Q. The following appeared in a memorandum issued by a large city’s council on the arts:
“In a recent citywide poll, 15 percent more residents said that they watch television about the visual arts than was the case in a poll conducted five years ago. During these past five years, the number of people visiting our city’s art museums has increased by a similar percentage. Since the corporate funding that supports public television, where most of the visual arts programs appear, is now being threatened with severe cuts, we can expect that attendance at our city’s art museums will also start to decrease. Thus, some of the city’s funds for supporting the arts should be reallocated to public television.”
Discuss how well reasoned the above argument is. You will have to consider the assumptions that underlie the writer’s thinking. Describe alternative explanations or counterexamples that might weaken his or her conclusion. You must come up with evidence that would strengthen or refute the argument or identify what changes would make the argument more logically sound.
ANSWER:
The argument states that in a recent study poll, 15 percent more residents said that they watched television programs about the visual arts than was the case in a poll conducted five years ago. During these past five years, the number of people who visited the city’s art museums had increased by a similar percentage. The corporate funding that supports public television, where most of the visual arts programs appear, is now being threatened with severe cuts, as a result the attendance of the city’s art museums will also start to decrease. Therefore, some of the city’s funds for supporting the arts should be reallocated to public television.
Firstly, I agree with this argument in general. Television programs about the visual arts have increased the number of visitors of the city’s art museums. People prefer watching television programs about visual arts than other type of program. Visual arts include topics such as painting, drawing, photography, film making, architecture, printmaking, ceramics and sculpture. People are interested in visual arts more than they were before and wish to pursue their careers in this field. As a result, the number of visitors of the city’s art museums has increased greatly. The revenues and profits of the city’s art museums have also improved.
However, there will be fewer number of people as the corporate funding which supports public television are now being threatened with severe cuts. The attendance of the city’s art museums will decrease. This can be controlled if the city’s funds for supporting the arts are reallocated to public television. Public television is the main source of information regarding visual arts. If the city’s funds are reallocated to public television then the attendance would not decrease and everything would be balanced.
In conclusion, in order to control the number of viewers visiting the museum, the city’s funds should be reallocated to public television as it is the main source of information through which people get to know about the visual arts. Public television has increased the number of visitors of the city’s art museums during the past five years. The number of visitors can continue to increase if the city’s funds are reallocated to public television.