argument140 FLY AW小组第二十二次作业

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题目：ARGUMENT 140 - 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."
字数：528         用时：上午 12:30:00          日期：2006-6-30
In this report, the arguer recommends that Professor Thomas, who has an excellent performance in work, should receive a $10,000 raise and a promotion to Department Chairperson, or she will leave Elm City University for another college. To support this view, the argument cites several facts in order to show the professor's abilities in researching and teaching. The author first use the scope of this professor’s classes to demonstrate her popularity in students, then a large amount of money brought by her is mentioned in order to mirror her abilities in researching. However, in actuality, neither the former nor the later lends sound supports to the suggestion.
The threshold assumption, upon which the conclusion is drawn, that the largest class Professor Thomas teaches is due to her popularity among students is unverified. In actuality, the number of students in a class is determined by many other factors besides the teacher’s popularity, such as the subject regarding the class, how difficult the class is , especially for student to go through final exam. Also, it is entirely possible that the classes Professor Thomas taught are mandatory/ compulsory subject, if so, given her poor teaching ability as well as the dull and bore atmosphere in her classes, the students all have no choice but to take her courses.
Another crux of this recommendation lies in the example concerning the grants mentioned in the argument. Perhaps the money she has brought to school during the last two years is just temporary, if so, this fund instilled into our researches will not continue in the future. Even assuming the funds she received was large enough, the expense in her research may offset the grants. Thus, increasing her salary would not be necessary.(unnecessary) Also, even if Professor Thomas can help provide sufficient fund for our research, her ability in researching is still open to doubt. Since no evidence showing her performance in research, we cannot get to an objective and just judge of this point.
Also, no evidence is provided that other colleges are competing with us for hiring Professor Thomas, and there is no evidence indicating Professor Thomas shows discontent with the status in quo, such as the salary or the position. Perhaps her salary is high enough, even exceeds the level other colleges promise to provide. Or perhaps she likes the present job very much (Perhaps she is satisfied with her current salary), she may be less competent in managing than teaching and researching. And being Department Chairperson will take her much time for researching, thus she may be reluctant to the promotion.
In sum, after scrutiny of the argument, I find it has several logical fallacies which lend little credence to the author's suggestion. To strengthen it, I would need detailed information regarding Professor Thomas's ability in teaching, instead of the mere fact of her class scale, also, I would need to investigate whether the fund she has brought is sustaining. Besides, other information concerning the personal attitude of her toward the status in quo, as well as the other universities' desires in hiring proficient teachers. Lacking all the above-mentioned information, the conclusion from the argument can only be unsubstantiated.

[ 本帖最后由 xmbjowl 于 2006-7-2 16:47 编辑 ]

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