argument169 【7\8\9\10】 第十一次作业

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TOPIC: ARGUMENT169 - The following appeared in a letter from a department chairperson to the president of Pierce University.

"Some studies conducted by Bronston College, which is also located in a small town, reveal that both male and female professors are happier living in small towns when their spouses are also employed in the same geographic area. Therefore, in the interest of attracting the most gifted teachers and researchers to our faculty and improving the morale of our entire staff, we at Pierce University should offer employment to the spouse of each new faculty member we hire. Although we cannot expect all offers to be accepted or to be viewed as an ideal job offer, the money invested in this effort will clearly be well spent because, if their spouses have a chance of employment, new professors will be more likely to accept our offers."

In this letter from the department chairperson to the president of Pierce University, the author claimed that both male and female professors are happier living in small towns when their spouses are also employed in the same geographic area, which renders that to attract the most gifted teachers and researchers to our faculty and improving the morale of our entire staff, we should offer employment to the spouse of each new faculty member we hire. The argument is well presented with detail information but is still far from satisfactorily reasons. Indeed, the thread of the argument is based on several assumptions and logic flaws.

A threshold problem involved in this argument is the happier life of the couples may lead to the more acceptances of our new faculty members. It is highly possible that happy is not the main factor that may influence the new faculty members' final decision. For instance, the salary of their job at school might be a vital factor. It is possible that the money invested in this effort in finding a ideal job for their spouses reduce their salary. In this case, the new teachers may reject our offer. Other similar crucial factor should be take account for, such as the environment of the work place, the morale of our entire staff etc. Without ruling out the other crucial factors that may influence the new teacher's judgment, we can not safety give the conclusion that offer employment to the spouse of each new faculty member we hire.

Even if the new teachers would like to accept our offer because of the ideal job that offered to their spouses, this assumption fails to consider the original faculty in the university, these professor may have the bigger attribute to the university, ignoring the elder professor but to offer job to the new members might cause the elder professor leave the university. Without the elder professors, there is not our Pierce University today. So we should take more consideration about all the faculty before make the final decision.

What is more, the studies that the same geographic area of the professors’ spouses leads to the happier life are vague due to little evidence of it. It is highly possible that it provides no information about the faculty in the study-specifically, whether they were representative of college faculty in general. If only involved Bronston Faculty, then it would be less reliable. In any case, the smaller and more biased the survey's sample, the less reliable it is for the purpose of drawing any conclusions about how Pierce might attract new faculty.

In sum, the evidences provided in the argument do not lend strong support to the conclusion and final suggestion. In order to be more convincing, the arguer should giver solid proofs that the new faculty members just focus on the employment of their spouses. In addition, Pierce University should give the same treatment to the elder professors. What is more, the studies conducted by Bronston College need more details to be more convincing.