While the Department of Education in the state of Attra recommends that high school students be assigned homework every day, the data from a recent statewide survey of high school math and science teachers give us reason to question the usefulness of daily homework. In the district of Sanlee, 86 percent of the teachers reported assigning homework three to five times a week, whereas in the district of Marlee, less than 25 percent of the teachers reported assigning homework three to five times a week. Yet the students in Marlee earn better grades overall and are less likely to be required to repeat a year of school than are the students in Sanlee. Therefore, all teachers in our high schools should assign homework no more than twice a week.
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 author of the text argues that all teachers in our high school should assign homework no more than twice a week. This is based on a study conducted by the Department of Education in the state of Attra regarding usefullness of daily homework. The argument of the writer may hold water if, he is able to answer, the following 3 questions based on his assumptions.
Firstly, Is the study conducted scientifically and its methodology rests on sound reason? It may be the case that the teachers who were surveyed made up only a small sample size and the sample was not represntative the whole cohort of teachers. For instance, if only 10 teachers were surveyed from every school, it wouldn’t be a large enough sample size to draw a sound conclusion from. As the study did not take include all teachers of all subjects, it is not a good indicator for the overall performance. The author only talks about data bracket of 3-5 times per week, he does not talk about homework equal to or less than 1 time a week nor more than 5 times a week. This is a flawed way of using selective data for intepretation. He also only talks about 2 districts in the whole state. If any of the assumptions is true, then the argument is weakened.
Secondly, How compartive are the students studying in various schools of the state? There are other factors that can impact students performance in school. It can the case that a school has students from affluent families with a lot more resources at their disposal as compared to schools with students from not so affluent or poor homes with a lot responsibilty at their own homes. If above is true, than the argument is significantly weakened.
Lastly, Are tests and circulum on which students are given grades comparable or equal in all aspects? Maybe, a school with lower grade was testing its students on a more rigourous circulum with more difficult tests leading to lower grades. In some school there could be more focus on extra circulaurs and sports which may be leading to lower scores in science and maths. If any of the scenarios is true, then the argument is severly hampered.
In conclusion, the author’s argument is flawed because of its reliance on a number of unwarranted assumpotions.The assumption can be tested for its validity if the writer is able to provide answers for the 3 questions asked with evidence(perhaps in form of a systematic study).
Comments
Essay evaluation report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.0 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 20 15
No. of Words: 422 350
No. of Characters: 1931 1500
No. of Different Words: 205 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.532 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.576 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.663 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 122 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 91 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 74 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 36 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 21.1 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 10.024 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.7 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.288 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.5 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.091 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 259, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...fullness of daily homework. The argument of the writer may hold water if, he is a...
^^
Line 3, column 430, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...m. As the study did not take include all teachers of all subjects, it is not a go...
^^
Line 5, column 402, Rule ID: COMMA_THAN[1]
Message: Did you mean 'then'?
Suggestion: then
...y at their own homes. If above is true, than the argument is significantly weakened....
^^^^
Line 7, column 322, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...on extra circulaurs and sports which may be leading to lower scores in science an...
^^
Line 7, column 445, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... then the argument is severly hampered. In conclusion, the author's argumen...
^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 117, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: The
...on a number of unwarranted assumpotions.The assumption can be tested for its validi...
^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, first, firstly, if, lastly, may, regarding, second, secondly, so, then, for instance, in conclusion
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 26.0 19.6327345309 132% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 8.0 12.9520958084 62% => OK
Conjunction : 9.0 11.1786427146 81% => OK
Relative clauses : 7.0 13.6137724551 51% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 21.0 28.8173652695 73% => OK
Preposition: 58.0 55.5748502994 104% => OK
Nominalization: 14.0 16.3942115768 85% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1992.0 2260.96107784 88% => OK
No of words: 420.0 441.139720559 95% => OK
Chars per words: 4.74285714286 5.12650576532 93% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.52701905584 4.56307096286 99% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.81787600332 2.78398813304 101% => OK
Unique words: 210.0 204.123752495 103% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.5 0.468620217663 107% => OK
syllable_count: 618.3 705.55239521 88% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 4.96107784431 181% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.76447105788 80% => OK
Subordination: 6.0 2.70958083832 221% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 20.0 19.7664670659 101% => OK
Sentence length: 21.0 22.8473053892 92% => OK
Sentence length SD: 55.6982944084 57.8364921388 96% => OK
Chars per sentence: 99.6 119.503703932 83% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.0 23.324526521 90% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.25 5.70786347227 92% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 6.0 5.25449101796 114% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 1.0 8.20758483034 12% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 6.88822355289 131% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 10.0 4.67664670659 214% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.245639724808 0.218282227539 113% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0674019389201 0.0743258471296 91% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.057632513155 0.0701772020484 82% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.12384001859 0.128457276422 96% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0595135520674 0.0628817314937 95% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.4 14.3799401198 79% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 58.62 48.3550499002 121% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 12.197005988 84% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 10.21 12.5979740519 81% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.14 8.32208582834 98% => OK
difficult_words: 92.0 98.500998004 93% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 12.3882235529 89% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 11.1389221557 93% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.9071856287 92% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 58.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.5 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.