For the past year, as part of an effort to broaden our supporter base, our Folk on the Air program

has allocated less time to traditional American folk music and more time to Latino music and world
music. In recent months, many long-term supporters of our station have written to complain about
what they describe as the un-American bias of the program. In addition, the local newspaper has
published a recent editorial critical of our shift in programming. Therefore, in order to forestall any
further adverse publicity for the station and to avoid the loss of additional listener-supporters, we
should discontinue our current emphasis on Latino and world music and restore the time devoted
to traditional American folk music to its former level."
The station may be right, if they discontinue their current emphasis on Latino and world music and
restore the time devoted to traditional American folk music to its former level, in order to forestall any
further adverse publicity for the station and to avoid the loss of additional listener-supporters, but the
author makes a lot of unsubstantiated assumptions before arriving at the afore-mentioned conclusion.
Though the proposal is intended to avoid loss of listeners and adverse publicity, it may fail to achieve this
goal and may aggravate critics in the future.
The author's first mistake is to assume that there are more American possible-listeners than nonAmericans who dislike Latino and world music. He disregards the influence of the Latin-American
citizens. In addition, the author fails to give evidence that the complaints came from a sample of
American individual who are representative of the total population of the American possible-listeners.
Secondly, the author fails to acknowledge other possible ways that may strike a balance their fulfillment
for the need of both Latino/world music and traditional American folk music. For example, the staion
may decide to devote equal amount of time to both Latino/world music and traditional American folk
music. This will maintain the listeners that have a flair for Latino and world music.
The claim that the recent editorial published about the shifting in the station's programming is "adverse"
is unsupported. The author does not explicitly state that the editorial perceived the shift as adverse.
The author fails to acknowledge the fact that there could have been a drop in the number of traditional
American folk released by artistes. There could even be more cogent reasons for the stations sudden
emphasis on Latino/world music.
Despite the flaws that in the authors argument, she may be correct in her recommendation for the
discontinuation in their current emphasis on Latino/world music rather than traditional American folk
music. She could strengthen her argument by documenting its most important premise with data. If, for
example she provided survey results indicating that there are more American possible-listeners than there
are non-American, her argument would be far more persuasive. Were this the case, her recommendation
might be justified.

While it may be true that the Mason City government ought to devote more money to riverside
recreational facilities, this authors argument does not make a cogent case for increased resources based
on river use. It is easy to understand why city residents would want a cleaner river, but this argument is
rife with holes and assumptions, and thus, not strong enough to lead to increased funding.
Citing surveys of city residents, the author reports city residents love of water sports. It is not clear,
however, the scope and validity of that survey. For example, the survey could have asked residents if
they prefer using the river for water sports or would like to see a hydroelectric dam built, which may have
swayed residents toward river sports. The sample may not have been representative of city residents,
asking only those residents who live upon the river. The survey may have been 10 pages long, with 2
questions dedicated to river sports. We just do not know. Unless the survey is fully representative, valid,
and reliable, it can not be used to effectively back the authors argument.
Additionally, the author implies that residents do not use the river for swimming, boating, and fishing,
despite their professed interest, because the water is polluted and smelly. While a polluted, smelly river
would likely cut down on river sports, a concrete connection between the residents lack of river use
and the rivers current state is not effectively made. Though there have been complaints, we do not know
if there have been numerous complaints from a wide range of people, or perhaps from one or two
individuals who made numerous complaints. To strengthen his/her argument, the author would benefit
from implementing a normed survey asking a wide range of residents why they do not currently use the
river.
Building upon the implication that residents do not use the river due to the quality of the rivers water
and the smell, the author suggests that a river clean up will result in increased river usage. If the rivers
water quality and smell result from problems which can be cleaned, this may be true. For example, if
the decreased water quality and aroma is caused by pollution by factories along the river, this conceivably
could be remedied. But if the quality and aroma results from the natural mineral deposits in the water
or surrounding rock, this may not be true. There are some bodies of water which emit a strong smell of
sulphur due to the geography of the area. This is not something likely to be afffected by a clean-up.
Consequently, a river clean up may have no impact upon river usage. Regardless of whether the rivers
quality is able to be improved or not, the author does not effectively show a connection between water
quality
and
river
usage.
A clean, beautiful, safe river often adds to a citys property values, leads to increased tourism and revenue
from those who come to take advantage of the river, and a better overall quality of life for residents.
For these reasons, city government may decide to invest in improving riverside recreational facilities.
However, this authors argument is not likely significantly persuade the city goverment to allocate
increased funding.

