Interpreting and Evaluating Arguments

February 24, 2016 allensblogblogLeave a comment

Toulmin states that three parts-the claim, the support, and the warrant- are essential to just about all arguments
the 6 steps of the Toulmin Model are:
- Claim
- Grounds
- Warrant
- Backing
- Rebuttal/Reservation
- Qualification
there are also three other key part to an argument and they are:
- Assumptions
- Counter-examples/Counter-arguments
- Implications
the model is very simple, but each part of it can be expanded upon to thoroughly discuss arguments in detail
after the Toulmin Model is used to establish a common vocabulary for identifying parts of an argument, we can begin to evaluate the different parts of an argument
warrants are chains of reasoning that connect the claim and evidence/reason
there are 6 common chains of reasoning via which the relationship between evidence and claim is often established (GASCAP)
- Generalization
- Analogy
- Sign
- Causality
- Authority
- Principle
a claim is basically the main point of an argument (thesis)
support consists of the evidence, reasons, examples, experience, data, quotations, reports, testimony, statistics etc. that underwrites the claim
argument based on generalization- to evaluate a generalization we need to determine the scope of the generalization
argument via sign/clue- the notion that certain types of evidence are symptomatic of some wider principle or outcome
casual argument- arguing that a given occurrence or event is the result of, or is effected by, factor X
casual reasoning is the most complex of the different forms of warrant
argument from principle- locating a principle that is widely regarded as valid and showing that a situation exists in which this principle applies
other important considerations are:
- assumptions that underlie an argument
- implications that follow from it
- susceptibility to counterexamples
assumptions are fundamental, taken for granted ways of viewing the world
it is often very hard to identify assumptions. they are in the air we breathe
very often major assumptions are unconscious
identifying assumptions
1. try to find significant absences or gaps in an argument
2. try to ‘denaturalize’ what is taken for granted in an argument
3. look carefully at the major categories, definitions, and concepts that an argument uses
4. search for significant counterexamples/objections
implications consist of what follows or can be inferred from an argument or set of assumptions

Essay #1 Final

February 22, 2016February 22, 2016 allensblogblogLeave a comment

Allen Al-Rayes

Professor Werry

RWS 200

22 February 2016

The Struggle for Education

Not everyone is as fortunate in life as others. Not everyone grows up in a wealthy family, with a big house, nice things, and a good education that is affordable. For those of us that struggle through life and can’t afford to go to college or don’t have the time for it, life is hard. Traditional colleges make it difficult for certain people to get their education, so when an opportunity comes up for those less fortunate people to get a degree, you better believe they will take it. That’s what for-profit colleges are here for. They make it easy for the lower class and working class people to get an education, by providing them with a college that provides online classes, flexible scheduling, and easy access, usually right off a freeway. Now I know this may sound like a dream come true, but there is definitely some downside. The biggest problem with this, what seems to be, perfect school is that it is more expensive than most traditional colleges. This leads to many problems. Another huge problem is most of the time the degree received from these colleges is worth close to nothing. There are many questions that are unanswered about the legitimacy of these colleges and that is what Kevin Carey attempts to show us in his article, “Why Do You Think They’re Called For-Profit Colleges?” Carey covers, basically, every point made about these colleges, both positive and negative. Carey does a really good job of covering the bad of the for-profits but he also talks about the good and beneficial parts of these colleges. Carey’s main argument is that, although many problems arise with these for-profit colleges, its not all perfect on the other side with “traditional” universities either and for-profits play a huge role in higher education to give those less fortunate a chance to succeed as well. Carey uses the method of extending an argument to agree with all the critics negativity about for-profit colleges and just convenient and helpful they are to there lower class students, but along with that Carey speaks on the behalf of for-profits because he definitely sees some upside to them. Carey is arguably the best higher education analyst and writer out there, and is referred to as “one of the sharpest higher education experts out there”, by the New York Times Washington bureau chief, and, also, as “the best higher education writer in the country”, by a Washington Post education writer. Carey serves as the Director of the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation as an American higher education writer and policy analyst. In this paper I am going to set out to explain Carey’s main claims towards the problems brought up by for-profit colleges, the upside and potential that these schools have, and, as well as, some of the false assumptions people make towards these for-profit colleges. To explain these claims that Carey makes I will be using examples from his text, certain rhetorical strategies that Carey uses, and an outside source to help support my arguments.

