Arguement9 [thrive小组]第二次作业---esily

esilyUID: 2451243

TOPIC: ARGUMENT9 - The following appeared in a memorandum from a dean at Omega University.

"Fifteen years ago, Omega University implemented a new procedure that encouraged students to evaluate the teaching effectiveness of all their professors. Since that time, Omega professors have begun to assign higher grades in their classes, and overall student grade averages at Omega have risen by thirty percent. Potential employers apparently believe the grades at Omega are inflated; this would explain why Omega graduates have not been as successful at getting jobs as have graduates from nearby Alpha University. To enable its graduates to secure better jobs, Omega University should now terminate student evaluation of professors."


In this argument, the author recommends that evaluation of professors in Omega University is responsible for the failure of graduates securing better jobs. To proved out this recommendation, he indicates that this procedure has induced the increase of students’ average grades, which is thought to be inflated. What’s more, he cites a typical evidence that graduates from Alpha University have been more successful than Omega graduates at hunting for job. However, these alone do not constitute a logical argument in favor of his recommendation, and fail to provide more convincing support. In my view, this statement suffers from three logical flaws.
The threshold problem with this argument is that the author fails to establish the causal relationship between the fact that professors assign higher grades in their classes and the claim that students evaluate the teaching effectiveness of all their professors. This argument is unacceptable unless there is compelling evidence to support the connection between these two events. Perhaps, for instance, professors’ assigning higher grades results from enhancing education’s quality which flat attribute to the evaluation of professors. And just for this reason, the indication that the increase of students’ average grades is not sufficient for the prediction that the grades at Omega are inflated.
Even assuming that the increase of students’ average grades is attributable to inflated grades, another flaw that weaken the logic of this article. The author indicates that Omega graduates have not been as successful at getting jobs as have Alpha graduates only because of the inflated grades. The author assumes without justification that the students qualifications are the same at different school. There are likely all kinds of differences between Omega University and Alpha University when their graduates are hunting for jobs. For instance, the differences of repute of university、education intention of diffenent school or different graduates’ requirement for jobs. Any of these scenarios would result in influence the probability of getting jobs.
Before I come to my conclution, it is necessory for me to point out the last flaw involved in this argument that the author fails to distinguish to securing better jobs from to getting jobs more successfully. Even the assumptions above come into existence, Omega University terminate student evluation of professors might enhance the probability of getting jobs rather than securing better jobs.
There is no easy method can be guaranteed to resolve the problem of enable Omega graduates to secure better jobs, but the general realization of the significance of the improvement about the education’s effectivity of Omega University might be the first step in the right direction.

提纲

原文结论：为了使O校毕业生找到好工作，应该停止教学评估
原文逻辑结构：

逻辑错误：
1．（因果）错误假设O校学生教授给分高是由于教学评估的原因,可能是由于教学质量提高了
O学生的整体平均成绩上升，不一定说明O校学生的分数贬值了，
2．（类比）没有给出AO两校的相似性AO两校类比没有说服力。O校学生找工作不如临近A大学毕业生成功，不一定是雇主认为分数贬值的原因：
他因：
(1) A.O两校培养目标不一样；
(2)两学校学生对于工作的要求不一样；
(3)A校比O校有名，教学质量好。
3．（外推）找工作的成功率更高并不代表找到的工作更好。

2008-2-4 19:30-22:30