"It takes a village to raise a child." The education of your children is the task of the community as a
whole, not merely the province of teachers and local school administrators.
Before independence in miost countries there were no schools, but does this mean that the children in
those days acquired no knowledge? However,the primary purpose of sending a child to school should not
be to limit the the child's knowledge to that of her teachers and local school administrators. There is more
to teach a child than the teacher can, therefore it will take a village to raise a child.
This explains the reason behind the son of a palm-wine tapper growing up to become a palm-wine tapper
too.
Morals, though taught in school is not done as good as it is done at home. In addition to morals, the child
learns about her culture from her parents and through continuous observation of the villagers.
The mother-tongue of a child is learnt from interaction with his peers
The environment of a child has a big role to play in his upbringing.

"A novel therapy has come to our attention that promises to significantly decrease the incidence of
dementia in our aging community. According to a 21-year study led by the Albert Einstein College
of Medicine and funded by the National Institute on Aging, while many physical activities like
playing tennis or golf, swimming, bicycling, dancing, and walking for exercise provided
cardiovascular benefits for seniors, only one physical activity offered protection against dementia:
that was frequent dancing. At GoldenAge we currently provide residents with extensive recreational
facilities. These include tennis courts, a fitness center, and lap pools in each senior apartment
complex. However, we have no dance studio space at GoldenAge, nor any social dance programs.
Clearly, social dancing can prevent or delay the onset of dementia. Since the onset of dementia
inevitably signals the imminent move of residents from our independent living apartments to the
more heavily staffed and therefore more costly to operate assisted living quarters, we recommend
the establishment of social dance programs at all GoldenAge senior residencesas a cost-effective,
positive way to ward off dementia and enable our residents to remain in their independent living
quarters."

The
best
way
for
a
society
to
prepare
its
young
people
for
leadership
in
government,
industry,
or
other fields is by instilling in them a sense of cooperation, not
competition
A famous saying has it that Two good heads are better than one. Another wise saying has it that no
man is an island. Better results are achieved when people work together as a group. The individual
members of a group contribute their unique expertise and share their opinions towards achieving a desired
goal.
When a sense of cooperation is instilled in young people, they tend to see each other as parts of a bigger
body and they try to seek that unique role in any individual. For example in a team whose aim is to design
an automobile, there may be the brilliant members who will take on the calculation part, the softwareinclined software members who will handle the drafting of the parts, the physically fit members who will
take care of the physical construction and the financially buoyant members who will support financially.
The execution of a project by a group of an appropriate number of people leads to a shared cost in terms
of finance and distributed cost of failure. Nowadays, degree projects are assigned to students in groups
and this has given commendable results. Some individuals may argue that assigning a project to a group
of individuals may lead to laxity on the part of some of the members of the group. But such argument is
put off when we are cautious of the population of a group and when we distribute the tasks.
In a team, the weakness of member A might be the strength of member B, and so a close to 100%
efficiency is attainable. Since the gap created by member A is filled by member B, the group lacks
nothing. This can be extrapolated to the society at large where the doctors treat patients with machines
designed by the engineers and the security officers helps to protect the doctors and the engineers from
being victims of crime, and it goes on and on.
When people work together as a team, the work is completed within a shorter period of time through a
division labor. Again, during this division of labor, each member is assigned a task for which he is most
capable of, since he will complete such task within a limited time and with less energy.
Finally, it suffice to say that the best way for a society to prepare its young
people
for
leadership
in
government,
industry,
or
other fields is by instilling in them a sense of cooperation, not competition. Since a person who has
knowledge of the advantages of cooperation will encourage his followers to indulge in cooperation, so as
to explore its benefits which includes carrying each other along, shared cost, efficiency and effectiveness.