argument task essay

[dicapino]

The following appeared in a magazine article about planning for retirement.

"Clearview should be a top choice for anyone seeking a place to retire, because it has spectacular natural beauty and a consistent climate. Another advantage is that housing costs in Clearview have fallen significantly during the past year, and taxes remain lower than those in neighboring towns. Moreover, Clearview's mayor promises many new programs to improve schools, streets, and public services. And best of all, retirees in Clearview can also expect excellent health care as they grow older, since the number of physicians in the area is far greater than the national average."

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

 

The author asservates that anyone seeking a place to retire chooses Clearview as a destination; while some individuals would cherish the idea of spending retirement in an exotic and serene environment, this argument is based on evidence that is flawed and rife with gaps that need to be expounded on to make these claim thick.

Firstly, the author needs clearly show the correlation between number of doctors and excellent health care. Is the general health of the public contigent on the number of physicians available? Are these physicians adequately trained to handle ailments of old retirees moving into Clearview? Maybe these medical personells are trained for minor medical cases like accidents, malaria and migraines not malaise like PTSD or Insonomia. The author would do well to show that medical institutions in Clearview have quality equipments to meet the various ailments that could possibly be face by retirees. Also, a survey on the number of doctors in Clearview would help to support his asservation.

Apart from citing medical reasons to support is assertion, he makes claim of the local Mayor promising new programs for better schools and public services. The author has to show that these promises would be delivered.  Politicians tend not to be candid on issues; it could be the Mayor’s promise is an effort to sway public sentiment and surely there is no certitude that these promises would be achieved. Conversely, even if the opposite is the case and these improvements are would all retirees be interested in schools, would adequately tarred streets be a selling point for persons that are indoors.

Furthermore, the author has to give evidence that these supposedly low levels in housing costs and taxes would remain so. Housing costs may have been low last year because of lower number of property seeking population, or the low quality of property value in Clearview. And it could increase drastically with the influx of these retirees who own more savings.  Also, low taxes could be due to low paying jobs and a large number of middle class families, and this is not a guarantee that richer retiree’s  that immigrate to Clearview would be charged lower taxes.

In summary, the dream of living a comfortable life after retirement is a major goal of individuals, but this article’s aim of goading retirees to choose Clearview as a possible destination falls short due to these assumptions,