1. The following appeared in the editorial section of an educational publication.
"One study at Lee University found that first-semester grades of teenage students who had always attended public, tax-supported schools were slightly lower than the grades of students who had received some home schooling instruction by parents at home, although the grade differences disappeared in the second semester. These results suggest that home schooling is the best way to educate teenage children. Therefore, instead of spending more money on public education, the government should provide financial incentives so that home schooling is an option for more parents. After all, children schooled at home receive more attention, since they are taught by the best possible teacher: a parent who has a high stake in educating them well. "
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument.
The writer of this argument arrives at the conclusion that home schooling is the best way to educate teenage children. To substantiate the assertion, author cites that teenage student who had attended public, tax- supported schools got slightly lower grades than other students who had received home schooling instruction. Counterproductively, close scrutiny of facts, this argument suffers from many fallacies.
Firstly, is the study which took place at Lee University so reliable that it apply to every children? Author has not provided any evidence to support his claim. Moreover, On how many number of students, study took place? It may be 10 or 100 or 1000. If study at Lee university took place on only 10 students, then does it apply to every teenage student? Answer is definitely 'NO'. Author should provide detailed data about study. This can certainly make argument credible.
Secondly, Is Home schooling instructions only reason due to which teenage students got more marks than other students who had attended public school? Again, author has not provided any evidence to support his claim. There may be other reasons due to which that teenage students got more grades, like students who got more grades may be intelligent students than who attended public or they used more study material than other students ( nowadays, Large no. of study material is available on internet ). Author has to do detailed study and provide sufficient evidences which can strengthen his (or her) argument.
Moreover, Can parents become good teacher every time? The answer may be 'YES' or 'NO'. Because sometimes parents are not educated, therefore they cannot give their students knowledge which he could get in schools. It is possible that parents of the students are educated on which study took place. Author has not look into this factor.
Moreover, there are many unanswered questions which author need to answer to strengthen his argument. Thus, this argument leaves large area for doubts. Shedding light on them will surely make his argument more convincing .
that it apply to every children?
that it applies to every child?
argument 1 -- not OK. Need to accept the study is reliable. But it may work only in Lee University. It may not work for all parents.
argument 2 -- OK
argument 3 -- OK
Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 3.0 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 1 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 23 15
No. of Words: 330 350
No. of Characters: 1672 1500
No. of Different Words: 169 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.262 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.067 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.516 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 123 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 96 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 73 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 27 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 14.348 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 9.286 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.522 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.3 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.489 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.061 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5