Springfield Central School District's new superintendent

Weaken Question

Springfield Central School District's new superintendent recently instituted a controversial new plan to reduce discipline problems and improve school spirit at the district's secondary schools. After observing that many East Asian countries require students to wear uniforms and that these schools also suffer from dramatically fewer discipline problems than do American schools, the superintendent instituted a mandatory uniform policy in all district secondary schools. Since all students are now required to wear a formal uniform to class, discipline problems should decrease and the students' morale should also improve.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the conclusion of the argument above?

First of all the argument relies heavily on the causal relationship and that is the area where it can be weakend.

A. Many elementary schools that have begun pilot programs with uniforms have seen significant gains in student test scores.
The aim of the school is not to Gain Test Scores.
B. East Asian schools have, on average, no fewer students per instructor than do American schools.
It is a strenghtener but a very subtle strenghtener by eleminating one possible weakener.
C. Springfield Central School District recently instituted a dress code and saw no meaningful improvements in student SAT scores.
SAT Scores is not the scope of the argument.
D. According to the most recent survey, 80% of Springfield Central Secondary School students are against the uniform policy.
not a great weakener because even if the students dislike the uniform policy they wont be dont anything irrational to show their opinion.Also such thing is not specified in the arguement.
E. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean schools use a different standard in their accounting of discipline problems than do American schools.
Correct weakener as it is the standards that are different and just by employing the uniform policy the goal will not be achieved.
NEGATING THE CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP

According to the prompt:

Problem: Increase discipline in Springfield Central School district.
Observation: East Asian countries have fewer discipline problems in their schools supposedly because students are required to wear a uniform.
Solution: Make wearing uniforms a requirement in Springfield Central School district to decrease discipline problems.

We're looking for a statement that weakens the solution listed in the prompt.

A. Many elementary schools that have begun pilot programs with uniforms have seen significant gains in student test scores.
This is a trap answer, we aren't concerned with test scores, only discipline.

B. East Asian schools have, on average, no fewer students per instructor than do American schools.
This actually helps support the argument.

C. Springfield Central School District recently instituted a dress code and saw no meaningful improvements in student SAT scores.
Again, this is a trap answer as we are not concerned with SAT scores.

D. According to the most recent survey, 80% of Springfield Central Secondary School students are against the uniform policy.
This is a trap answer. Although the majority of students are against the uniform policy, it does not indicate any problems with the conclusion of the argument that making students wear uniforms will decrease discipline issues.

E. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean schools use a different standard in their accounting of discipline problems than do American schools.
Bingo! China, Japan and Korea are all East Asian countries. Since they use a different standard in their accounting of discipline problems, the conclusion that requiring uniforms will decrease discipline problems cannot be confidently made.

The correct answer is answer choice E.


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So I understand based on how you are supposed to do this that E is the right answer. My question is 2 fold. First how do we know different doesn't mean that it will strengthen the conclusion. What if you applied the same standard that asian countries use and it actually resulted in even fewer incidents as a result. Second this is a two part conclusion and the second part deals with morale. If the majority of the students dislike the policy that would seem to indicate that morale would be lower, and if it is not than it certainly wouldn't be raised.

To answer your first question, using a "different standard" can strengthen the conclusion. However, we can assume that a "different standard" in this case will call the conclusion into question, especially when we look at all the other answer choices. The question is asking us to look at all the answer choices and find the one that "most seriously calls into question the conclusion," and out of all the answer choices, choice E does a good job of that.

Your second question is a good one. "School Spirit" in the prompt is added to throw you off because the prompt clearly states that the proposed changes are intended to affect discipline, not school spirit. I can see how when reading answer choice D, one can fall into the trap that school spirit will be affected negatively, but the conclusion of the argument doesn't have anything to do with school spirit and instead is all about discipline.

I hope this helps!


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I understand why E is the best choice when taking into consideration the goal of improving discipline but I am a little confused why only discipline is considered here and not the goal to increase students' morale. D clearly points out that morale will decrease if students are forced to wear uniforms although they don't want to. Why is this not relevant?