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24 Nov 2017, 11:58
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The following appeared as part of a recommendation from the financial planning office to the administration of Fern Valley University.
“In the past few years, Fern Valley University has suffered from a decline in both enrollments and admissions applications. The reason can be discovered from our students, who most often cite poor teaching and inadequate library resources as their chief sources of dissatisfaction with Fern Valley. Therefore, in order to increase the number of students attending our university, and hence to regain our position as the most prestigious university in the greater Fern Valley metropolitan area, it is necessary to initiate a fund-raising campaign among the alumni that will enable us to expand the range of subjects we teach and to increase the size of our library facilities.”
Discuss how well reasoned... etc.
In the argument, the financial planning office recommends the administration of Fern Valley University to initiate a fund raising campaign among the alumni, in order to increase the number of students attending the university and to regain the university's position as the most prestigious university in the greater Fern Valley Metropolitan area. The rationale for this recommendation is that fund-raising campaign among the alumni will enable the university to expand the range of subjects taught and to increase the size of it's library facilities, and this will address the issues cited by the students- poor teaching and inadequate library resources- and eventually curb the problem of the decline in both enrollments and admissions applications.Stated this way the argument fails to consider several other factors on the basis of which it can be evaluated. The argument relies on assumptions for which there is no clear evidence. Hence, the argument is rather flawed and unconvincing.
First, the argument presupposes that an increase in the range of subjects and size of library facilities will tackle the issue of poor teaching and inadequate library resources. This statement is a stretch and cannot be evaluated in any way. It is possible that the issue faced by students are pertaining to the quality of teaching staff and the quality of the content of the resources in the library. Merely increasing the number of subjects or the size of the library facilities will not guarantee an improvement in the quality of of teaching staff and the quality of the content of the resources in the library. As a result the goal of the fund raising campaign might no be met. The argument would have been much clearer, if it explicitly stated that the fewer number of subjects or smaller size of the library facilities were the main reason for the decrease in the number of students attending the university.
Second, the argument states that it is necessary to initiate the fund raising campaign in order to meet the said goals. However, this cannot be demonstrated in any way. There are several other options/ways to achieve the same goals. In fact, employing higher quality teaching staff may prove more helpful to address the issue faced by students (poor teaching) and incorporating more diverse resources or improving the condition of existing library facilities may be helpful rather than increasing the size of the library facilities.
Finally, lets suppose that the fund raising activity is initiated by the university, there is no evidence provided in the argument on the basis of which one can conclude that the alumni will make significant contributions that will help the university achieve its said goals. Also, even if the contributions are sufficient, there is no guarantee that the plan will increase the number of students attending college, as explained in the above mentioned paragraphs.
Therefore, the argument is flawed. It can be strengthened, for instance, if it explicitly states that the number of subjects and size of library facilities are the reason for the decrease in enrollments and admission applicants. Without these improvements the argument seems more of a wishful claim rather than substantiated evidence.
“In the past few years, Fern Valley University has suffered from a decline in both enrollments and admissions applications. The reason can be discovered from our students, who most often cite poor teaching and inadequate library resources as their chief sources of dissatisfaction with Fern Valley. Therefore, in order to increase the number of students attending our university, and hence to regain our position as the most prestigious university in the greater Fern Valley metropolitan area, it is necessary to initiate a fund-raising campaign among the alumni that will enable us to expand the range of subjects we teach and to increase the size of our library facilities.”
Discuss how well reasoned... etc.
In the argument, the financial planning office recommends the administration of Fern Valley University to initiate a fund raising campaign among the alumni, in order to increase the number of students attending the university and to regain the university's position as the most prestigious university in the greater Fern Valley Metropolitan area. The rationale for this recommendation is that fund-raising campaign among the alumni will enable the university to expand the range of subjects taught and to increase the size of it's library facilities, and this will address the issues cited by the students- poor teaching and inadequate library resources- and eventually curb the problem of the decline in both enrollments and admissions applications.Stated this way the argument fails to consider several other factors on the basis of which it can be evaluated. The argument relies on assumptions for which there is no clear evidence. Hence, the argument is rather flawed and unconvincing.
First, the argument presupposes that an increase in the range of subjects and size of library facilities will tackle the issue of poor teaching and inadequate library resources. This statement is a stretch and cannot be evaluated in any way. It is possible that the issue faced by students are pertaining to the quality of teaching staff and the quality of the content of the resources in the library. Merely increasing the number of subjects or the size of the library facilities will not guarantee an improvement in the quality of of teaching staff and the quality of the content of the resources in the library. As a result the goal of the fund raising campaign might no be met. The argument would have been much clearer, if it explicitly stated that the fewer number of subjects or smaller size of the library facilities were the main reason for the decrease in the number of students attending the university.
Second, the argument states that it is necessary to initiate the fund raising campaign in order to meet the said goals. However, this cannot be demonstrated in any way. There are several other options/ways to achieve the same goals. In fact, employing higher quality teaching staff may prove more helpful to address the issue faced by students (poor teaching) and incorporating more diverse resources or improving the condition of existing library facilities may be helpful rather than increasing the size of the library facilities.
Finally, lets suppose that the fund raising activity is initiated by the university, there is no evidence provided in the argument on the basis of which one can conclude that the alumni will make significant contributions that will help the university achieve its said goals. Also, even if the contributions are sufficient, there is no guarantee that the plan will increase the number of students attending college, as explained in the above mentioned paragraphs.
Therefore, the argument is flawed. It can be strengthened, for instance, if it explicitly states that the number of subjects and size of library facilities are the reason for the decrease in enrollments and admission applicants. Without these improvements the argument seems more of a wishful claim rather than substantiated evidence.
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