School children who are punished by their teachers for not

Question

School children who are punished by their teachers for not paying attention are, nevertheless, caught again and again for inattention. On the other hand, children punished for copying other student's answers during tests usually do not repeat the punished behavior. It appears that while punishment is ineffective in changing the behavior of inattentive children, it does convince cheaters that their behavior was wrong and that they should not cheat anymore. 

This conclusion would be weakened the most by which of the following?

A) Known cheaters are usually reseated in the back of the class by themselves.
B) Studies indicate that cheaters are seldom punished by their teachers.
C) The proportion of inattentive students punished for their inattentiveness is larger than the proportion of cheaters punished for their cheating.
D) Cheaters whose punishment is reduced go back to cheating somewhat more than cheaters who undergo their entire punishment.
E) Cheaters are not usually inattentive, and inattentive students seldom cheat.

12345678 · Answer

i'll go for D

Beyond700 · Answer

M choice is 'A'

dwivedys · Answer

A directly attacks the conclusioin that it is because of the punishment that the cheaters have stopped cheating by giving an alternative explanation to the behavior.

ColumbiaDream · Answer

Pick A.

Explanation: The argument states that cheaters do not repeat cheating and so, the punishment has worked on them.
A tells us that they sit in the back of the room. THus, because of their location in the room, it could just be that they are not caught anymore or whatever reason. Hence, A weakens the conclusion.

trivikram · Answer

Where does it say in the stem that poisitions in the class influence punishment .

I think A cannot be the answer....

My guess is B for this

stolyar · Answer

Official answer is A.

GMAT TIGER · Answer

stolyar, first of all, sorry for cheating your avatar. pls do not punish me. :wink:

next, how do we know that sitting in the back is difficult to detect cheating. IMO, it should be B, which says that cheaters are rarely punished i.e means if they are rarely punished, they could still be cheating.

Beyond700 · Answer

The challenge here is to find that added information which is not originally given in the passage and when added or included in, it would hence weeken the author's conclusion.

GMAT TIGER · Answer

Again how do we know that reseating in the back makes it less likely to be caught/punished by the teachers?

Beyond700 · Answer

Conclusion as copied below 
  On the other hand, children punished for copying other student's answers during tests  usually do not repeat the punished behavior . It appears that while punishment is ineffective in changing the behavior of inattentive children, it does  convince cheaters that their behavior was wrong  and that they should not cheat anymore.  

Those marked in red defines the conclusion : Students realise their mistakes and don't cheat anymore. 

The above conclusion is only valid if there is any moment of opportunity for them to cheat. If they don't have any then there is no clear evidence that they will not cheat if given one.

stolyar · Answer

Official explanation:

(A) If this alternative were true, the argument for the effectiveness of punishment would be seriously weakened, as the cheaters may only modify their behavior because the opportunity for copying is greatly reduced. This is the correct choice. B) This argument is irrelevant to the conclusion that punishment is effective. The question is not how often the children are punished, but how effective is the punishment when administered. C) Again, the argument is irrelevant to the conclusion, which addresses the effectiveness, not the prevalence of punishment. D) This seems to be plausible alternative, but it sidesteps the issue and addresses the amount of the punishment rather than the relative effectiveness. It does not weaken the conclusion. E) This is not directly relevant to the conclusion.

School children who are punished by their teachers for not

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