GetThisDone wrote:
Parent: The city education department is unable to distinguish between annoyances and important problems. For instance, prohibiting students from having cell phones is an overreaction. If a student uses one and thus interferes with instruction, confiscate it. All in all, we need educational leadership that can solve problems, not create them. Which of the following is an assumption made by the parent?
A) Students having cell phones does not constitute an important problem for the city schools.
B) Students have no need for cell phones in school.
C) Faculty and staff should be allowed to possess cell phones.
D) Students need to have cell phones because some of them have no stay-at-home parent.
E) An interest in solving problems is the most important attribute of an educational leader.
Main CR Qs link - Main link -
https://gmatclub.com/forum/cr-qs-600-700 ... 31508.htmlResponding to a pm:
- The city education department is unable to distinguish between annoyances and important problems.
- Prohibiting cell phones is an overreaction. If a student uses one and thus interferes with instruction, confiscate it.
- All in all, we need educational leadership that can solve problems, not create them.
The entire argument is the author's opinion so we cannot split the argument into premises and conclusion. We are looking for the assumption made here.
A) Students having cell phones does not constitute an important problem for the city schools.
The author assumes that cell phones are annoyances and not important problems. He goes on to say that prohibiting cell phones is an overreaction (because cell phones are annoyances). Hence, this is an assumption.
B) Students have no need for cell phones in school.
The author seems to say that students should be allowed to keep cell phones. So he certainly doesn't believe that students do not need cell phones in school.
C) Faculty and staff should be allowed to possess cell phones.
There is no discussion on faculty and staff. Irrelevant.
D) Students need to have cell phones because some of them have no stay-at-home parent.
We might buy in to the first part of this sentence but the second part makes it completely wrong. The author does not assume any particular reason for students to possess cell phones. There is no way we can say that he thinks having cell phones is important because of no stay-at-home parents. Hence, there is no need to think about it further. Incorrect.
E) An interest in solving problems is the most important attribute of an educational leader.
The argument does not assume anything about what is the "most important" attribute of an educational leader. Irrelevant.
Answer (A)