Argument140 [jet]

jinluevaUID: 2390375

Argument140
Date: 2008-2-27
Time: 30 minutes
Words: 520

Before the Committee on Faculty Promotions and Salaries at Elm City University make its decision to grant the salary rise and the promotion to Department Chairperson, there are certain points contained in the report that should be reexamined for their credibility. According to the report, Professor Thomas has proved herself in her seventeen years work to offer the largest classes and has brought research grants exceed her salary in the past two years. Thus the raise of salary and the promotion should be presented in order to keep her in Elm City University.

However, the facts given in the report are far from enough to support its assumption that Professor Thomas showed excellent teaching and research abilities. In the first place, the size of the class, as we usually see in universities, has little to do with the quality of teaching. Rather, it is the demand of the curriculum and determined by the content of the course. If, for instance, Professor Thomas' courses are those provided as mandatory fundamental knowledge to all of the university students, the size is certainly larger than optional courses focus on students in a narrow scope of majors. Thus the size of classes could hardly be accepted as the measure of her teaching ability.

In the second place, what about the research grants Professor Thomas brought in during last two years? Firstly, the period of only two years in not a particularly long time frame for the Committee to decide the research abilities of Professor Thomas. Again, as there is no information about the research grants for other professors, we do not know for sure whether the performance of Professor Thomas is above average or not. It is quite possible that there are actually several professors who have brought more grants yet have been offered even lower salaries.

We may also ask: even if we assume that Professor Thomas has ability described in the report, is the suggestion of promotion and raise of salary a sagacious measure to prevent her from leaving Elm City University for another one? The answer is probably not so sure when we consider it from different angles. For a professor to decide which university to work for, salary and position are not the only factors. Maybe Professor Thomas cares more about the research conditions, such as the fame of her department, the laboratory facilities, as well as the research ability of others in the Faculty which could influence her achievements in her realm. In addition, even if the Committee offers Professor Thomas $10,000 higher salary and the position as the chairperson, it may not necessarily works, in that perhaps other universities offers her salaries even higher than the total $60,000, or perhaps Professor Thomas does not desire the chairperson position at all, since it may distract her from research and teaching.

In sum, although the report sheds some light on the issue of Professor Thomas' salary and promotion, it lacks detailed information such as how students judge her classes and what does she really want for her future career. Without these information, the Committee on Faculty Promotions and Salaries at Elm City University could hardly make any reasonable decisions.