Argument140【0706G－~4而后生~小组】第8次作业 by nap 有拍必回

napUID: 196976

TOPIC: ARGUMENT140 - The 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."
WORDS: 505          TIME: 0:30:00          DATE: 2007-3-31

The author of the report argues that Elm City University should offer Professor Thomas $10,000 raise and a promotion to Department Chairperson in order to prevent her from leaving. To support the argument, the author cites the large size of her classes, the money she has brought to the university in research exceeding her salary. However, I must point out that the Committee on Faculty Promotions and Salaries should not do any of them too hastily for there are some flaws in this argument.

The author does not mention why her classes are among the largest ones and thus provide insufficient evidences to prove her popularity. Most of us know that the size of class does not necessarily prove the popularity of the class. There are large classes such as math and other basic courses, a university requiring almost the whole students to take which, and some small classes, most of which focusing on a narrow field and the students with its major are few. Without knowing what type of classes of her, we should not hastily conclude that she is popular. Maybe her classes are about math and a large number of students are required to take it and these classes are very common.

Moreover, the author fails to convince us that it is because she brought money that exceeded her salary that she should be promoted. The amount of money is not necessarily relative to the importance and good result of research. There are many types of research and the money they require is not the same. Some subjects such as math do not need the same amount of the money comparing with subjects like physics. The report does not cite what types of research the professor joined in. Furthermore, if the money all the research requires is the same, we do not know how the results are. It is quite possibility that most of the researches are failed though much money has already been spent.

In addition, if conceding that she is popular and her research abilities is good, we cannot guarantee that after receiving a $10,000 raise and a promotion she will not leave. The report cites that the professor has been proved to be well worth $50,000 per year and the additional $10,000 and a promotion are seemingly sufficient. However, the report does not show what the professor really need if she want to leave. Perhaps she wants a quiet researching environment and the additional annual salary and a promotion are not so impressive to her. If the academic environment of Elm City University is being worse, in spite of the raise and promotion, she will also leave for another college providing excellent academic surrounding.

In sum, despite the seemingly sufficient evidences the report provide, we should not guarantee the raise and promotion is a good idea. To support the argument, the author should investigate the professor's classes, the real ability of her academic and after these are available, the author should consider whether the raise and promotion is sufficient.

这是和作业相近的JJ上的题