argument178 Spring-第四次作业

林周孟UID: 2341714

    argument 180     The following is a recommendation from the personnel director to the president of Acme Publishing Company.     "Many other companies have recently stated that having their employees take the Easy Read Speed-Reading Course has greatly improved productivity. One graduate of the course was able to read a five-hundred-page report in only two hours; another graduate rose from an assistant manager to vice president of the company in under a year. Obviously, the faster you can read, the more information you can absorb in a single workday. Moreover, Easy Read costs only $500 per employee-a small price to pay when you consider the benefits to Acme. Included in this fee is a three-week seminar in Spruce City and a lifelong subscription to the Easy Read newsletter. Clearly, Acme would benefit greatly by requiring all of our employees to take the Easy Read course."
    Words:461    Time:80 minutes    Date:2007-11-17
    In this argument ,the personnel director of Acme Publishing Company asserts that Acme would benefit greatly if every employee takes the Easy Read course at the expense of $500 per employee.To support this recommendation,the director cited that many other companies had greatly improved productivity through requiring their employees take the course.The director also points out that One of the graduates in the course can read a report very quickly after graduation ; another graduate was promoted to vice president of the company in under a year.Careful scrutiny of the evidence,however,reveals that it lend little credible support to the recommendation,as discussed below.
    In the first place,the mere fact that many other companies have benefited greated from the course does not necessarily mean that Acme will benefit similarly from it .It is entirely possible that the main content on which the course focuses is not the exact type in which Acme publishing employees usually engage at work.Or perhaps the reading ability of employees of many other companies if much less than that of Acme,thus the former can benefit greatly,while the latter may not.Any of these possibilities,if true,woule serve to undermine the director’s recommendation.
    In the second place,the two individuals who make a great progress after taking the course can not be representative of all the other employees .Perhaps only the two among those who participates the course benefit from it,while the most majority of the others learn nothing except paying the cost and wasting the time.Morever,the director unfairly assume that their accomplishments can be attributed to the course.Since the director provides no evidence to support this claim ,it is equally possible that both individuals are outstanding before taking the course.And whether they take the course or not,they will get the similar accomplishments through their hard working.
    Finally ,the director assume without warrant that the benefits of the course will definitely
outweigh its costs.Actually ,the director overlooks the fact that if all the employees of Acme spend three weeks in taking the course,the company may have to stop produce,and therefore may lose a large amount of clientele and profits.In other words ,Acme’s productivity may ultimately decline,not improve.This decline ,along with the fee for the course may outweigh the benefits significantly.Without a complete cost-benefit analysis ,it is unfair to conclude that Acme would benefit greatly from the course.
    To sum up, the argument is unconvincing as it stands.To strengthen it the director must firstly provide evidence that the main content on which the course focuses is just the type that Acme’s employees usually engage at work.Secondly,the director still need to convince me that the majority of the participator in the course benefit greatly.To better assess the recommendation,I need a detailed cost-benefit analysis,which sufficiently prove that the benefits from the course will outweigh the cost significantly.