Argument140[Jet]小组第12次作业

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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: 542          TIME: 01:04:55         

In this argument, the committee recommends that Professor Thomas receive a $10,000 raise in salary and a promotion to Department Chairperson in consideration of her eminent abilities in teaching and research. To justify this claim, the committee provides the evidence that her classes are among the largest at the university and the money she has attracted to the university in research grants has exceeded her salary in each of the last two years. Additionally, he/she claims that Professor Thomas might leave the university without such a raise and promotion. The recommendation seems reasonable at first glance, however, with a further examination, we would find how groundless the recommendation is.

First of all, the arguer falsely equates large classes with popularity among students. It is possible that the classes Professor Thomas teach are compulsory subjects that required to be taken by every student in science at the university. Even if her classes are popular among students, it doesn't mean that she is effective in teaching. Perhaps she is a relatively lenient grader and very responsible for her students, or perhaps the classes she teaches are much easier to pass than other subjects. Without considering these alternative explanations, the committee couldn't convince us about Thomas's popularity among students at the university.

Secondly, it proves nothing to provide that the amount of money Professor Thomas attracts in research grants in the last two years without comparing with other years in the past. It seems that she doesn't attract so much grant money in other years. The arguer also fails to provide the money Professor Thomas spent in her research in the last two years and other colleagues' grant money relative to their salaries. Lacking such evidence the committee couldn't get the conclusion that Professor Thomas is effective in researching and deserving the raise and promotion. Furthermore, the estimation of research abilities should also be conducted on publications in scientific journals and other attainments that accepted widely.

In addition, suppose that Professor Thomas be effective in teaching and research, there is no evidence that she would be capable of management. As a Department Chairperson should be responsible for all the department, there would be scads of trivia which might bother her in teaching and research hence make her not be able to pursue her research effectively. On the other hand, are there any other colleges who have the parallel achievements in teaching and researching? If so, there might be complains from them without providing convincing reasons for the promotion.

In final, the committee fails to account for the assumption that Professor Thomas might leave the University for another College unless given her such a raise and promotion. Lacking evidence to prove that Thomas is unsatisfied with the current situation and there is some college that would be willing to offer an attractive treatment to her, it is possible the committee just bolsters the recommendation by claiming so.

To sum up, the recommendation is not persuasive as it stands. To strengthen it, the committee should provide compellent evidence to prove Professor Thomas has demonstrated abilities in teaching and researching and is the perfect one for the Department Chairperson, such as widely acceptable publications in scientific journals, students and peer colleagues' evaluations, the abilities in management etc.