In general, jobs are harder to get in times of economic recession because many businesses cut back operations. However, any future recessions in Vargonia will probably not reduce the availability of teaching jobs at government-funded schools. This is because Vargonia has just introduced a legal requirement that education in government-funded schools be available, free of charge, to all Vargonian children regardless of the state of the economy, and that current student-teacher ratios not be exceeded.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

A. The current student-teacher ratio at Vargonia’s government-funded schools is higher than it was during the most recent period of economic recession.
B. During recent periods when the Vargonian economy has been strong, almost 25 percent of Vargonian children have attended privately funded schools, many of which charge substantial fees.
C. Nearly 20 percent more teachers are currently employed in Vargonia’s government-funded schools than had been employed in those schools in the period before the last economic recession.
D. Teachers in Vargonia’s government-funded schools are well paid relative to teachers in most privately funded schools in Vargonia, many of which rely heavily on part-time teachers.
E. During the last economic recession in Vargonia, the government permanently closed a number of the schools that it had funded.

Please explain.

why?

The conclusion is "any future recessions in vargonia will not reduce the availability of teaching jobs at government funded schools"

We want something that strenthens this conclusion.

A. The current student-teacher ratio at Vargonia’s government-funded schools is higher than it was during the most recent period of economic recession.
- High student-teacher ratio after a recession suggests loss of teaching jobs.

B. During recent periods when the Vargonian economy has been strong, almost 25 percent of Vargonian children have attended privately funded schools, many of which charge substantial fees.
- Out of scope

C. Nearly 20 percent more teachers are currently employed in Vargonia’s government-funded schools than had been employed in those schools in the period before the last economic recession.
- This one strenthens the claim that availability of teaching jobs will not be affected by recessions.

D. Teachers in Vargonia’s government-funded schools are well paid relative to teachers in most privately funded schools in Vargonia, many of which rely heavily on part-time teachers.
- Out of scope

E. During the last economic recession in Vargonia, the government permanently closed a number of the schools that it had funded.
- Not important.

C it is.

from nocilis's query it looks like the OA is (C).

I liked (B).

(C) has many problems. First percentages dont say much. Second we dont know if Vargonia is in recesson now. Just that before prev recession say 100 teachers were present now there are 120 teachers. This does not say much.

I was looking for some assumptions here, to strengthen the argument, such as
1) more students switch to free education when economy dwindles
2) more students go to school rather than work part time somewhere to support family etc when the economy dwindles.

I actually don't have the OA for this. I was merely asking for a reason why C was chosen.

People might pounce on me after reading this.

In general, jobs are harder to get in times of economic recession because many businesses cut back operations.
-------> it is possible that schools might get closed assuming people dont have money to spend for schools, number of students declines, school revenue goes down, and schools get closed. Basically schools are being run as businesses.

Now if the schools are not run as businesses and education is free then students wont quit and it is possible that those people who are in private schools might turn to public schools. There is atleast some possibility that number of students will increase. Since student ratio has to remain same, number of teachers will have to increase.

Assume all the students in vargonia attended public schools then there would be no increase in student population at public schools and to maintain the student to teacher ration there would be no need to add extra teachers.

To strengthern the argument we have to show that there are students in private schools.

This is my logic.

(C) can be shot down saying the student population has increased.

In C, the future is implied in the sentence.

Currently (now) --> Nearly 20% more teachers employed than the last rescession. So the future in the sentence is the current moment, as it's compared to a previous recession.

Hmm

C. Nearly 20 percent more teachers are currently employed in Vargonia’s government-funded schools than had been employed in those schools in the period before the last economic recession.


I just think that population increase might have contributed to this growth because the first figure is just before the recession and now we dont know we have recession or not.
One way (C) could be strengthened is that student population increased and to maintain the student/teacher ratio more teachers were hired and hence now the figure is 20% more.

If this is true then I didnt understand why the education has to be free. One reason could be that if education is free then more eligible students will enroll.

I am out of explanations now and the biggest pain is nocilis does not know the OA.

Again, I don't have the OA for this, sorry.

Fact: Gov funded schools are available to all children, and the student-teacher ratio should not be exceeded.
Claim: Any resession will not reduce the teaching jobs at gov funded schools.

From the link of facts to conclusion I could get the author's assumption (not mine) that the number of children going to public school is not going to decrease during the future recessions.

Ask for strengthen.

A. The current student-teacher ratio at Vargonia’s government-funded schools is higher than it was during the most recent period of economic recession.
That's kind of irrelevant.

B. During recent periods when the Vargonian economy has been strong, almost 25 percent of Vargonian children have attended privately funded schools, many of which charge substantial fees.
This is very interesting. In a recession people may have less income so less likely to send their children to private schools. In other words more children would go to public schools. This couples with the student teacher ratio requirement would garentee that public school teacher positions not decreased (assuming total school age population does not shrink drastically in any future recessions).

C. Nearly 20 percent more teachers are currently employed in Vargonia’s government-funded schools than had been employed in those schools in the period before the last economic recession.
Irrelevant.

D. Teachers in Vargonia’s government-funded schools are well paid relative to teachers in most privately funded schools in Vargonia, many of which rely heavily on part-time teachers.
Irrelevant.

E. During the last economic recession in Vargonia, the government permanently closed a number of the schools that it had funded.
Again, irrelevant.

(B)