Argument analysis The purpose of higher education is to prepare students for the future but classen students are at a serious disadvantage in the competition for post college employment due to the university s burdensome breadth requirements classen s

The petition put forward by the students, although seems plausible at first, lacks sound reasoning and is composed of hollow arguments with no statistics or evidence to support the claims.

The first flaw in the argument made in the petition is the correlation made between breadth requirements of the university and lower employment rate without any supporting evidence. The petitioner claims that because of the breadth requirements of the university, students are not able to take up courses in their relevant specialty, this, in turn, affects the likelihood of them getting jobs. This is not true. There can be many other reasons as to why the employment rate is low for the Classen University. Classen University itself might not be a top ranked university, it might not have modern technology and latest facilities that their contemporary universities might have. Teaching standard and qualified faculty might be lacking. It is possible that students of the university themselves are not that brilliant, hard working and skilled. There can be numerous other factors. The point is that linking breadth requirements to low job placements without evidence is far fetched.

Secondly, the petitioner compares Classen University job placement with other top ranked universities' job placement. In doing so he assumes that other factors governing job placement are constant. That is, there can be no other reason, except breadth requirements, that can result in mismatched job placement percentages. This is absurd. It is possible that the top ranked schools the petitioner is talking about are more prestigious than Classen University and have produced highly qualified personnel in the past thus maintaining their stature. Whereas, Classen University might not have such a great history of producing top class professionals. Moreover, the geographical placement of universities also affect job placements. A university in Silicon Valley will obviously have a higher job placement than a university located in a rural area despite both universities having equal stature.

Thirdly, the petitioner also assumes that the problem of lower job placement is because the graduates lack training in specialist courses. This claim is also made without any proof or supporting data. Had the petitioner included some data about the feedback of industries mentioning the problem with Classen University students that indicated the issue, his argument would have made sense.

In conclusion, I would say that linking breadth requirements to job placements is a long shot and that too without evidence. comparing top ranked schools to Classen university without considering other factors governing the difference in job placements statistics is incorrect and on the petitioner's part and so his argument is not at all sound.