Carey makes many strong claims about for-profit colleges and their abusive style of business. Yes, business not education. In the College Inc. documentary we watched Michael Clifford a renowned entrepreneur, who takes dying colleges and turns them into money making for-profit colleges, makes a statement that basically says if you cant afford college well now it’s a business and for those wealthy enough to afford it, it’s a benefit. People like Clifford absolutely disgust me. When you put money above another persons education that is just selfish. There are other ways to make money, like going to college and receiving a respectable education, instead of scamming people into meaningless degrees. Education should never be about the business, it is for the betterment of the world and individuals. Carey makes a great claim early on in his text in reference to the loans and debts that trouble students of these for-profit colleges. Carey writes, “A quarter of all federal aid goes to for-profits, while they enroll only 10 percent of students. Unfortunately, a large and growing number of graduates of for-profit colleges are having trouble paying those loans back,” (47). Carey makes a powerful claim here with the statistical numbers he gives us. According to Carey, these for-profits are taking billions and billions of dollars from Pell Grants to give out to students who can’t afford to pay them back in a timely manner. All this aid and loans going out to these lower class students, who already struggle to get by as it is, and the result is defaults and struggles to pay back the loans. Recruiters were even put on blast for their abusive antics in reeling in students to take out loans and get them to take large amounts of loans at that. As Carey uses logos to help us understand the situation, with numbers for the number of students enrolled in these colleges and the amounts of loans that go out to them. It is just so bad when these recruiters know that these people most likely wont be able to afford paying back their loans and that the degrees they will be receiving will be close to nothing but yet they still convince them to take out huge loans. This is a terrible act of humanity and a great claim for just how bad these schools are with their actions. Carey dumbs it down a little more making a claim about how ridiculous the loans and the attacking recruiters are. Carey makes this claim by saying, “You don’t need a college degree to know that large debt plus small income equals high risk of default,” (48). Here Carey uses cause and effect and commonplaces as rhetorical strategies. It doesn’t need to be said, it should already be known. People with not a lot of money cant afford something that requires a lot of money. Carey makes it clear just how plain and simple it is. He makes this claim in reference to the astounding loans that go out to students of for-profits. Here you have manipulative for-profit colleges giving poor people huge loans and making it seem like everything is just fine, but really the outcome is defaults, and lots of them. You just can’t expect a low-income person could afford large loans, especially when the degree they receive at the end of it all is worth close to nothing. Carey strengthens his argument with these claims because it calls out these for-profit colleges and shows what their true intentions are. These colleges set out to make money and provide worthless degrees to people. It is just not fair for people to be manipulated into things that in the long run will destroy their future, but when these colleges make it easy to receive a loan, get in to the school and flexible scheduling, its hard for someone in a tough financial and educational situation to say no and that’s when these colleges just abuse their powers and use all the peoples struggles to their advantages.

With all the bad and deceiving side of these schools, there is definitely some upside to these schools, if used properly. For-profit colleges aren’t all that bad because they have potential. The idea is great but very inefficient. Their needs to be a better way but there is definitely upside to these colleges. Carey now takes us a different route with the argument, because he starts off with the bad of the for-profits, only to take that into the good parts and uses of for-profits. Carey really tries to play both sides of the game without sounding hypocritical, when he says, “For-profits exist in large part to fix educational market failures left by traditional institutions, and they provide by serving students that public and private nonprofit institutions too often ignore,” (49). Most schools tend to not give certain people chances for one reason or another, so a lot of people are left without education and no way of receiving it due to certain circumstances, but that’s where these for-profit colleges play a huge role. They give the less fortunate a chance and an easy chance at that. They work around people’s schedules and also are very convenient in location. Clifford, as bad as he sounds, does try to make good happen. He goes out and saves failing colleges, something no one else would do, just to help those less fortunate receive an education, which in the documentary, College Inc., he claims is the path to world peace. When you have to juggle around a family, work, and education its very difficult with the way traditional colleges are set up, but when you can work evenings after work because the for-profit school is right off the freeway and allows for flexibility. Another plus side to for-profits that Carey makes a claim about is the appeal level of for-profit colleges. Carey says, “For-profits fill a void left by traditional institutions that once believed their world was constant. Fast-developing methods of teaching students over the Internet have given the velocity of change a turbo boost,” (49). Carey does a good job of showing us what benefits these for-profits have. They are growing due to how innovative they are. Carey explains how these for-profits can help a wide range of people due to its online style of classing. He explains how this plays a big role in the expansion of for-profits and that some people you are unexpected to make their way, will. The upper hand that these for-profit colleges have is once again convenience. Most people hate having to walk into a classroom and sit there listening to a mundane teacher lecture all day, but when you provide students with online classes that is very smart and helpful for some. For-profit colleges are making technological advancements for sure and have provided students with the easiest possible path to a degree. The online classes are definitely a huge upside because most people are struggling to get there normal routine done for the day and being forced to sit in a class at a specific time just doesn’t work out. That’s why the for-profit colleges teaching through the Internet situation is a very good one giving for-profits a very good shot this year. As stated above, Carey tries to show the better side of the “terrible” for-profit colleges.

