Sample argumentative essay: A University in Every Town
Topic Sentence 1
Thesis Statement
The Turkish government is planning on opening 15 new universities in developing provinces of Turkey. This is a response to pressure coming from local Members of Parliament who in turn have voiced the demands of their constituencies. Admittedly, education is essential and to educate or provide opportunity to educate is indeed a noble mission. However, as the already existing 85 universities in Turkey wrestle with recruitment and financial difficulties, it does not seem to be a good idea to add new universities to the system of higher education.
Topic Sentence 2
First of all, the new universities will very likely experience staffing problems. That is, they will have difficulty finding faculty members that are qualified to teach in these budding universities. The truth cannot be put aside that in Turkey, the number of academicians who meet international academic requirements is limited. New universities will have two choices: either to draw from the existing pool or to employ under-qualified people. The existing instructors may be sufficiently qualified but they are also employed by other universities. To draw them over would mean that vacant spots are being left at their original positions. This is bound to affect the general quality of education in Turkey. Should the new universities choose instead to employ local professionals or new and under qualified instructors, then the same end result can be expected.
In addition to recruitment problems, small town universities are almost destined to have financial difficulties. The funds allocated to them by the state governments will not be enough to build from scratch all the facilities that are required to establish a university of professional academic and international standard. A university involves more than just a few classrooms. Students will need dorms, gyms, cafeterias, sports facilities, labs and computers for their...