The following is a recommendation from the personnel director to the president of Acme Publishing Company."Many other companies have recently stated that having their employees take the Easy Read Speed-Reading Course has greatly improved productivity. One

In order to enhance overall productivity of Acme Publishing Company (APC) all its employees should finish the Easy Read Speed-Reading Course (ERSRC). From director's viewpoint benefits of the implementation of the recommendation will definitely outweigh the drawbacks. However, is this conclusion buttressed properly? Does the personnel director manage to create a sound argument? To answer on these important questions we need to carafully scrutinize author's supportive evidences.

First of all, the argument originator of the argument avers that one of the graduates of the course is able to read a 500 page report in two hours; and that another person who finished the ERSRC was promoted from an assistant manager to vice president during a short period of time. However, do these aftermaths have only one possible explanation? May any alternative factors which the author has neglected impact on the results? Perhaps, the author mixed up causation and correlation. In other words, a employee who was promoted may enroll to the ERSRC because he or she expected the promotion. In this case, the enrollment in the course does not lead to the result and therefore does not demonstrate that the course somehow affect the life of the promoted worker. Moreover, an ability to read 500 page report is a serious achievement but may we extrapolate this extraordinate result on all ERSRC's graduates? Perhaps, this person has some personal characteristics which lead to this unique result and therefore paritcipation to the course may not have the same result for other students.

Additonally to it, the author mentions that course is realtively cheap and will cost $500 per employees at the same time, he or she tend to neglect that workers will have to participate to a three-week seminar in Spruce City. Probably, these personnel will have to be distracted from their work. How this three-week educational seminar will influence the efficiency of the company. How many projects will not be finished in time? And how much will it cost to APC? In other words, these course may be too expencive for the company and have rather negative than positive result.

Furthermore, the director asserts that all personnel should participate to the ERSRC. However, do all employee need this course. How many of them have a necessity to read in a regular base a big reports. For instance, a cleaner or a security staff have this need? Moreover, even such specialists as designers and engineer may not have a necessity to absorb large volume of information. Therefore, implementation of the recommendation seems to be unreasonable.

In conclusion, the author of the argument asserts that if all staff members take the course, the profit of company will skyrocket, unfortunately, given information does not support this statement properly.