【kaleidoscope】小组第八次作业argument238 byAtticus

atticuswangUID: 2663189

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."

In this argument, the author concludes that the Mira Vista College(MVC) should offer more course in business and computer technology and job counselors to help students gain more jobs. To support this conclusion, he cites the fact that 90 percent graduates in nearby Green Mountain College(GMC)find prospective jobs and attribute this to the business courses and the job counselors. At the first glance of this argument, it is plausible yet after careful examination, I find there are several flaws as discussed below.

To start with, the author unreasonably assumes the correlation between the fact more business courses and job counselors with the satisfying employment of GMC) is causal, which I take leave to doubt. It is entirely possible that the employment rate has little to do with the business course and job counselors. For instance, maybe most of the graduates from GMC take their job in chemical area without requirement of business courses. Or even if the job counselors can offer help, few of the graduates ask them for help and prepare the resume for their own. Without ruling out all these possibilities, the author can not convince me that the good employment of GMC is owned to the business courses and job counselors.

And also, the author overlooks the distinguish between prospective jobs and full time jobs when comparing employment conditions between the two colleges. Prospective jobs may be jobs with short work hours and high salaries, or good working environment; for graduates from MVC, fulltime jobs are preferred maybe because they want to find a long term and stable job. Thus, the comparison between GMC and MVC is meaningless for the reason that their standards are different. Perhaps student from MVC are even easier to find so called "prospective jobs", but they do not accept the offer. In sum, the author confuses me by the vague definition of prospective jobs.

Moreover, even if graduates from GMC benefits a lot from the business causes and job counselors, the author commits the fallacy of faulty analogy, for the reason he fails to provide any evidence to show the capability of the two group of graduates and background information of the two college. It is highly possible that GMC wins a higher reputation so that MVC and graduates from former college are more welcome. Perhaps most graduates from GMC are more bright and resourceful compared with those from MVC. And if it is this case, the author's conclusion is insufficient to improve the employment of MVC.

In sum, this argument is not so persuasive as it stands. To bolster it, the author should make sure the exact reason of why the employment rate of GVC is higher than that of MVC, and also clarify what's the difference between a perspective job and a full time job. In addition, the also need to take some other factors which play an significant role in employment into consideration.