The following appeared as part of the Dean’s newsletter:
"The University of Wabash is considering a community service requirement for all undergraduate and graduate students. We believe that the objective of any university is to produce well-rounded and charitable members of society. The proposed graduation requirement would be to complete at least 8 hours of unpaid community service per month for a total of 9 months. The Dean’s office will maintain a list of approved local charities on its website with contact information. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to give back to the community and gain real-world working experience. Most importantly, local charities in need will receive the help that they need to continue their efforts."
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
The Dean’s newsletter announced that the university of Wabash will require all undergraduate and graduate students to do community service. The requirement of the graduation will be a minimum of 8 hours for 9 months. The author believes that the goal of any university is to produce balanced and accommodating graduates for society. What’s more, he tries to make a convincing argument by further claiming that the social service activities would allow students to benefit from on-field working experience. The argument seems persuasive, but the assumptions lead me to conclude that it is flawed.
First, the author assumes that the purpose of universities is the production of members who well blend into society. However, the author should reconsider that the goal of universities. Depends on the universities, the goal can be different. For example, some universities focus on offering vocational training so that it raises the employment rate of graduates. In this case, the requirement of community service might be helpful for students. The other universities, on the other hand, may focus on providing students to grow academically and have an in-depth study. This means that the latter universities should prioritize ‘studying and researching’. More precisely, it can be different by majors and departments. The university should survey that the characteristics and goals of each department before making a decision.
Another assumption that the author makes is that community service allows students to gain working experience and the community can also benefit from it. However, the assumptions might not be true if the needs of community service and the student's major are disparate. For example, if a community has a high percentage of senior citizens, the community might need volunteers in the public health field. In this case, students who major in STEM would not get an advantage of a working experience, and the community might not also get the help they really need. The university should survey that what kind of community service is demanded from the community and encourage certain students to do community service so that it satisfies both community and the students.
In summary, the author needs to reconsider the assumptions. In order to strengthen the argument, the author should survey the characteristic of each department and how the community service can satisfy both students and the community.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 2 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 4 2
No. of Sentences: 21 15
No. of Words: 382 350
No. of Characters: 2002 1500
No. of Different Words: 173 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.421 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.241 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.953 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 155 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 125 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 93 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 68 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 18.19 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 6.58 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.524 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.324 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.324 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.083 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 1 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 218, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...l be a minimum of 8 hours for 9 months. The author believes that the goal of any un...
^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, however, if, may, really, so, then, well, for example, in summary, kind of, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 11.0 19.6327345309 56% => More to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 20.0 12.9520958084 154% => OK
Conjunction : 14.0 11.1786427146 125% => OK
Relative clauses : 15.0 13.6137724551 110% => OK
Pronoun: 24.0 28.8173652695 83% => OK
Preposition: 44.0 55.5748502994 79% => OK
Nominalization: 14.0 16.3942115768 85% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2057.0 2260.96107784 91% => OK
No of words: 382.0 441.139720559 87% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.38481675393 5.12650576532 105% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.42095241839 4.56307096286 97% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.08111179786 2.78398813304 111% => OK
Unique words: 181.0 204.123752495 89% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.473821989529 0.468620217663 101% => OK
syllable_count: 640.8 705.55239521 91% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 4.96107784431 60% => OK
Article: 15.0 8.76447105788 171% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 2.70958083832 37% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 5.0 4.22255489022 118% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 21.0 19.7664670659 106% => OK
Sentence length: 18.0 22.8473053892 79% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 40.7838725851 57.8364921388 71% => OK
Chars per sentence: 97.9523809524 119.503703932 82% => OK
Words per sentence: 18.1904761905 23.324526521 78% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.28571428571 5.70786347227 93% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 5.15768463074 78% => More paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 8.20758483034 97% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 2.0 6.88822355289 29% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 11.0 4.67664670659 235% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.30057868498 0.218282227539 138% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0910342504662 0.0743258471296 122% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0963392042375 0.0701772020484 137% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.184033358564 0.128457276422 143% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.103646991998 0.0628817314937 165% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.0 14.3799401198 90% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 44.75 48.3550499002 93% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 12.197005988 94% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.92 12.5979740519 110% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.21 8.32208582834 99% => OK
difficult_words: 89.0 98.500998004 90% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.5 12.3882235529 69% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.2 11.1389221557 83% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.9071856287 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.