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An honor code brought out by Groveton College (GC), as the speaker asserted, is a comparatively new fashioned system which aims at preventing students from cheating. However, to some degree, it is lacking of necessary proof and reasoning.
There’s no convincing statistics provided to support the position that the new honor code is running more successfully and efficiently than the old-system. At this point, the fact that sixteen cases of cheating in decrease per year were reported is not strong evidence for the doubt of the authenticity of the data. Perhaps some of the students who committed cheating are not unfolded and reported. It’s possible that the number of actual existed cheating action is far beyond the provided level. Without ruling out such possibilities, I cannot accept the arguer’s point.
In addition, the speaker cites the figures of the first and fifth year to defend the advantages of the GC honor code. Despite the obvious drop in the number, it’s not well grounded without the condition of three years in between. Perhaps the overall situation of the five years is not stable but fluctuated. At this perspective, the survey is not powerful enough to persuade the old-fashioned system is necessarily replaced by the new honor code introduced by GC. So the average number of the cheating cases might be of more value to this point. What’s more, as far as I am concerned, the comparison is reasonable only under an assumption that after the GC honor code is adopted, the condition of the college is unchanged, including education management, the quality of the newly enrolled students, and etc. Without confirm the reliability of the statistics, the arguer cannot win the defense.
Even if the pushing of the new honor code by GC is really successful, it is unnecessarily generalized to such a large scope that every college is suggested to be involved in this action. As far as GC is concerned, the success might be based on the severe supervision and serious punishment system, which is especially effective to the specific group of students. Or perhaps the value of honesty held by those students motivates them to behave honestly and sincerely. These detailed conditions vary school from school, which directly weaken the position that the successful action taken by GC can be at the same time effective to other colleges.
To sum up, before the arguer reaches a conclusion that colleges should adopt the same honor code with GC, he must do more work in the following aspects. The powerful proof, say the more detailed and precise survey which can persuade us the merit and advantage of the new honor code compared with the old one, and the comprehensive comparison between schools which assure safe generalization and spread of the GC honor code. In the recent survey, the students declared that they would be less likely to be cheating with GC honor code. However, I hold the tenet that to see is to believe. Without the valid data provided and the mentioned improvement in the speaker’s reasoning, the argument is less reliable and dependable. |