Danyal Zafar

Please be kind enough to give you valuable feedback on my attempt. Argument - 1 The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of a company that builds shopping malls around the country. "The surface of a section of Route 101, paved just two years ago by Good Intentions Roadways, is now badly cracked with a number of dangerous potholes. In another part of the state, a section of Route 40, paved by Appian Roadways more than four years ago, is still in good condition. In a demonstration of their continuing commitment to quality, Appian Roadways recently purchased state-of-the-art paving machinery and hired a new quality-control manager. Therefore, I recommend hiring Appian Roadways to construct the access roads for all our new shopping malls. I predict that our Appian access roads will not have to be repaired for at least four years." Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation. ============================================================================================================ The argument presented by the vice president has a number of logical flaws. These flaws give birth to numerous questions that have to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation will have the predicted result or not. A major flaw in the vice president's reasoning that raises questions is the flawed comparison between Good Intentions Roadways and Appian Roadways. To begin, the first question that needs to be answered is whether the traffic on Route 101 is similar to Route 40 or not. If, for instance, Route 101 caters to heavy traffic whilst only light traffic is allowed on Route 40, the presence of potholes on Route 101 can be explained. Therefore, it is not necessary that the deterioration of Route 101 is because of poor quality. The superior quality of Appian's work can only be accepted if the routes cater to the same traffic. Even then other circumstances on the two routes may also explain the difference in their conditions. The fact that the two routes are present in different parts of the state begs the question: are the weather conditions similar or different on the two routes? If, for example, the region where Route 101 runs through experiences torrential rainfall whilst the area where Route 40 passes from has a mild climate, the differences in the road conditions can be attributed to weather as well. This means that it is not necessary that the condition of Route 40 is better because of higher quality work by Appian Roadways. The better road condition can be attributed to favourable weather conditions. Therefore, it is imperative that the above question is answered as it can render the basis of the recommendation illogical. In addition to the differences (or similarities) in weather conditions, it is also important to ask if there are any other alternative companies available than Good Intentions and Appian Roadways. The above argument assumes that there are only two companies available in the market. However, it is important to see if other companies can be approached or not and how Appian Roadways fares against them. It can be possible that Appian performs poorly in comparison to other competitors. Another interesting question that needs to be answered is about the credentials of the new quality control manager of Appian Roadways. The argument assumes that the new manager will perform better than the previous manager and therefore improve the quality of work. It could very well be the case that the new manager was hired on the basis of nepotism and not on the basis of performance. As a result, the quality of the work deliviered could deteriorate. Therefore, it weakens the preditiction that the roads will not have to be repaired for four years, thus, weakening the recommendation. The answers to the questions above would provide a better picture of the comparision between Appian Roadways and its competitiors. For the recommendation to be valid, it is important that Appian and its competitors deliver in similar conditions.

Please be kind enough to rate and review my Issue response for GRE essay. Thank you :-) Scandals are useful because they focus our attention on problems in ways that no speaker or reformer ever could. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position. It is important to keep public attention on social problems to ensure the smooth functioning of a society. Two ways of focusing that attention are scandals and public debates by reformers and speakers. Scandals are usually discarded for dramatizing petty issues, however, therein lies the usefulness of scandals: Scandals capture the attention of the public on problems in such profound ways that may not be possible for most reformers or speakers. Often in public debates the discussions on problems only touch the tip of the iceberg. It may be that the intelligentsia is either not fully aware of the magnitude of the problem or, they do not delve into the details to maintain political correctness. Either way, the reformers and speakers fail to pique the public's interest. On the other hand, scandals have the potential to reveal the depth and the magnitude of the issue in one instant. For instance, the revelations by Edward Snowden regarding mass surveillance carried out by the National Security Agency led to a public outcry against the breach of privacy. Many social activists and critics had been pointing out this issue previously as well, but it never gained as much traction as it did after the Edward Snowden episode. Thus, scandals are useful in grabbing public attention in a way that the intelligentsia can not. In addition to revealing the true depth and magnitude of an issue, scandals can also bring to the fore issue that were not even the part of public debate. Issues such as pedophilia and rape, though prevalent in the society, are not discussed in most Muslim countries. Debate on such issues and their public acceptance is a taboo. In such circumstances reformers and speakers can not discuss these issues in public as the society refuses to lend an ear to them. However, if a scandal about these issues is reported in the media, the public will be to talk about such issues. Hence, scandals prove to be useful in bringing problems to the agenda of public debate. However, some problems are of a nature that can best be addressed by the relentless efforts of speakers and reformers. The Suffrage movement in the late 18th and early 19th century for women's right to vote is a quintessential example of a problem that was solved by persistent efforts of speakers and reformers. Figures such as Eliabeht Caddy Stanton and Alice Paul did not wait for a scandal to break out. They realized the problem, gathered mass support by organizing protests and writing literature, and eventually led to the passage of the 19 Amendment in the constitution of USA that allowed women the right to vote. To sum, scandals are useful, in majority instances at least, because they capture the focus the attention of public on problems in ways that most speakers and reformers may not be able to do.