Argument9【0906G 文以载道三月四月小组】作业2.3 by NormalFuJen

NormalFuJenUID: 2571208

"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 dean of Omega University recommends that the procedure encouraging students to evaluate should be berminated. To supported his recommendation, the dean points out that Omega graduates are less successful in getting jobs than nearby Alpha students as potential empolyers did not believe the 30% rise of Omega students caused by the evaluation procedure. Close scrutiny of this evidence rveals that it lends little credible support for the author's assertion.


To begin with, the argument fails to provide the percentage of the students involving in the procedure. It is highly possible that the number of students taking part in the evaluation only occupies a small part of overall students. In this case terminating the procedure is unlikely to have any effect on the average grade of Omega students, let alone help them to succeed in getting good jobs after graduation.


The argument also assumes unfairly that the rise of the average grade of Omega students is attributable to the evaluation procedure only not other factors. Perhaps there are other explanations for this trend of rise, such as higher standards in admission, better instructions and teachers. Without the evidence that the evaluation procedure is the only cause of the high average grade, the dean could not convince me that terminating the procedure would stop the inflation in the average grades of Omega students, let alone help these students get better jobs.


Even if the the grade inflation is caused by the evaluation procedure, the claim that the grade inflation of Omega students makes thems fail to find as good jobs as Alpha graduates is also not credible. There may be a lot of reasons for Omega students to find good jobs, while grade inflation may be an insignificant reason. Perhaps Omega's curriculum is not well arranged, making students unprepared in the job markets compared with Alpha students. Moreover, it is highly possible that the admission standards of Alpha are much higher than those of Omega. Without ruling out these factors, the argument can not convince me that termination of the procedure would make employers more likely to hire Omega graduates.


In sum, the dean's recommendation is not well supported. To strengthen it the dean must provide better evidecne that the rise of the grade is attributable to the evalution procedure as well as the percentage of students taking part in the procedure. To better evaluate the argument, the dean ought to rule out other factors making employers reluctant to hire Omega graduates.