Argument Essay 5- The following appeared in an editorial in the Bayside Sentinel

"Bayside citizens need to consider raising local taxes if they want to see improvements in the bayside school district. Test scores graduation and college admission rates, and a number of other indicators have long made it clear that the Bayside School district is doing a poor job educating our youth. Our schools look run down. Windows are broken, bathrooms unusable, and classroom equipment hopelessly out of date. Yet just across the bay, in new harbor school facilities are up to date and in good condition. The difference in money, New Harbor spends twenty seven percent more per student than bayside does and test scores another and other indicators of student’s performance are stronger in New Harbor as well."

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 above states that due to the low taxes the school run down, therefore taxes need to be increased to make the condition of the school well off. Being pragmatic increasing expenditures on the school infrastructure is not the only indication of the better performance of the students, there is a list of indicator which influences their performance.

Firstly the author states the rundown of school was merely due to the low expenses incurred on school. Other than the maintained there are several factors which effect the operation of school. He did not mentioned any clue about the teaching staff, and their capacity which could also be a reason for the declining the admission rates along with poor educating youth. Moreover the grading criteria in both the schools have not been mentioned. The good grades in New Harbor may be due to easier exams and loose marking where as the bad grades can be due to the harder exams and tough marking by the teacher.

Secondly he has not mentioned any of the maintenance details of school building. It may be possible that the school was renovated a longer period before, thereafter it has not be furnished, due to which the school windows are broken, and bathrooms are unusable, provided the taxes were spend on some other aspects.  But this is again not a reasonable depiction of rundown of school, and having a poor job educating our youth along with poor admission rates.

Thirdly the author totally ignores the behavior of students towards studies. Might be the students are more interested in adventures and sport activities as compared to the studies, due to which there are no satisfactory grades. Moreover no information of the faculty has been mentioned, which usually has a higher impact on grades of students and admission rates. It is also pertinent that, increasing taxes can result in proper maintained of school infrastructure, but we cannot say, it would result strong performance of the students.

Some additional aspects, which the author has missed in the above statement is that, he did not mention the total size of school and the number of students.

The author unnecessarily compares two distant schools without any basis of similarity and coherence. New Harbor school has every facility and it’s up to date, as well as it spends twenty percent more per student than bayside, but it does not mentioned any similarity of location and social set up of the school location. May be the school has proper maintained on regular basis due to which the infrastructure is good. Only a twenty percent increase spending cannot be the only reason for the good grades. Social setup including the education levels of the parents of children in each school can play another important role in defining good grades and rising job education.

Conclusively, the author claims the above statement in the light of inefficient information, therefore more strong arguments and research is required to prove why the Harbor school is progressing more as compared to the bay school.

Argument Essay 4: The following is a letter that recently appeared in the Oak City Gazette, a local newspaper-Better Oak City

The following is a letter that recently appeared in the Oak City Gazette, a local newspaper.

"The primary function of the Committee for a Better Oak City is to advise the city government on how to make the best use of the city's limited budget. However, at some of our recent meetings we failed to make important decisions because of the foolish objections raised by committee members who are not even residents of Oak City. People who work in Oak City but who live elsewhere cannot fully understand the business and politics of the city. After all, only Oak City residents pay city taxes, and therefore only residents understand how that money could best be used to improve the city. We recommend, then, that the Committee for a Better Oak City vote to restrict its membership to city residents only. We predict that, without the interference of non-residents, the committee will be able to make Oak City a better place in which to live and work."

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

The letter which has appeared in the Oak City Gazette, a local newspaper is not recommendable on the following arguments.

First of all the author has mentioned that the committee for a Better Oak city fail to make important decisions due to objections of those members who are outside the Oak city. However there is no clue mentioned that what was the foolish argument which was suggested by the non-residents. Contrarily the suggestions which were given by the outsiders may not have been understand by the committee. May be the point of view given by the members who are not the residents of Oak City were achievable under specific circumstances, which Oak City lack due to which only few members called them foolish objections. However there is no specific reason given over here that why they are called foolish.

Secondly, the above statement shows rejection of diversity and it depicts a clear biasness. In order to make final decision one needs to take into consideration various suggestions, and point of views. The diversity of ideas can help to have a more reliable decision.

Third, if the non-residents of Oak City work there in there is no reason of proclaiming that they do not understand how to spend the money based on reason that they do not contribute to the income tax. This statement is clearly ambiguous here, since the non- residents although do not live in Oak City but they work there, which means that are contributing a high proportion of their incomes to the city’s economy. Additionally if they work there must be understanding of issue and organizational setup, which the author denies on unstated basis.

