argu238

lestouUID: 2260126

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."
WORDS: 134          TIME: 00:30:00          DATE: 2007-11-15 18:48:47

The argument is well presented, but not thoroughly well-reasoned. By making a comparison of the Green Mountain College [G], a university which has more business courses and more job counselors therefore 90 percent of graduating seniors of G last year obtain a perspective job offer, with the Mira Vista College (M) , a university have less business courses and job counselors subsequently  only 70 percent of the seniors of M can get a job, the arguer for M offering more courses in business and hiring more job counselors seems logical. A careful examination of it, however, will find how groundlessly it is.

In the first place, the fact that G has a higher employment rate does not automatically lead to the conclusion that students in M graduates’ job condition is inferior. It is entirely possible that the offers M graduates are all high quality offer while G is just ordinary one. So it is unfair to conclude that student in M need to get improved.

In the second place, even if M really have a low employment rate, a comparison is implied in the argument that the experience from G can tell what is going on now. And M should also adopt drastic measures in order to get in lines with G. But is this comparable? Where is the university located? how many students wanted to work after their graduation, and how many people want to continue their study so as to be a researcher rather a worker? Did students satisfy with the teacher who indoctrinated them knowledge? On this matter, the author does not provide specific evidences to show the comparability of the two universities.

In the third place, no one could seriously believe that the employment rate of a university is solely set by the type of courses or the number of job counselors. There are many factors can be even more important in determine the employment rate that the arguer is fails to consider. Such factor may include the fact that students in M received a inferior training classes which eventually lead to the low employment rate, or perhaps there are some deficiencies in the management of M, so the low efficiency has cause the low employment rate. Clever leaders will never making his effort on the unknown field without any investigation. It appears reasonable, therefore, for the arguer to focus on these trouble spots rather only on the course type and counselors' number.

Overall, the reason behind increasing business courses and job counselors seems reasonable since the arguer is acting in his well-meaning and wanted to improve the employment condition of M. However before any final decisions are made about these measures, president and officious in M should evaluate all the aspects of the two university more specificly.