133 Mental health experts have observed that symptoms of men

[Erin]

133. The following appeared in a memorandum written by the chair of the music department to the president of Omega University.

 

“Mental health experts have observed that symptoms of mental illness are less pronounced in many patients after group music therapy sessions, and job openings in the music-therapy field have increased during the past year. Consequently, graduates from our degree program for music therapists should have no trouble finding good positions. To help improve the financial status of Omega University, we should therefore expand our music-therapy degree program by increasing its enrollment targets.”

[lipisruti]

The Chair of Omega University's music dept argues in his memo that Omega can improve its finantial status by increasing its enrollment targets for the current year based on the anecdotal evidence that group music therapy appears to benefit mental health patients and music therapy jobs increased last year. However, in drawing this conclusion, the memo makes several assumptions that are not substantiated by supporting evidence.

 

First, the memo assumes that the increase in music therapy jobs last year is part of a long term trend of increasing jobs in the area of music therapy rather than a one-time increase during a particular year because of specific reasons such as a special study that may have been conducted last year. Furthermore, the memo assumes that the jobs that were created last year are long term career jobs which would be sought after by graduating students rather than undesirable temporary one-time opportunities.

 

Second, the memo assumes that Omega music therapy graduates would easily be able to find the jobs they want. However, he does so without evaluating the comparing the of graduating music therapy students in the country with the number of available jobs. If the demand is less than the supply, and Omega's music therapy program is highly rated, this assumption would not hold true.

 

Perhaps most important, the memo assumes that increasing enrollment targets at Omega will generate the required revenues because more students will enroll at the current cost level. But there is no evidence to indicate that there are more students interested in pursuing a program in music therapy at the current cost of doing so. Increasing targets alone will not result in increased revenues if students are not interested or cannot afford the costs.

 

Thus, the argument has several caveats. The argument could be strengthened if it were shown that the job increase in music therapy area is part of a larger long-term projected increase in job opportunities in the music therapy field, that there is a high demand for Omega music therapy graduates for jobs in the industry, and that there is increased interest among students in pursuing music therapy at Omega at the current cost level. However, in the absence of such supporting evidence, the argument, as it stands, is flawed and weak.

 

In conclusion, I do not find the argument convincing because it confuses chrnonology with causation, and relies upon a number of assumptions which it does not validate with supporting evidence.

[Sach_in]

 

 

The Chair of Omega University's music department has put forth a proposal of expanding the music

 

therapy deree preogram to improve the financial status of the university. The chair has based his

 

opinion on very weak premises. He has quoted statements from metal health experts claiming the

 

reduced sysmstoms of mental illness in many patients after group music therapy. The Chair has not

 

provided any refference to a study conducted in this respect neither has he provided information of

 

the exact source of the experts opinion. Whether it a publsihed opinion or a mere offhand remark

 

made by some expert.

 

Then the Chair has claimed that job openinigs in the music-therapy filed have increased during the

 

past year. This claim would have been substantiated had the Chair presented with a percentage

 

growth relative to the previous years. This does in no way predict an increasing trend in the

 

growth of job oppportunities for music-therapists. Moreover based on this supposition the Chair

 

goes ahead to claim that the graduate students for music therapist should have no trouble finding

 

good positions. The chair has not stated the percentage of previous students that have been able to

 

obtain jobs in the field of music therapy. This claim would have been warranted had the Chair

 

supported it with statistical reference to an increasing trend of music therapists jobs.

 

Conclusively the Chair opines that increasing the enrollment targets to increase the music-therapy

 

degree enrollment will improve the financial status of the University. Herein the chair has made a

 

very nebulous claim, which is not clearly substantialted in the entire memo. A reference to

 

existing demand for music-therapists in the hospitals and other insitutions would have strenthened

 

the claim. Citing data of increased number of enquiries generated for the music-therapy graduate

 

course would have also substatitated the claim to increase the enrollement targets.