GMAT Essays (AWA)

The following appeared as part of a newspaper editorial:
“Two years ago Nova High School began to use interactive computer instruction in three academic subjects. The school dropout rate declined immediately, and last year’s graduates have reported some impressive achievements in college. In future budgets the school board should use a greater portion of the available funds to buy more computers, and all schools in the district should adopt interactive computer instruction throughout the curriculum.”
Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.





answer

Above statement is about benefits achieved by Nova High School by using interactive computer instruction in three academic subjects. The author is suggesting that similar strategy should be applied by all schools in the district. The author's main line of defense seems to be immediate reduction in dropout rate and impressive achievements of last year’s graduates. After deep analysis I think that statement is incomplete and one cannot make any decision based upon it.

First of all, the author needs to provide more data. For example, the author needs to provide performance of last year’s graduates in three subjects in which interactive computer instructions were used. That data will enable a reader to judge whether interactive computer instructions really helped student to boost their performance. Moreover, the author needs to provide the data which will prove causation-result relationship between interactive computer instructions and improved performance at school. As school dropout rate declined immediately, it could be that reduction in dropout rate was due to reasons other than interactive computer instructions. For Instance increased awareness among parents or political help could be probable reasons for reduced graduation rate.

Secondly, the author needs to support his indirect claim that use of interactive computer instruction in other areas of district will be useful. For instance, it could be that Nova High School is in poor area of the district and parents in that area cannot afford computers at home. Or it could be that Nova High School doesn't have good teachers and as a result interactive computer instructions were successful. The author should also provide actual cost figures of computer price, interactive computer instructions price and school budgets. If cost of a computer or interactive computer instructions consumes high percentage of school's budget then schools cannot spend their budget on these facilities. Schools have to give first priority to their basic needs and expenses.

Overall, I think that it will be very helpful if the author does the survey among the students regarding effectiveness of interactive computer instruction and publishes that result. The result will prove causation-result relationship rather than correlation by chance. Above result along with data mentioned in above paragraphs will strengthen the statement and will help other schools to make correct decision.