essay - GMAT: Argument 14

The following appeared as part of a newspaper editorial:

"Two years ago Nova High School began to use interactive computer instruction in three academic subjects. The school dropout rate declined immediately, and last year's graduates have reported some impressive achievements in college. In future budgets the school board should use a greater portion of the available funds to buy more computers, and all schools in the district should adopt interactive computer instruction throughout the curriculum."

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:
The author concludes that the school which began interactive computer instruction two years ago should buy more computers and all schools in the district should adopt this system by citing two data: a decline of the dropout rate and reports of last year's graduates. Due to the following two reasons, however, the argument is unconvincing.

First, although the author tries to show a causal relationship between the introduction of the interaction computer instruction and the school's dropout rate by using the word, "immediately", he fails to show a direct causal relationship. Since the school dropout rate can be improved by various other factors like improvement of quality of teachers or psycological phenomenon, we cannot judge whether the down of dropout rate was due to the interactive computer instruction without a direct causal relationship, like some reports from students who though to drop out but had second thought owning the program. Therefore, the argument which appeals the benefit of the program fails to be convincing.

Second, though this is simular to the previous flaw, the author fails to show a direct causal relationship between the program and reports of some graduates' impressive achievements. We cannot connect an achievement in the leadership area or in volunteer work with the interactive computer instruction, because we don't think that the program gave the student some merit in such areas. Therefore, the author should show the direct causal relationship. Otherwise, at least, the author should indicate what subjects were held with interactive computer instruction.

In conclusion, due to two lacks of a causal relationship, the author fails to make the argument convincing. If the author includes the information, the suggestion, more computers and program enhancement to other schools, can be persuasive.