While the Department of Education in the state of Attra suggests 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, we recommend that all teachers in our high schools should assign homework no more than twice a week.
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
The author recommends that homework should not be assigned more than twice a week in the high schools of the state Attra based on the findings from a statewide survey which shows that students in the district of Marlee who were given less home work earn better grades overall than the students in the district of Sanlee who were given more homework. The argument, though convincing at first glance, upon on further contemplation, necessitates answers to the following questions in order to be properly evaluated.
Firstly, are the teaching methodologies in the districts of Sanlee and Marlee similar? In other words, can the findings from one district be used as a generalization for the rest of the districts? It is possible that the teaching methodologies in the two districts are markedly different - perhaps the teaching style in the district of Marlee is more practical oriented whereas the teachingy style in the district of Sanlee is more theory oriented and hence, the students of Marlee are able to perform better in the exams. Further, the student-teacher ratio might be very less in Marlee as compared to that of Sanlee and consequently, the teachers in Marlee are able to provide quality education to the students. If either of the above scenarios have merit, then the author's argument is significantly weakened.
Secondly, are the students in the district of Sanlee doing the homework that is assingned to them diligently? There is a possibility that the students, though they are assigned the homework, come to the class without even trying to complete it. Homework is assigned by the teachers so that the students will have a reason to go through the lessons taught in the class and make an effort to complete the homework. This way, the teachers can bolster the concepts that are taught to them in the class and improve memory retention. However, if the reality is such that the students, no matter how strident the teachers are, do not even open the books to do the homework, then the teachers' efforts are sure to become futile no matter what. If this turns out to be true, then the author's assertion that homework does not help in improving grades does not hold water.
Finally, is the homework being made to be worked out by the students in the class itself in the district of Marlee? It is often the case that the teachers ask the students to work on the homework in their presence itself. This way, teachers are by the side of the students to quickly come to the rescue of the students if and when they fumble with something. Even this kind of teaching is beneficial for the students as it ensures that the students are working on the homework and also serves to better learning simultaneously. The above scenario can siginificantly weaken the author's recommendation in case it has any merit.
Therefore, the argument, as it stands now, is unpersuasive for its does not provide answers to any of the questions posed above. If the author can provide answers to the above questions, perhaps in the form of systematic study, one would be in a better position to evaluate the author's reocmmendation.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 2.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 5 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 7 2
No. of Sentences: 20 15
No. of Words: 533 350
No. of Characters: 2537 1500
No. of Different Words: 220 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.805 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.76 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.672 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 185 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 140 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 111 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 39 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 26.65 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 12.084 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.75 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.354 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.553 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.128 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 4, column 768, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...he above scenarios have merit, then the authors argument is significantly weakened. ...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 775, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
... If this turns out to be true, then the authors assertion that homework does not help i...
^^^^^^^
Line 10, column 578, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
... scenario can siginificantly weaken the authors recommendation in case it has any merit...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, consequently, finally, first, firstly, hence, however, if, second, secondly, so, then, therefore, whereas, kind of, in other words
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 33.0 19.6327345309 168% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 8.0 12.9520958084 62% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 11.1786427146 63% => OK
Relative clauses : 16.0 13.6137724551 118% => OK
Pronoun: 30.0 28.8173652695 104% => OK
Preposition: 82.0 55.5748502994 148% => OK
Nominalization: 12.0 16.3942115768 73% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2603.0 2260.96107784 115% => OK
No of words: 533.0 441.139720559 121% => OK
Chars per words: 4.88367729831 5.12650576532 95% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.80487177365 4.56307096286 105% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.75446267433 2.78398813304 99% => OK
Unique words: 227.0 204.123752495 111% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.425891181989 0.468620217663 91% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 801.9 705.55239521 114% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 4.96107784431 81% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.76447105788 91% => OK
Subordination: 7.0 2.70958083832 258% => 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: 26.0 22.8473053892 114% => OK
Sentence length SD: 68.8747232299 57.8364921388 119% => OK
Chars per sentence: 130.15 119.503703932 109% => OK
Words per sentence: 26.65 23.324526521 114% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.8 5.70786347227 119% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 5.25449101796 57% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 7.0 8.20758483034 85% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 6.88822355289 58% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 9.0 4.67664670659 192% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.202327353453 0.218282227539 93% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0593344385028 0.0743258471296 80% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0507544450679 0.0701772020484 72% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.109949204373 0.128457276422 86% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0608504233891 0.0628817314937 97% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.9 14.3799401198 104% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 53.55 48.3550499002 111% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.3 12.197005988 101% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.32 12.5979740519 90% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.95 8.32208582834 96% => OK
difficult_words: 102.0 98.500998004 104% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 18.0 12.3882235529 145% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.4 11.1389221557 111% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 66.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4 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.