Please rate my essay :(

[voodoo_child]

Argument Essay #1 - "In general, people are not as concerned as they were a decade ago about regulating their intake of red meat and fatty cheeses. Walk into the Heart's Delight, a store that started selling organic fruits and vegetables and wholegrain flours in the 1960's, and you will also find a wide selection of cheeses made with high butterfat content. Next door, the owners of the Good Earth Café, an old vegetarian restaurant, are still making a modest living, but the owners of the new House of Beef across the street are millionaires."

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion, be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. You can also discuss what, if anything, would make the argument more sound and persuasive or would help you to better evaluate its conclusion.

-------------------------------

The argument states that nowadays people are less concerned about eating red meat and high fat content food items. The argument is based on evidences dating back to 1960 when Heart's Delight started selling organic foods. Now, the store has started selling a variety of food items including butterfat. Also, the argument states that because the new Beef restaurant's owners are millionaires, the attitude of people in general has changed. The argument makes quite a few assumptions regarding representativeness, correlation versus causation and demand/supply analysis. In my opinion, the argument, as stated, in not well reasoned when considered from wholistic standpoint. Let's see why.

Firstly, the fact that Heart's Delight has started selling cheese cannot be considered a factor to predict people's habit. A store can expand to attract large number of customers, who prefer cheese, in addition to organic foods. Not all cheese have high butterfat content. For example, Whole Foods Inc. in New York sells all kinds of food including organic and high-fat content items. I have seen a lot of people who go to gym have healthy food rich in proteins and fat. It doesn't mean that everyone is less concerned about regulating his or her diet. I personally haven't had cheese at Whole Foods. Moreover, the argument assumes that because the owners of the new House of Beef are millionaires, people in general have a liking for Beef. This assumption is completely baseless. It may be possible that this restaurant may be their side business. Because Sachin Tendulkar, a world renowned cricketer and a millionaire, has opened a new restaurant that offers salad doesn't mean that Indians have stopped eating non-vegetarian food. To arrive at a conclusion we need to consider buy vs. sell statistics of the restaurant that is missing in the argument. Hence, the argument is not well reasoned.

Secondly, there are a lot of celebrities who are now quitting non-vegetarian and fatty diet. Pamela Anderson, an accomplished super-model, has publicly announced that she has become vegetarian. Carl lewis, one of the greatest athlete, confirmed in an interview that he depends largely on a vegetarian diet. These are just a couple of counter-examples to prove that people in general are not changing their habit.

Thirdly, if we look at the argument from medical perspective, it is not recommended to have fatty food or red meat after the age of 35 years. My aunt, a gynaecologist, used to have red meat and fatty food everyday. She had to undergo Gall Bladder surgery because of excessive meat consumption. She cannot eat red meat now. Also, a majority of people have now become health conscious. This is evident from the fact that a large number of employers are now asking their employees to join yoga sessions and fitness centers. I have seen many people in my office, who go to yoga session, have actually stopped eating dairy products and red meat. One doesn't need meat to have proteins. In fact, soya beans are the richest source of proteins.

Hence, the argument needs an improvement. It will be better if the judgement is made after looking at the economical statistics. Just because a restaurant has changed its products doesn't mean that people in general have changed their habits. There are a lot of factors as described above that need to be considered before arriving at a general statement. In my opinion, the argument is completely flawed.


-------------
Essay # 2 -
Issue Essay - Rather than using traditional question and answer interviews to evaluate job candidates, employers should observe candidates as they perform some of the job actual tasks.


The issue states that the companies should evaluate candidates by judging their performance in some of the actual job related tasks. There are quite a few assumptions being made related to representativeness, feasibility of evaluating candidates and the reputation of the company. From my experience, it will not feasible and not desirable for a company to approve such a strategy. Let's see why.

Firstly, nowadays when US has approximately 9% unemployment rate, there are a thousands of candidates who apply to one job opening. When I got hired by one of the top financial firms on Wall Street, I still remember that there were close to 500 people in my pod. Given these statistics, it may not be practically possible for a company to evaluate candidate's calibre by making them work on actual tasks in a real time environment. Instead, a question and answer session can help the company to judge the candidate psychologically and analytically. These days the interviewers are trained to understand whether the candidate will be able to perform in a stressful environment. The interviewers can easily understand whether the candidate will be able to handle work pressure on top of his personal problems. Moreover, just because a candidate did well in one specific task doesn't necessarily mean that he will be a rockstar in each and every task that he or she undertakes. There is a good probability that he may but it's not guaranteed. However, the interview sessions consist of recognized psychological and emotional tests that help the firms to judge the abilities of the candidate. Hence, the suggestion made above is not at all feasible.

Secondly, this issue may work for a very small shop who has one or two candidates for applying for a job. For a company like Morgan Stanley, it may not be feasible to hire and fire thousands of candidates everyday. It will in turn hurt the reputation of the firm and the stock price will go down. The opinion stated above cannot be applied to each and every firm in the world. Moreover, it may not be possible for a company to get previous job profile or information related to his prior work experience because it's not ethical and entails all kinds of privacy issues. Hence, the opinion cited above doesn't apply to majority of firms in the world.

Thirdly, nowadays, the companies conduct interview sessions in multiple rounds. They first try to see whether the candidate is able to communicate his thoughts and ideas. Essentially, for a job like that of a programmer, it may not require him or her to talk to people on a regular basis but for a manager, it does. Hence, it is very essential to judge the interpersonal skills by means of an interview before hiring the candidate. The companies then try to judge analytical skills of the candidate. They try to make sure that the candidate is able to solve complex day-to-day problems. All job tasks require candidates to use their analytical skills in one way or another. Hence, if we rely on the opinion cited above, there is a possibility that we may hire a person who is able to complete his task but not in an efficient way. It in turn affects the hiring firm and other employees. The firms then try to see whether the candidate has an inclination to join the company, his commitment and his overall body language and personality. These qualities are absolutely essential in a candidate. Otherwise, it becomes really difficult for fellow employees to work with the candidate.

Hence, I don't agree with above cited opinion due to above reasons. The opinion can be refined to include a few conditions that may be applicable to very small shop owners, but, in general, I don't agree with the opinion above and would never hire a candidate in my team with above recommendation.

=================