As bad as for-profits are made out to be and as well as Carey tries to defend them, there is still a lot of open questions with random assumptions being made. Carey does a really nice job with making a claim about the false accusations people make. Carey writes, “Traditional institutions tend to respond to such ventures by indicting the quality of for-profit degrees. The trouble is, they have very little evidence beyond the real issue of default rates to prove it,” (49). As much as traditional colleges want to belittle for-profits for there lack of credibility for the degrees they handout, they really cant and simply due to lack of evidence. One cant try to put down another organization when they cant even prove that they, themselves, are better than the for-profits and Carey says it really well, “All true-and just as true when the words ‘for profit’ are removed,” (49). Here Carey uses the method of comparing and contrasting of the two colleges, for-profit and traditional. When neither can provide numbers of default rates to compare who is best, it is very difficult to hate on one and not the other. A lot of people just think negatively of for-profits, but Carey truly brings out the upside of them and shows us the incompetence of some people who like to hate on for-profits, without truly knowing any factual things about them. Of all of Carey’s arguments this had to be the weakest one because it left too much open space and room for questions. End of the day, we cant really talk down on something that doesn’t have factual proof to help support our argument.

All in all, Carey writes a very, well-structured and strong statement against and in support of for-profit colleges. Carey had many strong claims to help support his viewpoints. The topic of for-profit schools and if they are legitimate or not is a tough one. My original argument was that Carey made strong claims to back up his defense of for-profit colleges and also roast on them. This is a very big deal to know because these for-profit colleges are definitely on the rise and we have to be smart about them. The writing of this paper has definitely helped me think more widely about this topic because of certain claims made by Carey, but for me I still have a strong viewpoint against these for-profit colleges and I felt that of the claims that Carey makes, the ones that were against for-profit colleges were probably his stronger claims and were backed up with better evidence and rhetorical strategies.

Essay #1

February 17, 2016 allensblogblogLeave a comment

Allen Al-Rayes

Professor Werry

RWS 200

15 February 2016

The Struggle for Education

Not everyone is as fortunate in life as others. Not everyone grows up in a wealthy family, with a big house, nice things, and a good education that is affordable. For those of us that struggle through life and can’t afford to go to college or don’t have the time for it, life is hard. Traditional colleges make it difficult for certain people to get their education, so when an opportunity comes up for those less fortunate people to get a degree, you better believe they will take it. That’s what for-profit colleges are here for. They make it easy for the lower class and working class people to get an education, by providing them with a college that provides online classes, flexible scheduling, and easy access, usually right off a freeway. Now I know this may sound like a dream come true, but there is definitely some downside. The biggest problem with this, what seems to be, perfect school is that it is more expensive than most traditional colleges. This leads to many problems. Another huge problem is most of the time the degree received from these colleges is worth close to nothing. There are many questions that are unanswered about the legitimacy of these colleges and that is what Kevin Carey attempts to show us in his article, “Why Do You Think They’re Called For-Profit Colleges?” Carey covers, basically, every point made about these colleges, both positive and negative. Carey does a really good job of covering the bad of the for-profits but he also talks about the good and beneficial parts of these colleges. Carey uses the method of extending an argument to agree with all the critics negativity about for-profit colleges and just convenient and helpful they are to there lower class students, but along with that Carey speaks on the behalf of for-profits because he definitely sees some upside to them. Carey is arguably the best higher education analyst and writer out there, and is referred to as “one of the sharpest higher education experts out there”, by the New York Times Washington bureau chief, and, also, as “the best higher education writer in the country”, by a Washington Post education writer. Carey serves as the Director of the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation as an American higher education writer and policy analyst. In this paper I am going to set out to explain Carey’s main claims towards the problems brought up by for-profit colleges, the upside and potential that these schools have, and, as well as, some of the false assumptions people make towards these for-profit colleges. To explain these claims that Carey makes I will be using examples from his text, certain rhetorical strategies that Carey uses, and an outside source to help support my arguments.

