Analysis on the Comments on the College Entrance Expasion

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There is another comment from an economic perspective posted by user Leng Zhe:

College expansion solved the problem of the deficiency of higher educated labor force. Before the college expansion in 1999, the number of college enrollment was around 1,000,000 and every year the population of working age increased by more than 10,000,000. As a result, no matter how well those 1,000,000 students have been educated, they cannot meet the demand of high level labor force. College expansion was carried out to solve this problem. (Leng 2013)

It is hard to say whether the college expansion solve the problem of the necessity of high level labor force. Leng used the past tense to state his comment, but there is no evidence to prove it. Although college expansion increases the number of college graduates, it does not mean that those graduates are qualified for positions needed by society. There is also a possibility that students who do not go to the college are able to get the position. In addition, the number given by Leng is his own assumption. He only focused on the number of labor force and ignored the development of technology which saves a lot of labor force. It is difficult to identify the degree of the necessity of the labor force and it needs more evidences to prove his point.

It is too definite for him to state the idea that “no matter how well those 1,000,000 students have been educated, they cannot meet the demand of high level labor force”. (Leng 2013) The efficiency and effectiveness of one job is not only defined by the number of the labor force. What is more, the purpose of the college expansion is various. The last sentence of Leng’s comment seems like the only purpose of the college expansion is to solve the problem of the labor force. It can be persuasive for readers who graduated from colleges and then were allocated jobs by the government at that period of time. It has already not been suitable for today’s society.

There is a different opinion posted by user Yuan Ji:

Teaching resources, textbooks and teaching equipment do not catch up with the pace of college expansion. It not only increases the gap between different universities, but also decreases the quality of education. Degrees are no longer match with students’ professional level. The most damaged students are those who are at the top level. They are able to get into the best university originally, but because of the college expansion, they receive a lower level of education. (Yuan 2014)

Yuan (2014) expressed the idea that college expansion reduces the quality of the education. Because of the college expansion, teaching resources and teaching equipment are not enough for the increasing number of students. Although the number of students in a class may have an influence on the effect of teaching, it has nothing to do with the quality of the education. The quality of the education is mostly determined by textbooks, teaching method and class structure which are irrelevant with the college expansion. Then, there always has a gap between different universities because of their different enrollment marks. It is illogical to put the college expansion together with the gap between different universities.

It is generalized to say that students’ degrees are no longer match with their professional level. (Yuan 2014) It depends on individuals’ effort during their four-year college life. This comment may be persuasive for readers who have high marks but are depressed by their college life. Although there are more and more college students, whether a student is depressed by his or her college life or not depends much on his or her own efforts on how to spend these four years. What is more, the quality of higher education are related much more to the higher education reform on teaching content and teaching method, or even on this education system.

One of comments in support of the college expansion was posted by user 74LS00:

Many people say students can’t learn anything during four years because of the college expansion. They are totally irrelevant. What students should learn is the content of the education reform, having nothing to do with the college expansion. Some people say because of the college expansion, colleges now are all larger class education, which leads to the inefficiency of their study. I think college is a place where students learn to be self-disciplined and learn how to live independently. This is the biggest benefit of the college education. (74LS00 2013)

This comment may seem persuasive at the first sight. This user pointed out popular

comments on the college expansion which are wrong. It gives readers a sense of critical thinking which is easy to persuade them. The first point clarifies the relationship between the college expansion and higher education reform. What the user explained for the second point is irrelevant and illogical. Large class education may have an influence on the effect of learning or teaching, but the efficiency of students’ study is much decided by their own characteristics of study. Then the user expressed his own idea about why students need to go to the college. There is no evidence to prove it and it is irrelevant to the college expansion. Maybe the second point can be explained in this way. Although the college expansion makes the large class education, it should not reduce the efficiency of students’ study because they need to learn to be self-disciplined in the college. Even the user reorganize the language of the opinion, it needs more evidences to make it strong. Readers who think it persuasive may be diverted their attention to the value of the college stated at the end of the comment.

In conclusion, after analyzing comments above, although they all have fallacies, they are persuasive toward specific audience. Irrelevance, generalization, illogicality, bias, cum hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy and Argumentum ad misericordiam fallacy make them weak, but they make sense to their specific readers who have the same feelings or experiences. The college expansion is still going on, but there is a trend that more and more people would like the policy to be stopped. Although it was favorable at the early period time, as the age changing, new policies are needed to fix the consequences of the college expansion.

Bibliography

China Education. 1999. “Chinese Higher Education.” China Education. Translated by Yang Jiezhen. Accessed April 15, 2015.

http://fagui.eol.cn/html/200909/664.shtml

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