Conclusively, the statement given in the news paper is not properly supported, the author needs to provide enough reasoning in order to prove whether only resident members in the committee could give them better results or not. Moreover diversity of ideas is one of the paramount aspects which the author must take into consideration as well to have more realistic results. 

Issue Essay 3:True success can be measured primarily in terms of the goals one sets for oneself

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

Planning is one of the major aspects which would leads to success. Setting goals through proper planning plays an important role in leading an individual to the path of success.

Firstly, let me take example of the GRE, you will only be able to take GRE if you make proper plan and you set your goal. In this way you won’t be timorous about the losing the deadlines, as a result you will be able to take admission in your dream country. Conversely, if you don’t set a goal, you would fail to prepare your exam in time. Therefore proper planning and setting a goal is essential to score very good in exams.

Secondly, in order to be successful one need to set up short term as well as long term goals. In this respect, let me clarify example above. Suppose your long time term to be a world class economist. In order to be an economist you need to get admission in one of best universities in the world which offer best Economics Courses. In order to achieve the long term long you need to work hard, so that you can achieve your goal. For this long term you firstly need to fulfill the initial requirements to get into the university. Among which getting a good GRE score is one of them which are your short term goals. Successful achievement of short term goals would lead to the achievement of long term goal.

Additionally, in order to be successful one need to go through rigorous process, however it could be easier if you set up short term goals. So that, as long as you move step by step things get easier. Contrarily, if you get start with many things all long, they will mess up and finally you will not be able to get whatever you want.

Defining your goals means defining your home. Here defining your home does not mean your family and siblings, however it means to find what you love to do and to achieve. If you are unable to find what you love, and what you want to do, there is less probability of being successful. Because you will put your efforts in unnecessary things, and at the end you will not be able to define your future.

The above principle does not hold in some exceptional cases. For example, although Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook and internet entrepreneur planned to get a degree from Harvard University which we can classify as a short term goal but he was dropped out. Albeit he does not hold any degree; but he is the youngest billionaire and is successful person. Same case is with Steve Jobs again his goal was not to be dropped out, but due to unforeseen circumstances he was again drop out.  But still he is again billionaire and a very successful person. The above examples show that it is not a rule of thumb to have goals to be successful. Although we witness such cases, however on average we need to have pre-planning and to set goals in order to be successful, because every second person can be intelligent like Mark Zukerburg. in order to be successful.

Therefore we can say, setting goals can help one to be successful, but in some exceptional cases failure of setting and achieving goals does not mean to be unsuccessful however success can be defined in the long term. Initially you may be failed to get your short term goal but in the long term you can be successful. 

Issue Essay-2 Nations should pass laws to preserve any remaining wilderness areas in their natural state

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.

The author above states that nations should pass laws to preserve any remaining wilderness area in their nature, I widely agree with the author based on following arguments.

First of all natural state of environment is feasible for all kind of lives. Due to the natural tendency, people have access to neat and clean environment. The deforestation may cause danger to the lives of various species. Since last decade various species have been extinct, and there is immense need to preserve it.

Due to the natural beauty, various tourists attract towards country. We can take example of Asia, where tourists love to visit, due to its natural beauty. A huge inflow of tourists would help economies to earn enough foreign reserves, which help economies to build up. Contrarily if there is deforestation, tourists will not visit such places and thus there would be an opportunity cost.

Secondly, forestation helps to avoid floods and land erosion. The strong roots of the huge forests keep soil together through a robust bond, which combat land erosion. Alternatively, if there is deforestation, it would easily take away soil with meager rain falls, and it would cause floods.

Thirdly it is pertinent that albeit we need to have constructions in order to cope with the rising population, however the opportunity cost of the deforestation is far more. While considering the both sides of argument it is therefore very important for the nations to have laws to combat more destruction of nature and to preserve remaining wilderness.

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Argument Essay 3-Good Intentions Roadways Vs Appian Roadways

The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of a company that builds shopping malls around the country.

"The surface of a section of Route 101, paved just two years ago by Good Intentions Roadways, is now badly cracked with a number of dangerous potholes. In another part of the state, a section of Route 40, paved by Appian Roadways more than four years ago, is still in good condition. In a demonstration of their continuing commitment to quality, Appian Roadways recently purchased state-of-the-art paving machinery and hired a new quality-control manager. Therefore, I recommend hiring Appian Roadways to construct the access roads for all our new shopping malls. I predict that our Appian access roads will not have to be repaired for at least four years."