Carey makes many strong claims about for-profit colleges and their nasty, abusive style of business. Yes, business not education. In the College Inc. documentary we watched Michael Clifford a renowned entrepreneur, who takes dying colleges and turns them into money making for-profit colleges, makes a statement that basically says if you cant afford college well now it’s a business and for those wealthy enough to afford it, it’s a benefit. People like Clifford absolutely disgust me. When you put money above another persons education that is just selfish. There are other ways to make money, like going to college and receiving a respectable education, instead of scamming people into meaningless degrees. Education should never be about the business, it is for the betterment of the world and individuals. Carey makes a great claim early on in his text in reference to the loans and debts that trouble students of these for-profit colleges. “A quarter of all federal aid goes to for-profits, while they enroll only 10 percent of students. Unfortunately, a large and growing number of graduates of for-profit colleges are having trouble paying those loans back,” (47). How does that make any sense? All this aid and loans going out to these lower class students, who already struggle to get by as it is, and the result is defaults and struggles to pay back the loans. It just doesn’t make sense to fool people into such a situation. Recruiters were even put on blast for their abusive antics in reeling in students to take out loans and get them to take large amounts of loans at that. This just screams bad news all the way, as Carey uses logos to help us understand the situation, with numbers for the number of students enrolled in these colleges and the amounts of loans that go out to them. It is just so bad when these recruiters know that these people most likely wont be able to afford paying back their loans and that the degrees they will be receiving will be close to nothing but yet they still convince them to take out huge loans. This is a terrible act of humanity and a great claim for just how bad these schools are with their actions. Carey dumbs it down a little more making a claim about how ridiculous the loans and the attacking recruiters are. “You don’t need a college degree to know that large debt plus small income equals high risk of default,” (48). Here Carey uses cause and effect and commonplaces as rhetorical strategies. It doesn’t need to be said, it should already be known. People with not a lot of money cant afford something that requires a lot of money. Here you have manipulative for-profit colleges giving poor people huge loans and making it seem like everything is just fine, but really the outcome is defaults, and lots of them. You just can’t expect a low-income person could afford large loans, especially when the degree they receive at the end of it all is worth close to nothing. Carey strengthens his argument with these claims because it calls out these for-profit colleges and shows what their true intentions are. These colleges set out to make money and provide worthless degrees to people. It is just not fair for people to be manipulated into things that in the long run will destroy their future, but when these colleges make it easy to receive a loan, get in to the school and flexible scheduling, its hard for someone in a tough financial and educational situation to say no and that’s when these colleges just abuse their powers and use all the peoples struggles to their advantages.

With all the bad and deceiving side of these schools, there is definitely some upside these schools, if used properly. For-profit colleges aren’t all that bad because they have potential. The idea is great but very inefficient. Their needs to be a better way but there is definitely upside to these colleges. Carey completely flips his argument against for-profits and goes in the direction of stating the pros of the for-profit colleges. Carey really tries to play both sides of the game without sounding hypocritical. “For-profits exist in large part to fix educational market failures left by traditional institutions, and they provide by serving students that public and private nonprofit institutions too often ignore,” (49). Most schools tend to not give certain people chances for one reason or another, so a lot of people are left without education and no way of receiving it due to certain circumstances, but that’s where these for-profit colleges play a huge role. They give the less fortunate a chance and an easy chance at that. They work around people’s schedules and also are very convenient in location. Clifford, as bad as he sounds, does try to make good happen. He goes out and saves failing colleges, something no one else would do, just to help those less fortunate receive an education, which in the documentary, College Inc., he claims is the path to world peace. When you have to juggle around a family, work, and education its very difficult with the way traditional colleges are set up, but when you can work evenings after work because the for-profit school is right off the freeway and allows for flexibility. Another plus side to for-profits that Carey makes a claim about is the appeal level of for-profit colleges. “For-profits fill a void left by traditional institutions that once believed their world was constant. Fast-developing methods of teaching students over the Internet have given the velocity of change a turbo boost,” (49). What more could you ask for? The upper hand that these for-profit colleges have is once again convenience. Most people hate having to walk into a classroom and sit there listening to a mundane teacher lecture all day, but when you provide students with online classes that is very smart and helpful for some. For-profit colleges are making technological advancements for sure and have provided students with the easiest possible path to a degree. The online classes are definitely a huge upside because most people are struggling to get there normal routine done for the day and being forced to sit in a class at a specific time just doesn’t work out. That’s why the for-profit colleges teaching through the Internet situation is a very good one giving for-profits a very good shot this year. As stated above, Carey tries to show the better side of the “terrible” for-profit colleges.

As bad as for-profits are made out to be and as well as Carey tries to defend them, there is still a lot of open questions with random assumptions being made. Carey does a really nice job with making a claim about the false accusations people make. “Traditional institutions tend to respond to such ventures by indicting the quality of for-profit degrees. The trouble is, they have very little evidence beyond the real issue of default rates to prove it,” (49). As much as traditional colleges want to bag on for-profits for there lack of credibility for the degrees they handout, they really cant and simply due to lack of evidence. Once cant try to put down another organization when they cant even prove that they, themselves, are better than the for-profits and Carey says it really well, “All true-and just as true when the words ‘for profit’ are removed,” (49). Here Carey uses the method of comparing and contrasting of the two colleges, for-profit and traditional. When neither can provide numbers of default rates to compare who is best it is very difficult to hate on one and not the other. A lot of people just think negatively of for-profits, but Carey truly brings out the upside of them and shows us the incompetence of some people who like to hate on for-profits, without truly knowing any factual things about them. Of all of Carey’s arguments this had to be the weakest one because it left too much open space and room for questions. End of the day, we cant really bag on something that doesn’t have factual proof to help support our argument.