argument61 [smile]第九次作业

yxjessieUID: 194526

TOPIC: ARGUMENT61 - The following appeared in a report by the School District of Eyleria.

"Nationally, the average ratio of computers to students in kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) is 1:5. Educators indicate that this is very good ratio. This means that across the country, all students have access to and can use computers daily in their classrooms. In Eyleria's K-12 schools, the ratio of computers to students is 1:7. This number is sufficient to ensure that all of Eyleria's students, by the time they graduate from high school, will be fully proficient in the use of computer technology. Thus, there is no reason to spend any of the schools' budget on computers or other technology in the next few years."
DATE: 2006-8-11

Acorrding to the average ratio of computers to students in the nation and Eyleria, the author makes a conclusion that the Eyleria's schools do not need to fund more on computers or other technology in the coming years. However, the author failed to consider a lot of other aspects of the conditions of computers used in Eyleria before making a convincing conclusion.

First of all, the average ratio of computers to students in the nation is 1:5 does not necessarily mean that the students in everywhere of the nation are accessible to the computers and use them daily in the classrooms. The situations in various areas might be possilbly totally different. Even if the ratio is good, that does not mean the situation in Eyleria is good too. The author does not provide any informaion about the standard on the ratio while the ratio is Eyleria is 1:7 which is lower in computers to students than the national levels. Since the two ratios are not identical, we can not make a conclusion that the number or computer in Eyleria is sufficient to the students. The author also goes no difference of the levels of the students. Since the grade 12 students are much more different from students in the kindergartens, it is possible that the computers are available to the kindergartens more, but not the older students.

Secondly, Even if ratio if Eyleria means that students can use the computer regularly, which does not guarantee that they can be full proficient in the use of computer technology before they graduate. To make a students gain the skills of using computer needs a myriad of conditions. How are the teaching levels in Eyleria? Are the teachers also good at computer technology or just know little about it. How many classes the students have in a week? It is possibly that although there are a lot of computer available, the students cannot use them because the school just use the computer as an advertisement. And the contents of the computer class are also needed to be considered. If the computer class just includes some basic skills like how to use software such as Windows or Word, they possibly cannot help the students gain enough skills on using computer.

Last but not least, since the development of the computer technology is so fast that the computer software and hardware may need to be upgraded every few years. Even if the computers are enough for the student's need at present, they might fall behind to the popular technology very soon. So, more budget is needed to keep the quality of the computers, which enable the students keep pace with the frequently changed society. Moreover, the number of students on Eyleria will be also changed, perhaps the there will be twice number of students in the nest year enrolled in Eyleria, so more money is needed to purchase more computer to adapt the increased needs of computers.

The data provided in the argument are too vague and not enough. Before making a more clear decision on whether spend budget on the Eyleria’s school, we need to know more about whether the computers are available to all levels of students, what’s content of the computer classes and the  future development of computer technology and students enrollment.

[ 本帖最后由 yxjessie 于 2006-8-11 12:10 编辑 ]