argument140 [Jet]小组第十二次作业

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TOPIC: ARGUMENT140 - The following appeared in a report of the Committee on Faculty Promotions and Salaries at Elm City University.

"During her seventeen years as a professor of botany, Professor Thomas has proved herself to be well worth her annual salary of $50,000. Her classes are among the largest at the university, demonstrating her popularity among students. Moreover, the money she has brought to the university in research grants has exceeded her salary in each of the last two years. Therefore, in consideration of Professor Thomas' demonstrated teaching and research abilities, we recommend that she receive a $10,000 raise and a promotion to Department Chairperson; without such a raise and promotion, we fear that Professor Thomas will leave Elm City University for another college."
WORDS: 488          TIME: 00:29:24          DATE: 2008-2-26 22:32:02

This argument draws a recommendation that Professor Thomas should receive a $10,000 raise and a promotion to Department Chairperson; otherwise she might leave Elm City University. To substantiate this claim, the reporter claims that Thomas' classes are among the largest at the university and she has brought to the university a lot of money in researching in each of the last two years. However, a careful examination will show how groundless this argument is.

First of all, the arguer claims that Professor Thomas has a great popularity among students because her classes are among the largest at the university. However, a large scale of researching class has no casual relationship with good popularity. It is possible that her researching topics need many participants which cause her classes a large scale. In this situation, even if Thomas does not have a good popularity, her classes can be the largest ones. Moreover, there is no statistic evidence to show how many professors' classes are among the largest. If 20 classes consist of the largest ones but Thomas has only 2 of them, it is also not convinced her popularity.

Secondly, the reporter strengthen the argument by providing evidence which shows Professor Thomas has brought a lot of money to the university, and the research grants has exceeded her salary in each of the last two years. However, although the money she has brought to the university has been more than her salary, it does not mean she owns great abilities. It is possible that nearly each professor can bring so much money or there are many professors can bring more money than Thomas. If the arguer can not provide evidence to show that the amount of money Thomas has brought is large enough throughout the university, I can not be convinced that she has great abilities.

What is more, even though the amount of money Thomas has brought to the university is large, it still can not prove that her abilities are well. In taking careful examination, it can be found that she only brought such an amount of money in each of the last two years, while she has spent her life in the university for seventeen years. If she has good abilities, she should not have brought this money so late.

In addition, the arguer fails to prove that Thomas would leave Elm City University if the Committee would not raise her salary and offer her promotion. If the arguer can not provide any evidence to show that Thomas has acclaimed that she would leave if the raising salary and promotion would not be offered, the conclusion is not convincible.

In sum, the argument is full of flaws. To improve it, the arguer should prove that Professor Thomas has great abilities and popularity. Moreover, the arguer should also provide evidence to show that she would leave Elm City University if there is no raising salary and promotion.