The following appeared in a letter to the school board in the town of Centerville.
“All students should be required to take the driver's education course at Centerville High School. In the past two years, several accidents in and around Centerville have involved teenage drivers. Since a number of parents in Centerville have complained that they are too busy to teach their teenagers to drive, some other instruction is necessary to ensure that these teenagers are safe drivers. Although there are two driving schools in Centerville, parents on a tight budget cannot afford to pay for driving instruction. Therefore, an effective and mandatory program sponsored by the high school is the only solution to this serious problem.”
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstatedassumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
assumption字面意思是“假设”，在argument任务中，指的是“没有确凿证据的认定/默认”，把一种有可能但是不一定的情况默认为了一定发生的情 【Introduction】 略 【Body】 仅挑选出几个点用作演示。 即使可以找到很多的逻辑疑点，在考场上，写4到5个（关键）点就好。 The author assumes that it is the teenage drivers who are responsible for those accidents that have involved them. ← 指出assumption是什么】 However, the actual case may be that it is the responsibility of the other party in an accident. ← 指出与assumption相冲突的情况】 For example, an accident may not be attributed to the teenage driver’s driving but to the jaywalking of a pedestrian who does not comply with traffic rules. It is also likely that a teen driver is rear-ended, and in this case, it is not the teenage driver to blame. ← 笼统指出之后，再判断是否可以举出实例去说清楚一两个冲突的具体情况】 In any of such cases, in which the teenager drivers may be highly capable of safe driving and are not responsible for the accidents, the proposed drivers’ education course is useless. ←最后一步，说出assumption有误从而产生的（对于argument的逻辑/结论的）影响】 The argument is unclear about the number of parents who have complained and assumes that there are a considerable number of such parents. ← 指出assumption是什么】 However, the actual case may be that the number of parents who are too busy to teach their teenagers to drive is rather small or only moderate. ← 指出与assumption相冲突的情况】 Likewise, it is unfair to assume that the number of households that are on a tight budget is quite considerable. ← 指出了另一个assumption】 In this case, it is unfair to deem the problem “serious”, and thus the proposed course may be unnecessary since the demand may not be so strong. ← 最后一步，说出assumption有误从而产生的（对于argument的逻辑/结论的）影响】 At this point, it is noticeable that the author also unfairly generalizes from a certain number of teenage drivers and their parents to all teenage students and their families. In other words, the author cannot assume that other teenage drivers will sooner or later get involved in traffic accidents and that their parents also have no time to teach them or no money to send them to driving schools. ← 指出assumption是什么】 Therefore, the requirement applying to all students would be unreasonable. The author cannot safely assert that the proposed program, which teenagers are required to participate in, is the only solution to the problem. ← 指出assumption是什么】 However, to deal with the problem, there may be alternative ways. ← 指出与assumption相冲突的情况】 Typically, schools or the local traffic department can hand out study packages for teenagers to learn driving at home. ← 笼统指出之后，再判断是否可以举出实例去说清楚一两个冲突的具体情况】 Therefore, the proposed course is not surely necessary. ← 最后一步，说出assumption有误从而产生的（对于argument的逻辑/结论的）影响】 【Conclusion】 略
