Argument 238

TOPIC: ARGUMENT238 - The following appeared in a memorandum from the president of Mira Vista College to the college's board of trustees.
"At nearby Green Mountain College, which has more business courses and more job counselors than does Mira Vista College, 90 percent of last year's graduating seniors had job offers from prospective employers. But at Mira Vista College last year, only 70 percent of the seniors who informed the placement office that they would be seeking employment had found full-time jobs within three months after graduation, and only half of these graduates were employed in their major field of study. To help Mira Vista's graduates find employment, we must offer more courses in business and computer technology and hire additional job counselors to help students with their resumés and interviewing skills."
WORDS: 436 TIME: 00:32:27 DATE: 2008-3-21 21:41:41

The speaker's conclusion is that Mira Vista College ought to offer more business courses, computer-based technology and employ more job consultants to ameliorate their students' performance in interview. The reason the arguer lists is that Green Mountain College has carried out similar policy and students who graduate from Green Mountain College have more promising future than those who graduate from Mira Vista College. However, close scrutiny of evidence unveils that this statement actually suffers from a few fallacies that would undermine this conclusion.

Firstly, albeit Green Mountain College has more business courses and job counselors than does Mira Vista, this is not a persuasive excuse why their students can find more prospective job. There are certain other reasonable reasons that would weaken this conclusion. For example, students who study in Green Mountain College have distinctive skills of computer programming, and their knowledge of business is a subordinate factor. And current job market needs plenty of staffers who program well. Therefore, whether students can seize promising job or not does not depend upon how many business courses they have learned.

Secondly, the speaker does not give evidence that job counselors of Green Mountain College do offer training or some other kind of help to Green Mountain's students. Perhaps those students who graduated last year did not require career-planning staffs for advice at all. Moreover, the arguer merely mentions last year, and he or she fails to tell whether Green Mountain College's advantages was the same in two years ago. It is possible that students graduating from Green Mountain College two years ago have not found job until now. Thus, the arguer's verdict would otherwise be weakened.

Thirdly, the arguer's words about Mira Vista College's students are based on self-report, whose credibility must be carefully taken into account. Maybe the students who informed the placement office of Mira Vista College are just a minority, and do not represent the most majority who may successfully seize good job that may be even more promising than those of Green Mountain College. Furthermore, it is highly probable that the half of graduates who were not employed in their major specialty of study found they themselves were not interested in their major at all and decided to work in distinct job.

In summary, the statement does suffer from a few flaws as presented above. To solidify this conclusion, the arguer would have to prove that the principal of Green Mountain College had not carried out other policies that benefit students, and further demonstrate that those who informed the placement office of Mira Vista College were the majority of Mira Vista College's graduates.