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

The statement appeared in a memo from the vice president, claims since Route 101 has been established only two years back by Good Intentions Roadways, is badly cracked where as Route 40 which has been established four years back by Appian Roadways but still in a good condition, therefore all of us should recommend Appian Roadways for all the new constructions, the above statement does not provide enough reason to accept the claim on the basis of following arguments.

First of all author has compared two routes irrespective of their locations and the volume of traffic flowing over them. There are many aspects which could cause dangerous holes on the surface. We cannot blame the constructing company only for its damages. The holes may be as a result of the heavy traffic which passes through Route 101, while there may be small volume of traffic on Route 40 build by Appoint Railway. Route 101 may be located nearby a industrial area due to which there is flow of trucks and lorries carrying huge amount of material and machineries or it may be possible that there is huge flow of public buses whole the day. Contrarily Route 40 may be located in an residential area where there is a small traffic of personal vehicles.

Secondly author stated that Route 101 has been damaged after a period of two years, which is a long period. If it had been damaged after few months we would have been blamed the Good Intentions Roadways not to be good in providing its services. Any natural disaster like flood may have resulted damage to route 101.

Third there is no evidence of the maintenance. Route 40 may have proper maintenance on regular basis, on the other hand there is no proper maintenance of Route 101, due to which the initial little damages have gone worst after a long period of two years.

Fourth, Moreover the author did not mentioned any of the other route which has been built by Good Intention Roadways, a single road is not a good of representative of all roads build by it , we need to have a sample out of roads built by Good Intentions Roadways.

The next point is the new quality manager hired by Appian Roadways may not be reliable because there is no evidence of better performance and efficiency. Neither his professional experience has been mentioned; he may be a fresh graduate, who is naïve in his experience. Moreover there is no evidence of work done by Appian Roadways after hiring of new manager and new technology, on the basis of which we can say it will be performing better in future as well.

One of the important points the author has missed is that, there may be other companies which would be performing far better than Appian Roadways, which could be hired for the construction of the road. There is no statistics of the various companies which must be performing in the country.

Thus it can evident that there is not enough reasoning given to believe whether the Appian Roadways must be hired for further construction of roads; therefore more research is required to prove whether Appian is one of the reliable Roadways to be recommended.

Argument Essay 2-Seaside Visa and Brindleburg

The following appeared in a memo from the mayor of Brindleburg to the city council.

"Two years ago, the town of Seaside Vista opened a new municipal golf course and resort hotel. Since then, the Seaside Vista Tourism Board has reported a 20% increase in visitors. In addition, local banks reported a steep rise in the number of new business loan applications they received this year. The amount of tax money collected by Seaside Vista has also increased, allowing the town to announce plans to improve Seaside Vista's roads and bridges. We recommend building a similar golf course and resort hotel in Brindleburg. We predict that this project will generate additional tax revenue that the city can use to fund much-needed public improvements."

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

The author claims that the establishment of gulf club and resort in Seaside Vista has resulted in public improvements therefore they should be also opened in Brindleburg to have public improvements, which is not a reliable claim based on the following arguments. Comparison of two on the basis no evident of similarity is not a good approach to claim to have the same improvements.

Starting from the first, the author mentions that there is an increase of 20% visitors which this is due to opening of golf course and resort hotel. We do not exactly know, what was the actual volume of the inflow of the tourists in figures? Mere percentage is not a good estimate of the how much was increased in actually. Contrarily if he had mentioned the original amount and we would have a good reason to claim it.

Secondly author mentions that there was a steep rise of the loan applications in the local banks there. However he did not mentioned the actual reason behind increase. It may be due to decreased interest rate as a result people started to investment more. Moreover it may be as a result of any subsidy provided to the citizens for a certain kind of investment due to which people are applying for loans. On the other hand it has not been mentioned that whether citizens in Brindleburg are business minded people or not.

Furthermore the author also claims that tax revenues have been increased in Seaside Vista. It can be as a result of changing tax brackets by the government, due to which total tax revenue has been increased. We do not have reason to claim it that increased in tax revenues is due to which opening of resort and gold club.

One of the important point which contradicts author’s claim is that he has not mentioned any where any similarity between two towns, climates, whether conditions, and geography. May be the climate in Brindleburg is too cold or too hot, due to which visitors rarely visit it. It is neither mentioned whether both of the town are located which is feasible for visitors.

Conclusively, on the basis of insufficient information we cannot claim that building gold club and resorts will generate additional revenues to use them as a fund for public improvements, the author is required to provide more detailed information.