Please Rate my AWA
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12 Mar 2015, 14:50
“Two years ago Nova High School began to use interactive computer instruction in three academic subjects. The school dropout rate declined immediately, and last year’s graduates have reported some impressive achievements in college. In future budgets the school board should use a greater portion of the available funds to buy more computers, and all schools in the district should adopt interactive computer instruction throughout the curriculum.” Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.
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The author’s argument that interactive computer instructions should be implemented at all the schools in the district is flawed.
In drawing his conclusion, the author not only fails to take into account the sample as a representation of the school population, but also draws a conclusion based on unsubstantiated assumptions. Furthermore, the author assumes that it is advantageous for schools to have access to computer instructions without providing information about the differences and similitudes that could support his argument.
First, the author assumes that thanks to the purchase of several interactive computers, Nova High School was able to both decrease classes’ dropout and improve achievement in college. This statement is stretch as it does not provide any evidence. More precisely, the author does not take any example of achievement, and does not explain why the increase of attendance was a good thing. For example, there are some schools that require students to attend every class on their curriculum and forbid the dropout. Despite a strict policy, a larger number of these schools do not get better academic results. This shows that the success of high schools students cannot be explained only by the dropout rate.
Second, the argument asserts that Nova High School and other high schools in the district should allow significant funds in order to buy new interactive computers for classes. This assumption fails in the same principle: there’s no evidence that indicates a correlation between the purchase of new computers and the improvement of the education system. Besides the improvements presented in the argument may not be comparable to the performance of other schools. For example, students may have computers at
home at other school so there may not be a significant change his daily routine and the results will not show.
Finally, the argument could be strengthening if the author provides examples of achievements, or data demonstrating that there is a negative correlation between the dropout rate and the achievement of college. The argument could also be strengthened if the author were to concede that the implementation of computer instructors may be just one factor in determining achievement to college.
In summary, as it stands the argument is flawed for the reasons indicated. It could be considerably strengthened if the author clearly mentioned all the relevant facts. Without this information, the argument remains unsubstantiated and open to debate.