Self-study
Dean: The mathematics department at our university has said that it should be given sole responsibility for teaching the course Statistics for the Social Sciences. ███ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ███████████ ██ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ███████ █████ ███ ████ ████ █ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ █ ███████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ █ ██████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ████ █ ██████████ ███████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ████████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The author concludes that the math department’s demand to be given sole responsibility for teaching Statistics for the Social Sciences is unjustified. This is based on the claim that the fact a course has math in it does not mean that it must be taught by a math professor.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author overlooks the possibility that there are other reasons the math department should be given responsibility for teaching the course beyond the fact that there is math in it. Although math being in a course is not enough by itself to justify having a math professor teach the class, there might be additional reasons that would justify the math department’s demand.
25.
The dean's argument is most ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██
a
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ █████████ ██ █ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ████
The argument doesn’t involve the quality of teaching. Whether one teaches a subject well or not isn’t related to the premise or the conclusion.
b
purports to refute █ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████████████
The author tries to refute the math department’s view that it should teach the class by showing that one possible reason for that view — the fact that the class has math — is inadequate. This is flawed because there could be other reasons supporting the math department’s view.
c
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ██ █████████████ █████ ███████████ ██ ████ ███ █████ ███████
History is referenced to show that the fact a class has math doesn’t mean it needs to be taught by a math prof. We wouldn’t think a history prof. needs to teach a class just because it has history. What students know about math/history is unrelated to this line of reasoning.
d
fails to establish ████ ███████████ ██████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ███ ███ ██████ ████████ ███████████
The author doesn’t need to show that math profs can’t teach the class effectively. The author’s position is that they don’t need to have sole responsibility for teaching it. Maybe they can be effective, and others can be effective as well, and others should also teach the class.
e
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ███ ████████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███████
The author doesn’t cite to any history “policy.” The reference to history is merely to illustrate the principle that the fact a class involves a particular subject doesn’t mean only profs from that subject’s department must teach the class. There’s no history “policy” referenced.