school budget goes to athletic programs, and the head football coach is now the highest-paid member of the teaching staff."
WORDS: 479          TIME: 1:12:51          DATE: 2007-3-30

In the argument the author reaches the conclusion that the members of the town school board are not concerned about enhancing the quality of the education in the arts in the local school. To support this conclusion, the author cites the declining of student participation in drama club as an example. An additional reason given in support of this conclusion is that the school board refused to renew the contract of the drama even though he has great achievement in original plays while the budget in athletic programs is too mach and the head football coach is the highest paid member of the teaching staff. I find this argument logically unconvincing in several respects.

First of all, the example the author gives to support his claim is not convincing. Student participation in drama club declined may caused by other reasons, for example, maybe the students are busy in studying main subjects. Moreover, arts education contains many aspects not only drama, maybe student participation in drama club has been declining but the number of students in music club is increasing. The author's failure to prove or even consider these possible renders the conclusion based on it highly suspect.

Second, refusing to renew the contract of the drama director cannot cite as an evidence to prove that the school board does not concern about education in the arts. For one thing, receiving many awards for original plays does not mean he is a good teacher, maybe he does not excel in teaching, or students do not like the method of his teaching. For another, even if assuming that he is a excellent teacher, the reason school board refused to renew the contract of him may be requiring a unreasonable high salary. Since the author provides no information about why the school board did not continue to employ the drama director, I will not accept the claim that it demonstrates the school board are not concerned about promoting high-quality education in the arts.

Finally, the author points out that there is over 3000000 dollars has gone to athletic programs means that too much money used on athletic programs and the arts has been overlooked. But the author give no statistics on how much money has gone to the area of arts, it is possible that the budget on arts is more than 3000000 dollars. And on the other hand, the head football coach paid highest may due to his contribution to this area, but not the partial of the school board, anyway, physical education is also important. Without ruling out these possibilities, the author's claim cannot convincing me.

To sum up, the author fails to validate the conclusion that the school board is not concerned about promoting high-quality education in the arts in local schools. To make it logically acceptable, the author should demonstrate that the quality on education in arts is declining and that the budget goes to arts is less than before or other area. In addition, the author would have to provide more concrete evidence to rule out the abovementioned possibilities that would undermine the author's claim.