ARGUMENT: Several charitable organizations in Pleasantville provide opportunities for teenagers to engage in community service. These organizations have a great need for volunteers, but in recent years, the number of teenage volunteers has significantly d

The argument may look logical and plausible at the first glance. However, a careful study of the matter exposes various flaws which the author has overlooked thus questioning its credibility. The argument also lacks certain vital point essential to strengthen it.

Words like ‘several’ and ‘recent years’ can be quite misguiding and thus deceiving. The argument claims that several charitable organizations in the locality provide opportunity for the teenagers to engage in community services. Several can be any number of organizations; it could be half the number of organizations, the entire number of organizations, etc. Analogous to this is the word ‘recent’. Recent years could be five years, four years, two to three years, etc. The organization might have the realized the need for volunteers off late. Thus not providing the exact date makes the argument specious.

The argument does not state any concrete reasons behind the decline in the number of teenage volunteers up for community service. It could be that the teenage children who would initially volunteer must have completed their school and the need for new volunteers hasn’t been publically announced. Also there could be a possibility that the number and types of community services carried out by the trust must have declined in the past few years and all of a sudden a need has must have arised. The charitable trusts could also be the reason behind the decline in man power. Due to the above possibilities, the actual reason behind the decline can be of anyone’s guess.

The Pleasantville School Board has taken a measure to increase the number of volunteers. It has been decided that programs such has completion of minimum 40 hours of community service be completed before graduation. On one side the teachers, parents and other community members agree that it is important for young people to “learn” the importance of community service and also that it would help them in understanding its importance, however, on the other hand they decide to take such “forceful measures”. An increase in the number of volunteers could be easily achieved by inculcating a sense of social responsibility among the students rather than making such voluntary activities mandatory. This will not only solve the present issue, but also avoid the occurrence of similar situations in near future.

Thus, due to the overstated flaws, the argument seems to be ill-founded. However, had the author mentioned the above points then the argument would have been infallible. But as of now the authenticity of the argument falls flat due to the data provided.