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Qs:
The following appeared in a memorandum issued by a large city's council on the arts.

“In a recent citywide poll, fifteen percent more residents said that they watch television programs about the visual arts than was the case in a poll conducted five years ago. During these past five years, the number of people visiting our city's art museums has increased by a similar percentage. Since the corporate funding that supports public television, where most of the visual arts programs appear, is now being threatened with severe cuts, we can expect that attendance at our city's art museums will also start to decrease. Thus some of the city's funds for supporting the arts should be reallocated to public television".

Discuss how logically persuasive you find the above argument. In presenting your point of view, analyze the sort of reasoning used and supporting evidence. In addition, state what further evidence, if any, would make the argument more sound and convincing or would make you better able to evaluate its conclusion.

My Response:


The above argument is lacking vital information that is required for the proper evaluation of the situation presented.
Firstly, the argument seems to be based on the assumption that the rise in interest for the arts amone the people of the city is due to the increase in advertisements that promote arts and that it is this rise in ineterest that has led to a rise in the number of people visiting art museums in the city. Although, it may be true that a part of the rise in interest towards arts can be attributed to increase in promotional advertisements and programs on visual arts, the whole credit for the same cannot be attributed to the television programs.
There might be other sources such as greater number and variety of arts courses that are taught in schools and colleges that have increased the interest in arts among the people and which consequently led to more musueum visits. Hence, the argument must provide data on the number and variety of such courses that are taught. Additionally, information regarding the increase in revenue that can be attributed to television programs must also be presented, so that it can be used to compare with the data on courses to evaluate the real causes behind the increase in interest towards arts.

The argument also fails to consider that the increase in percentage of museum visits could be due to an increase in the citys population and nit due to an increase in viewership of television programs on arts.
Hence, the population data is must also be considered in the evaluation of the above situation. If the citys population is predicted to increase at a steady rate then it is likely that a decrease in number of television programs will have little effect on numbers visiting museums.

Lastly, the argument incorrectly claims that there is a direct correlation between corporate funding that supports public television and the attendance at musuems. Even though, one cannot deny that a decrease in funding might decrease in the resources that support television programs on arts, one must find out the reasons for such cuts. It might be that currently, despite huge funds being allocated towards arts programs they have failed to generate enough interest and hence enough revenue from musuems due to which the decision to cut funding has been made. Hence, the state government must start incentivising schools and colleges to include arts courses in thier curriculum to spur interest to maintain attendance. This can, however, only be done in light of information regading the extent of the cuts mentioned above and the available resources and funds that the city has towards arts.

Additionally, the argument also fails to consider that public television is not the only way to increase interest in arts and musueum attendance. May be allocating funds to increase tourism in the city might have a more significant impact on the attendance of musuems by increasing the number of visits by people from out state.


To summarize, the above argument can be strengthened by providing data on all of the above mentioned factors. This information can then be compared and a correlation between the various factors can be established. Ultimately, the factors that will display a high positive correlation can be those towards which the city's funds can be reallocated to ensure thier just and judicious utilisation.


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