The following letter is from a group of Linford College alumni to the chair of the

art
department at the college.

�In a recent survey of college graduates, 90 percent agreed that participating in

an
internship increased their chances of finding a job after graduation, but last
year, only 40
percent of Linford�s graduating art students had completed an internship. Skyway
Designs,
located in nearby Linford City, is the perfect company for students to intern with
for a
number of reasons: They offer internships in all of their departments, so every
student is
sure to find work that they are interested in. Additionally, their internships
offer flexible
working hours. Finally, Skyway Designs is known for being one of the best in the
design
business, as over 80 percent of businesses in Linford City have used the services
of
Skyway Designs for their design needs. Given the vital role that work experience
plays in
a student�s success after graduation, we recommend that our art department require
all art
students to complete an internship with Skyway Designs before graduation.�

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in
order
to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are
reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to
evaluate
the recommendation.

In the letter from a group of Linford College alumni to the chair of the art
department at the college, the author recommends that the art department should
require all the art students to complete an internship with Skyway Designs before
graduation. This recommendation is based on the back of the survey of college
graduates and the success of Skyway Designs as one of the best companies in the
design business in Linford City. However, the author makes sweeping conclusions
while there's a clear lack of evidence to make any sort of conclusion.

The first question that needs to be answered it that whether the survey taken among
a generic group of college graduates translates perfectly well to the graduating
group of art students. It is very well possible that the majority of the college
graduates who were a part of that survey were engineering graduates and because of
the insanely high competition in the software industry, it is necessary for them to
take up internships in order to increase their chances of finding a job after
graduation. It is not necessarily true for the arts students. It can be true that
investing time in certain individual projects can actually be more important to
secure a job after graduation. Also, we are not fully aware of the details of the
survey. It is possible that the survey offered the options to choose between taking
up an internship and sitting idle at home doing nothing and hence the students
picked the former. Unless the details of the survey are made available, the survey
can't be counted as evidence to make any conclusion.

Another question that requires clarity is whether the students won't have any other
commitments throughout the summer. It is possible that the students choose to
pursue other extra-curricular activities over the summer. The author also assumes
that it will be logistically convenient for every student to take up an internship
in Skyway Designs. It is possible that a few students stay far away and would
prefer interning at other design firms which are as good as, if not better than
Skyway Designs. The author also assumes that the students will definitely like one
of the departments which are offering internships in Skyway Designs. It is also
possible that the students like something else which is not offered by Skyway
Designs and hence they choose to intern at some other design firm. Until the wants
of the students are made clear, the recommendation made by the author is weakened.

Also, since Skyway Designs has proven to be one of the best in the business, there
could be a cut-throat competition amongst students to secure an internship there.
It is also possible that Skyway Designs is not very keen to hire students from
Linford College's art department. They might have hired many interns in the past
and might not have found their performance up to the mark and hence are very
cautious while hiring from Linford College. This in itself can be a reason for the
low number of internships among the graduating batch of Linford College's art
department.

In conclusion, as it stands now, the conclusion made by the author is considerably

flawed due to reliance on some unwarranted assumptions. It might be true that work
experience plays a vital role in securing a job after graduation and that having an
internship in Skyway Designs is the best way to go about it, but the argument made
by the author certainly isn't cogent in establishing that. If the author can
provide more evidence that answers the above questions, it will be much better to
evaluate the author's recommendation.