The following recommendation was made by the president and administrative staff of Grove

College, a private institution, to the college's governing committee.

"We recommend that Grove College preserve its century-old tradition of all-female education
rather than admit men into its programs. It is true that a majority of faculty members voted in
favor of coeducation, arguing that it would encourage more students to apply to Grove. But 80
percent of the students responding to a survey conducted by the student government wanted the
school to remain all female, and over half of the alumnae who answered a separate survey also
opposed coeducation. Keeping the college all female will improve morale among students and
convince alumnae to keep supporting the college financially."

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions 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.

The argument states that the Grove college should preserve its century-old tradition of all-female
education and refrain from admitting men into its programs. It supports this statement with the survey
that was conducted among the students as well as alumnae . In the survey they found that about 80
percent of the students want to remain the college all-female and about 50 percent of the alumnae also
want the college to remain all-female. The arguments them claims that the keeping the college all-
female will improve the morale among the students and convince alumnae to keep supporting the
college financially. However, to reach this conclusion the college as made some assumptions which, if
not substantiated make the persuasiveness of the argument weaker.

First of all, the argument states that by remaining all-female, more students will be encouraged
to apply for Grove. Which may be wrong as it may be seen as a red flag by many students who want to
study in a more diverse environment. Most of the students study in a co-ed schools and there is a high
probability that these students will not apply in a college which is all-female. Moreover, most of the
students want to be in an environment in which they are surrounded with different opinions and just
being surrounded by single minded people may not tempt them and consequently make them to not
choose Grove as a possible college to get admission in.

Second of all, what is the credibility of the survey that was conducted among students as well as
alumnae? There is a possibility that the survey did not include a large number of students and was
conducted only on a small sample of students. As we have seen in the history ,there are many instances
where serveys showed results which are far away from the reality, if not performed correctly they can
be partial to a single side and produce a completely wrong results. Therefore, the results of the survey
can not be assumed as a reason for Grove to remain all-feamle.

Finally, majority of the faculty believes that the college should admit male and should support
coeducation. As the faculty are also in the favor of coeducation there may be a problem between the
administration and the faculty if the administration chose to remain all-female, which may make the
environment in the college morose, which In turn would suggest many possible applicants for not
choosing Grove College for their education. There are also many students who want a co-ed, those
students may drop out of the Grove thinking that the administration is not listening to their
demands.So, as the majority of faculty as well as students are in favor of coeducation, remaining a all-
female college may not be a good a decision for Grove College.

In conclusion, the argument states that by remaining all-female the morale of the student may
increase on the basis if three asumptions which it took . However, these assumptions are flawed and if
not substantiated make the argument weak.