The following appeared in a newspaper editorial during the holiday shopping season:

"Americans spend far too much of their time buying and consuming non-essential goods.
Studies show that, on average Americans spend over a quarter of their leisure time
shopping. As such, it is no secret why America is losing its competitive edge relative to
other countries. Instead of spending their time productively, Americans are wasting time
through frivolous consumption. In order to counteract this trend, Americans should spend
more time focused on personal and communal development--by, for example, pursuing
educational advancement or participating in volunteer opportunities."

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. Point out flaws in the argument's
logic and analyze the argument's underlying assumptions. In addition, evaluate how
supporting evidence is used and what evidence might counter the argument's conclusion.
You may also discuss what additional evidence could be used to strengthen the argument
or what changes would make the argument more logically sound.

Answers:

The argument states that Americans spend considerable amount of time in shopping non
essential goods. It also mentions that America is losing its competitive edge because of
people who spend a considerable amount of their leisure time in shopping non essential
commodities. The author also provides a solution by asking americans to spend their
leisure time in productive tasks such as education and personal development. Stated in
this way, the argument fails to mention certain key factors on which it could be
evaluated. The conclusion relies heavily on assumptions for which there is no clear
evidence. As a result, the argument is rather weak, unconvincing and has several flaws.

First, the statement Americans spend too much time in shopping non essential goods is a
stretch for which there is no evidence. The author does not mention any study or research
findings to support this argument. Also, the argument does not provide any statistical
facts that mentions the average time spent by americans on shopping. In addition to this,
the argument also states that americans spend a quarter of their leisure time io shopping.
This statement tends to weaken the argument rather than to support it. For example, an
working american citizen has a total of 20 non working holidays in a year and a quarter
of this total is 5 days. hence spending 5 days of time in leisure shopping does not weaken
the competitiveness of America as a whole. Hence, this statement weakens the argument
slightly instead of supporting it.

Second, the argument states that too much of time is wasted on consumption which can
be used productively. This statement is an assumption for which there is no clear support.
Also, an economy of a country to an extent is based on the consumption and consuming
power of its citizens. If the consumers spend more, this in turn benefits the country's
economy indirectly. For Example, consuming more increases the production which in
turn increases the revenues of the producer or company, thereby generating more
employment opportunities for the citizens. As a result, this claim is more of a wishful
thinking rather than a premise with substantial evidence. hence, this statement lacks
support to stand on.

Finally, the author proposes a solution to this trend by suggesting americans to improve
their education and focus on personal development. By this suggestion, the author fails to
consider the fact that, every individual needs to spend some quality time with their family
in order to strike a balance between their professional and personal life. This personal
time spent on leisure activities acts as potential break to their regular monotonuos work
and makes them re-focus on their job. Therefore, this suggestion by the author is
unwarranted.

Insummary, the argument is flawed an unconvincing. It could be considerablt

strengthened, if the author provides certain relevant facts supporting his claim. in order to
assess this claim, it is necessary to provide the full knowledge of all the supporting facts.

This is posted raw with no review, please be very critical. You have my permission!

Word Count: 445

Time: 31 minutes

"In any enterprise the process of making or doing something is ultimately more important
than the final product"

Some people think that the process of making or doing something within a business is
most important. Others think that it is despite the process, the final product justifies any
means necessary. This issue is a controversial one but closer examination reveals
focusing on the end is in fact much more important for several reasons.

One reason the end is more important than the means is it allows your company to have
extreme focus. For example, if you are developing a new product such as a new cell
phone, focusing on the innovative processes and what your employees are learning will
ultimately lower productivity. Consequently, you will have much slower product
development and the usefulness to the consumer will be lowered because the emphasis of
the product is not related to customer satisfaction. Clearly, profits will be lowered, and
your company as a result will not be able to afford those informed employees to continue
with the company.

Another reason that the final product is more important than the process in which it is
made is for the enhancement of your enterprises strategic vision. For example, if you
have created a culture within an organization that is focused on the internal issues and
professional development alone, you will lose sight of the larger marketplace.
Specifically, you will have tunnel vision and possibly lose valuable opportunities to move
outside your initial business scope to a market that could possibly be very lucrative.
Perhaps the best reason the issue is in favor of the final product is optimization of your
companies’ talents. This is referenced frequently when consulting firms are contracted to
‘bring it all together’ for a clients’ business. The old adage goes, ‘2 plus 2 equals 5’ in
reference to synergy between your employees. If you work consistently in bettering your
metrics for employee review and their relationships, this will only take you so far.
Creating the ‘5’ is once you have all the internal processes in place you must then focus
on the end product and utilize your companies internal talents and human capital to create
something that is truly remarkable.

In summary, while there are arguments for both sides of the issue, it is clear that there are
greater advantages to making the end product more of a focus within your company.
Certainly the end is more justified as a focal point then the processes themselves. As a
result, you will find that your strategic vision, synergy, and focus much more productive
while focusing on the end. Hence, it should be regarded as more important.

“Education has become the main provider of individual opportunity in our society.
Just as property and money once were the keys to success, education has now
become the element that most ensures success in life.”
In your opinion, how accurate is the view expressed above? Explain, using reasons
and examples based on your own experience, observations, or reading.

I do agree with the view expressed above because in this world, which is moving towards
knowledge economy, education and knowledge have become the key drivers for success.
Better the education and knowledge you have, better is your chances of achieving
success. Now a days, an idea, which is creative and innovative and supported by timely
knowledge to convert it into an end product, is more important than money and capital
because it is easier to find people with money who are ready to support bright ideas. Not
only that, education has helped people from all strata of society- from top to bottom- to
move up in their life and achieve success.

In order to support my views, let me take an example and illustrate how education has
transformed many people in India. India, as we know, has one of the largest population of
poor people. Yet many poor people were able to grab the opportunities provided by IT
revolution and become successful in life just because of their good education. People who
had property and money without any education have remained where they are but people
who had education in addition to money and property have become successful
entrepreneurs.

In the present world, no one can deny the fact that education will open up a number of
opportunities in myriad fields such as engineering, medicine, information technology,
biotechnology etc. Your education and knowledge can be put to use in any one of these
fields to achieve success. That is the reason behind strong competition to enter
prestigious institution such as IITs and IIMs. For example more than 3, 00, 000 students
are appearing for the IIM's entrance examination and competing for just about 1000 plus
odd seats available.

On the other hand, people without a good education are struggling to come up in their
lives. Without proper education they are finding it hard to find jobs to meet their daily
basic needs, let alone achieving success. Without any knowledge and skill sets it has
become next to impossible to make these people employable in this fast growing
knowledge sector. Computers and machine automation is adding to the owes of
uneducated people by replacing them in many industries.

It can be easily concluded that level of education is directly proportional to the

opportunities one gets and the success one achieves. Education and knowledge have
become more important factors in the barometer of success, far ahead of money and
property.