#1 Analyze an issue task:

Governments should invest as much in the arts as they do in the military.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree
with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In
developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in whi
ch adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain ho
w these examples shape your position.
Both military and art are important for a country. Although, the amount of inves
tment that a government does in one of these areas cannot be used to justify the
amount of investment done in another. This is because the amount of support bot
h of these fields need is dependent on a variety of factors.
First, the military or defence strategy of a country depends on multiple aspects
about the country. If a country has a huge land, maritime or aerospace border,
it would require a large number of military personnel to monitor and protect the
border as compared to a small country. Also, the relations with the neighboring
nations is a prime factor, that is used to determine the amount of military pre
paredness required by a country. Hence, a small country which has friendly diplo
matic relations with all of its adjacent countries will not need a substantial a
rmy. Whereas, a large country, bordered by hostile nations would need a substant
ial militray force to protect its people from any form of aggression. As the siz
e of the military increases, so does the cost of supporting and maintaining it.
Second, arts are generally independent of these restrictions. Arts are affected
by the socio-cultural heritage of a nation. Also, they are generally attributed
to individuals and not countries. The amount of investment a governement does in
arts depends on multiple attributes. On of these attributes is the number of es
tablished and new artists working in the country. Since, the number of such arti
sts is generally very small as compared to the number of military and security p
ersonnel employed by the country, it would not be proper to invest an equal amou
nt in arts as compared to that in the miltary.
Although, it is essential for a country to preserve and promote its artistic her
itage. This is primarily because, it reflects the amount of personal freedom of
its citizens and helps in forming a national identity. So, the investment in art
can be done in the form of, opening art schools, institutions and training cent
ers. Also, investment can be done in sponsoring art exhibitions.
In summary, the amount of investment in military or arts is not linked. It depen
ds on the individual situation of a country.
#2 Analyze an argument task:
A recent study indicates that children living in the Himalayan mountain region i
n Nepal have lower levels of tooth decay than children living in suburban areas
in the United States, despite the fact that people in the Himalayan mountain reg
ion in Nepal receive little to no professional dental care, while people in subu
rban areas in the United States see a dentist an average of 1.25 times per year.
Thus, regular dental care is not helpful in preventing tooth decay.
Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that
could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can pla
usibly account for the facts presented in the argument.
The explanation states that children living in Himalayan mountain region of Nepa
l have lower levels of tooth decay as compared to those living in suburban Unite
d States (US). Since, children in suburban US have access to a dentist, a claim

is made that regular dental care is ineffective against tooth decay. The reasoni
ng presented in the argument is not sufficient to arrive at the claimed conclusi
on. The facts stated can have multiple alternative explainations.
First, 'lower' tooth decay cannot be used to quantify the difference in the amou
nt of toothdecay between children living in Himalayan Nepal and suburban US. If
the differenc between the tooth decay is not significant, than the claim of inef
fective regular dental care becomes unjustified. Moreover, it is stated that peo
ple in suburban areas of US have an average of 1.25 dentist visits a year. This
statistic cannot be used to infer that every 'child' in suburban US visits a den
tist more than once in a year. It could be possible that the majority of people
in suburban US, who visit dentists are not children, but middle aged and older p
eople. Also, it may be the case that people from the financially strong upper cl
ass visit the dentist very often whereas the middle and lower classes don't visi
t the dentist at all.
Second, it is possible that children in US have access to food stuff that leads
to tooth decay, whereas those in Nepal don't have access to such foods. For exam
ple, the soda pop could be the prefered beverage of children in the US, which ca
uses high amount of tooth decay because of an excess of sugar present in it. Suc
h soft drinks might be difficult to find in the Himalayan regions, and thus the
majority of the children do not drink them. This can be a probable casue for the
low amount of tooth decay in children living in the Himalayan regions.
Third, there is a possibility that people living in the high altitudes of Himala
yan Nepal have developed an genetic immunity towards tooth decay over the years,
whereas those in suburban US have not. One can also attribute the difference in
geographical and environmental conditions to the low tooth decay in Nepal and h
igh in suburban US. It can be the case that majority of the germs that cause too
th decay cannot survive at higher altitudes with lower levels of oxygen like tha
t in the Himalayas, whereas they thrive in suburban US.
In summary, the facts mentioned in the argument can be attributed to many other
explainations than those.