""The most hopeful sign is that nearly 40 percent of the teachers who got off to a poor start managed to improve, thanks to extra help. Some who started out as poor performers were rated as “strong” or “effective” by year’s end. This shows that good teaching can indeed be taught, and that with genuine effort school systems can upgrade the teacher corps in a fairly short period of time.""
P1: Nearly 40% of teachers who got off to poor start [teaching] managed to improve, thanks to extra help.
P2: Some who started out as poor were rated as "strong" or "effective" by the year's end.
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C: Good teaching can indeed be taught.
This article was an editorial from the New York Times on a New Haven's school district attempt to critique and constructively criticize their staff. These evaluations were done by district officials to keep the strong teachers sharp and the weaker ones either out or improved by the end of the year. I thought that despite of the statistic in the first premise, since there was no other to build on, that this was a strong and cogent inductive argument. The article explains that of all the teachers evaluated, the ones in danger of loosing their jobs were notified, and nearly half of them improved to be much more effective.
"New Haven's Teacher Improvement Plan." Www.nytimes.com. 25 Sept. 2011. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com>.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
L&CR: Argument Analysis
"Unemployment has been stuck around 9 percent for more than two years. Business is treading water. Families have less cash to spend. Markets are in turmoil. All our old anxieties have us by the throat again: the American Dream is dead; the middle class is disappearing; our children won’t live as well as we do. "
P1: Unemployment has been stuck around 9 percent for more than two years.
P2: [Because of this same recession] Business is treading water.
P3: [Because of unemployment rates] Families have less cash to spend. [widening the upper & lower class rift]
C1: The middle class is disappearing.
This was an excerpt from an editorial in the New York Times written by Sylvia Nasar (9-17-2011) discussing the ways the public views John Maynard Keynes (pioneer in macro economics). While certain parts of the article do appear to be either opinionated or a statement of belief, she includes certain facts that cannot be disputed (P1), and forms her statements by at least claiming them to be true, therefore making them premises. These premises I included would differ from the other parts of the paragraph, such as "the American Dream," and how markets are in "turmoil," because I felt these were more opinionated points and subjective to the eyes of the beholder, and only thrown in to make the writers message more pertinent. For this reason I would say this is a somewhat strong, inductive argument, although more likely to be uncogent.
Nasar, Sylvia. "Keynes: The Sunny Economist." Www.nytimes.com. The New York Times Company, 17 Sept. 2011. Web. 18 Sept. 2011. < http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/opinion/sunday/john-maynard-keynes-his-sunny-optimism-shaped-economists-approach-to-depression.html?ref=opinion >
P1: Unemployment has been stuck around 9 percent for more than two years.
P2: [Because of this same recession] Business is treading water.
P3: [Because of unemployment rates] Families have less cash to spend. [widening the upper & lower class rift]
C1: The middle class is disappearing.
This was an excerpt from an editorial in the New York Times written by Sylvia Nasar (9-17-2011) discussing the ways the public views John Maynard Keynes (pioneer in macro economics). While certain parts of the article do appear to be either opinionated or a statement of belief, she includes certain facts that cannot be disputed (P1), and forms her statements by at least claiming them to be true, therefore making them premises. These premises I included would differ from the other parts of the paragraph, such as "the American Dream," and how markets are in "turmoil," because I felt these were more opinionated points and subjective to the eyes of the beholder, and only thrown in to make the writers message more pertinent. For this reason I would say this is a somewhat strong, inductive argument, although more likely to be uncogent.
Nasar, Sylvia. "Keynes: The Sunny Economist." Www.nytimes.com. The New York Times Company, 17 Sept. 2011. Web. 18 Sept. 2011. < http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/opinion/sunday/john-maynard-keynes-his-sunny-optimism-shaped-economists-approach-to-depression.html?ref=opinion >
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