argument169 第一篇求拍！！多谢必回！！

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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."


Whether Pierce University's strategy will attract more gifted professors is open to doubt. At the first glance, the author's reasoning seems sound, yet close scrutiny on evidence reveals that it lends little support to the conclusion.

To begin with, the reliability and generalizability of studies conducted by Bronston College is questionable. In evaluating the validity of the studies, one must take into accounts how the studies were conducted. If the questions were leading or if the studies relied on self reports, the results might be unreliable--people might just respond with the expect answer. Moreover, one must also consider that how broad the studies were. If the studies were limited to a few professors who prefer living in small towns to living in big cities, the results of the studies may be attributable to those particular individuals. Hence, the generalization drawn might not apply to most teachers of that college. In addition, even if the studies were broader, one must consider whether they were confined in a certain way. For example, were these professors' spouses are all out of work? Were these professors in poor health condition and thus they need accompany with their spouses? Were the studies limited to a certain department? In absence of specific information, it is impossible for us to evaluate the validity as well as generalizability of the studies results.

Even if the studies results are substantiated, the author committed false analogy between Bronston College and Pierce University. There might be a great deal of difference between them. It is possible that Pierce University locates in a large city rather than a small town like Bronston College. If so, the gifted teachers and researchers who are happy living in small towns with their spouses might not be attracted to the university even though both of them are offered employment. It is also likely that faculty members in Pierce University do not like their spouses to work with them in the same region since it might distracted them from work. Unless the author provide sufficient evidence concerning the wish of faculty in Pierce University, I remain unconvincing on the effectiveness of the strategy.

Finally, granted that the foregoing assumptions are justified, the author's prediction that the new strategy will improve the morale of entire faculty is still unwarranted since the strategy only take into accounts the new professors but forget the feelings of old faculty members. It is likely that old faculty members rather than new ones hope their spouses be employed in the same geographic area. If so, then it is more than likely that old faculty might be frustrated for the university does not pay enough attention to them and thus their morale may be slumped rather than be improved.  

To sum up, this argument is not so persuasive than it stands. The author fails to provide substantiated evidence that the new professors will be absorbed to Pierce University by its  strategy of offering employment to their spouses. To better evaluate the argument, I should also know some other facets of the university faculty.