Members of the staff at the local daycare suggest that parents would

Question

Members of the staff at the local daycare suggest that parents would have more incentive to pick up their children on time if the parents were assessed a fine after arriving more than 10 minutes late to pick up their children. 
 
Which of the following, assuming that it is a realistic possibility, argues the most strongly against the effectiveness of the suggestion above?

(A) By replacing social norms with market norms, fines might induce parents to weigh the “costs” of picking their children up late and, as a result, to frequently choose to be late.

(B) There might be irreconcilable disagreements among the daycare staff about whether the late fines should be imposed.

(C) Late fines might cause some parents to enroll their children in other daycares.

(D) Removing the late fine policy might actually increase the number of tardy pick-ups.

(E) Some parents might pick up their children late no matter what level of fine is imposed against them.

This question is a part of QOTD Question Collection

Senthil7 · Accepted Answer

Premise in Short :- Staff in a certain daycare centre observe that parents pick up their children late and decide that a fine be imposed for late pick ups.
Conclusion : Imposition of a fine would incentivize parents to pick up their children on time.

(A) By replacing social norms with market norms, fines might induce parents to weigh the “costs” of picking their children up late and, as a result, to frequently choose to be late.[b] - This is correct in my view. This weakens the argument to the greatest extent by justifying why a social responsibility if expressed in terms of a money-bearing duty would ultimately result in parents selectively picking up their children late depending on whether they see it as a loss or a trade-off for any of their alternative / primary source of income for which they work or use the late time for. This clearly attacks the conclusion of imposing fine = incentivizing the act of picking up children on time by parents , as the moment they begin to weigh financial benefits vs loss they may go either way! [/b]
(B) There might be irreconcilable disagreements among the daycare staff about whether the late fines should be imposed - This does not necessarily strengthen or weaken the above argument as this is merely a possible disagreement among the staffs and bears no effect.
(C) Late fines might cause some parents to enroll their children in other daycares - Broadens the scope of the argument / conclusion hence not relevant.
(D) Removing the late fine policy might actually increase the number of tardy pick-ups - paraphrases the conclusion hence wrong answer.
(E) Some parents might pick up their children late no matter what level of fine is imposed against them - The use of the word "some parents" again does not weaken the conclusion as it may also imply that many of the parents may give in to the fine system picking up their children on time while only some of them are always late. Wrong Answer.
.

Hope this explains in lucid detail! If this is the OA and if the explanations have helped someone please give kudos :-)

sun01 · Answer

Members of the staff at the local daycare suggest that parents would have more incentive to pick up their children on time if the parents were assessed a fine after arriving more than 10 minutes late to pick up their children.

Which of the following, assuming that it is a realistic possibility, argues the most strongly against the effectiveness of the suggestion above?

(A) By replacing social norms with market norms, fines might induce parents to weigh the “costs” of picking their children up late and, as a result, to frequently choose to be late. --  Correct 
(B) There might be irreconcilable disagreements among the daycare staff about whether the late fines should be imposed. --  Not relevant 
(C) Late fines might cause some parents to enroll their children in other daycares. --  otherways around. No 
(D) Removing the late fine policy might actually increase the number of tardy pick-ups.--  Support 
(E) Some parents might pick up their children late no matter what level of fine is imposed against the-  No impact

Abhishek009 · Answer

Incentive to Pick Up children = a fine for those arriving more than 10 minutes late...

Among the given options (A) seems the best...

If Cost of picking up Late ( Say $10 per hour ) < Cost of picking up Children on time ( Say $15 per hour ) then parents will regularly like to pay late fine...

Further the option suggest replacing late fine with any other kind of penalty which might have some social fines , for the effectiveness of the proposed plan.

So, (A) is the best for this case !!

Carcass · Answer

OA revealed. Thanks for the discussion. Give kudo.

Regards

vaibhav1221 · Answer

Only A seems to be relevant here.
Option B is irrelevant
Option C can be misleading because its weakening something (imposition of late fee would give an incentive to parents to shift their children to other day cares but that is not what we are looking for. We want something that would say that even after imposition of late fee, parents wont come on time.)
Option D is strengthening the argument.
Option E can be a trap - it is weakening the thing that needs to be weakened, BUT it has the word "Some" and this is not a good weakener (or a good strengthener) because it does not represent a good % of people i.e it represents less than 50% of the parents in consideration.

warrior1991 · Answer

I did not get why A is correct although all others seem to be out of context .Please explain A .

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aragonn · Answer

Above given explanation are enough, but I am trying from my side. Hope it will be helpful. Raise your doubt if any.

Premise :
1. Parents are making late pick-ups from day care.
2. Day-care guys has a proposal - How about put a late fees for such pick-ups.
3. Author sayd this will not work and we need to find of something to solidify our conclusion.

Pre-thinking: 
So parents know that they will be charged late fees and still they come late. means they are ok with such kind of fees. Even after fine they feel comfortable in getting late.

Which of the following, assuming that it is a realistic possibility, argues the most strongly against the effectiveness of the suggestion above?

(A) By replacing social norms with market norms, fines might induce parents to weigh the “costs” of picking their children up late and, as a result, to frequently choose to be late. ---- This choice is asking that Will fine change the behavior of parents getting late ? well clearly they don't want to change their behavior. This is the best choice among all.
(B) There might be irreconcilable disagreements among the daycare staff about whether the late fines should be imposed. --- well this does not seem any ways effective on argument.
(C) Late fines might cause some parents to enroll their children in other daycares. --- so this choice has removed the condition altogether, I will not choice this choice unless some better choice is present. we need to look for effectiveness of proposal but if no day care then no proposal. So A is still better choice.
(D) Removing the late fine policy might actually increase the number of tardy pick-ups. --- This choice is saying that pickup fee is good and removing it is going to cause us more trouble.
(E) Some parents might pick up their children late no matter what level of fine is imposed against them. --- This is really absurd choice. on Daily basis no one wants to delay. Also some parents are not the problem most of them who are making late pickups are. so this option is not correct.

warrior1991 · Answer

I am not convinced about your reasoning on option A.   
 I think option A says that suppose late pick up charge is 10$. 
If parents are working somewhere and they have to leave a task in between (task value is of 20$) to pick up their child on time ,they would assess the the “costs” of picking their children and would be happy to come late and pay fee of 10$ because they earned the 20$ in task. Overall they gained 10$ even after paying 10$ as late pickup fine (20$-10$).

Consider the other scenario if the parents would have picked up their child on time, they would have not paid those 10$ but would have lost 20$ which they would have earned in task they were doing.Overall it was a loss for them.

aragonn · Answer

So one way you have eliminated all the possibilities other then profit and loss. People do things beyond profit and loss too. I think you have assumed in wrong direction. think in the direction that these parents are sick wealthy , what then, Do you think still they will care for 10-20$. What if such parents are late for social cause /norms , business meeting. Many things can be considered. Although I agree that if in place of A if profit/loss statement was given, I would have opt for it. But in this case A presents the best case possible. Hope it helped. Please don't hesitate to ask. I will be happy to help you.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Members of the staff at the local daycare suggest that parents would

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