argument169 【today is the day】第五次作业 by woyun

woyunUID: 2522051

169.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."



In this argument, the arguer recommends that at Pierce University, the spouse of each new faculty should be given employment in an attempt to attract the most gifted teachers and researchers. To justify this claim, the arguer cites the result of some studies which reveal that professors are happier living in small towns when their spouses are also employed in the same geographic area. According to those studies, he assumes that it is more likely for the new professors to accept the offers if their spouses have a chance of employment.
This argument suffers from several critical fallacies.

A threshold problem with the argument involves the statistical reliability of studies. Lacking information about the number of employees and the numbers of respondents, it is impossible to access the validity of the results. It is possible that the number of participants is just 20, which is insufficient. Moreover, the participants may just involve the older professors who tend to pursue a stable life. In addiction, the arguer provides no information how the studies are conducted.

In addiction, even if the studies are reliable, the argument unfairly assumes that the measures taken at Bronston College work productivity similarly at Pierce University. Perhaps the working condition or the living environment in the small town where Bronston College located are superior than they are in the Pierce University's area; thus the spouses of the professors might not choose to work in the latter.  For that matter perhaps the funds at Pierce University are not sufficiently enough to offer so many employments to the spouse of each new faculty as the Bronston College does.

A third problem with the argument is that it unfairly infer that offering employment to the professor's spouse is the only means of attracting the most brilliant teachers, while overlooks other possible means of attaining the goal - such as improving the quality of teaching facility, increasing the salary, providing more opportunities and so forth. Without ruling out alternative means of achieving the same goal, the arguer cannot convince me that offering employment to the professor's spouse is needed.

In summary, this argument is not persuasive as it stands. Before we accept the conclusion, the arguer must provide more information about the studies, including the sample number and procedure. To solidify the argument, the arguer would have to the two universities are similar enough.

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[ 本帖最后由 xu5260711 于 2008-8-7 13:45 编辑 ]