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 i

The argument claims that since two years, Nova High School is using computer instruction in three of its academic subjects. And because of this interactive computer instruction the dropout rate of the Nova High School has declined. In addition to this, the author stated that many students who graduated last year have achieved achievements in college. Moreover, the statement claims that in future, the school board should use a greater amount of its funds in buying more computers and states each and every school in that district should come up with interactive computer instructions in their curriculum in order to achieve success of their students. This argument manipulates the facts and conveys a distorted view of the situation. The conclusion of the argument relies on unconvincing assumptions. Hence, the argument is weak and has several flaws.

Firstly, the argument readily assumes that using of interactive computer instruction in three subjects is responsible for the decline of the school dropout rate and for the achievements of graduates. Decline in the dropout rate must be due to many other factors which the author had failed to mention. It might b possible that in the past two years the Nova High school has hired teachers with good experience and knowledge. And because of which there has been a decline in the dropout rate. Another reason could be the increase in the class hours of students which helped in the decrease of the dropout rate.

Furthermore, another flaw in the argument is that the author failed to mention the details about the other subjects. He only mentioned that there was introduction of computers sessions only in the three subjects. The dropout rate declined and this could not be only because of three subjects. Good performance in all the subjects can only help in decline of the dropout rate. Therefore, it can be easily concluded that computer instruction is not the reason behind the success of the school. Additionally, the argument also claims that last year many graduates gained achievements only because of the introduction of computer sessions. The author had not given any facts or evidences which were sufficient to claim that the achievements were because of computers. The achievements could have been in the field of sports or other curricular activity and hence the usage of computer might not be the reason of their achievements.

Secondly, the argument claims that in future, the school should spend greater amount in buying of computers and introducing computer programs which would help the schools to achieve success. If all the schools start spending more amounts of their funds in computers, then the staff as well as the student will focus only on computer related activities. This is clearly not effective for students as they tend to get attracted towards computer. There is a possibility of the students getting lazy and they also might not concentrate on extracurricular activities. There are many activities and programs in the schools like quiz, sports, arts etc where the school funding is needed, which would help the school in achieving success.

In conclusion, the argument is flawed due to the above-mentioned reasons and hence is unconvincing. It could have been considerably strengthened if the author would have clearly mentioned all the relevant facts relating to the High School programs. In order to assess the merits of a certain situation, it is essential to have full knowledge about all the contributing factors. Unfortunately, without much information the argument remains unsubstantiated and open to debate.