Please evaluate my Writing as well.
The following appeared as part of an article in the education section of a Waymarsh city newspaper:
“Throughout the last two decades, those who earned graduate degrees found it very difficult to get jobs teaching their
academic specialties at the college level. Those with graduate degrees from Waymarsh University had an especially
hard time finding such jobs. But better times are coming in the next decade for all academic job seekers, including
those from Waymarsh. Demographic trends indicate that an increasing number of people will be reaching college age
over the next 10 years; consequently, we can expect that the job market will improve dramatically for people seeking
college-level teaching positions in their fields.”
Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.
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MY RESPONSE
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The article claims that academic job seekers would have more opportunities in coming 10 years. This claim is based on the demographic trends that indicate the increase in number of college age people in next decade and hence, increase in the academic market. The article provides, for comparison, the struggles of graduates to find a teaching job at college level for past two decades. However, the information given in the article is superficial and lacks proper reasoning. The argument and conclusion made in the article are based on assumptions with no foundational evidences.
For example, article mentions that for past 20 years, graduates, especially from Waymarsh University, are struggling to get a teaching job in colleges. But, no reasons have been provided behind this problem. And, author assumes that this problem is because of lack of students in colleges and increase in number of students will improve the situation. This assumption is baseless unless author provides the analysis from past 20 years on the factors responsible for the unemployment of graduates from universities including Waymarsh University. There is a possibility that reasons like change in the minimum educational qualification for a teaching job in colleges, poor educational quality at Waymarsh University or poor grades of graduates played a role in the unemployment of these graduates. In that case, the author's argument will become extremely weak and unconvincing.
Even if, small market is the major reason behind unemployment of graduates, the increase in number of college age people will not necessarily help the situation. For instance, it is not guaranteed and article does not prove that the colleges will increase their intake of fresh students or, that all the college age people will take admission in colleges or are able to afford the educational expenses. For convenience, suppose colleges increase the number of seats in their programs and most of the college age people end up in colleges, it will take only three to four years for them to graduate from colleges and, after graduating these people would also start looking for jobs. So, the unemployment situation would actually worsen in this case. Hence, the author's claim as such sounds baseless.
In conclusion, the author may consider to include detailed analysis or survey results on the actual reasons of unemployment and why Waymarsh University is most affected. This will help the author to make a strong basis for his argument. Also, author can provide specifications of how the increase in number of college-age people would help to increase the size of market for teaching positions and decrease unemployment among graduates in coming 10 years. This will help to make the article's conclusion more convincing and reasonable.