In 2001, a local high school implemented a new program designed to

Question

In 2001, a local high school implemented a new program designed to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy. The program, however, failed to produce the desired result. If the program had been successful, the dropout rate for female students would not have increased substantially in 2001.

The argument in the passage would be most seriously weakened if it were true that

A. the number of female students in the school has remained constant for the past decade

B. nationwide, the teen pregnancy rate and the female high school dropout rate both increased significantly in 2001

C. some female students who dropped out were pregnant at the time

D. many female high school dropouts said that poor economic conditions forced them to leave school and find jobs

E. the school also implemented a program designed to reduce the incidence of drug use among teenagers in 2001

This is a  CR Butler Question

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kb26 · Answer

The argument reasons that teenage pregnancy was behind increase in drop out rates. Only option D provides an alternative reason for the drop outs. So, D should be the answer.

A. eliminates the reason groups before and after were not similar - so it strengthen instead of weaken
B. It provides nationwide data on pregnancy and dropout correlation - so it also strengthen somewhat
C. It also directly correlates - so strengthening
E. drug use is irrelevant to the argument.

Vivek1707 · Answer

A. The number of students doesn't tell us why the dropout rate increased.
B. Nationwide trends don't explain what caused the increase at this particular school.
C. Some dropouts being pregnant actually supports a connection between pregnancy and dropping out.
D. If many girls dropped out because they needed to work due to poor economic conditions, then the increased dropout rate could have happened for reasons completely unrelated to teenage pregnancy. This weakens the argument.
E. The drug-use program doesn't explain the female dropout increase.

SwethaReddyL · Answer

Conclusion : If the program had been successful, the dropout rate for female students would not have increased substantially in 2001

Question type is weaken

GAP: The premise says that the program is designed to reduce the incidence of teen pregnancy, but the conclusion generalized the student's drop out without giving a reason.

A. the number of female students in the school has remained constant for the past decade - the number says nothing about the reason

B. nationwide, the teen pregnancy rate and the female high school dropout rate both increased significantly in 2001 - ok, but that doesn't weakens our conclusion

C. some female students who dropped out were pregnant at the time - this actually strengthens the conclusion

D. many female high school dropouts said that poor economic conditions forced them to leave school and find jobs - this gives us the OTHER reason for the dropout, that does says nothing about the inefficiency of the program

E. the school also implemented a program designed to reduce the incidence of drug use among teenagers in 2001 - irrelevant

Correct answer: Option D

Thanks,
Swetha

TheAdmissionHub · Answer

In 2001, a local high school implemented a new program designed to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy. The program, however, failed to produce the desired result. If the program had been successful, the dropout rate for female students would not have increased substantially in 2001. 
 
 The argument in the passage would be most seriously weakened if it were true that

A. the number of female students in the school has remained constant for the past decade 
 Wrong:  past decade is out of scope, we are focused in the 2001 new program
 B. nationwide, the teen pregnancy rate and the female high school dropout rate both increased significantly in 2001 
 Wrong:  support conclusion
 C. some female students who dropped out were pregnant at the time 
 Wrong:  support conclusion
 D. many female high school dropouts said that poor economic conditions forced them to leave school and find jobs 
 Correct:  introduces another reason. not dropout because pregnancy, but because of economic conditions.
 E. the school also implemented a program designed to reduce the incidence of drug use among teenagers in 2001 
 Wrong:   another program doesn't have effect on the conclusion

counterclash1 · Answer

Correct Answer: D

- Premise: Female dropout rates increased substantially in 2001.
- Conclusion: The new program to reduce teenage pregnancy failed.
- Assumption: The increase in female dropouts was driven primarily by teenage pregnancies.

(A) Confirms total enrollment was stable; rules out denominator shifts, mildly strengthening.
(B) Shows national alignment between pregnancy and dropouts; supports the author's correlation.
(C) Confirms pregnancy was present among dropouts; strengthens or is neutral.
 (D) CORRECT. Provides an alternate cause (economic necessity / finding jobs) for the increase in female dropouts, breaking the author's assumption that dropouts = pregnancies. 
(E) Mentioning another unrelated program (drug use) is out of scope.

Taidaishar · Answer

Conclusion - if the program had been successful, the dropout rate for female students would not have increased substantially in 2001.

We need to weaken this, or prove that even if the program had been successful, the dropout rate for female students would have increased substantially.

A. the number of female students in the school has remained constant for the past decade - implies that the number of female students remained the same, and the incidence did not increase because the number of female students had increased. If anything, this strengthens the conclusion.  Eliminated

B. nationwide, the teen pregnancy rate and the female high school dropout rate both increased significantly in 2001 - we're not concerned with what happened nationwide, but if anything, this strengthens.  Eliminated

C. some female students who dropped out were pregnant at the time - but we don't know if they dropped out  because  they were pregnant. And it doesn't do anything to weaken the conclusion.  Eliminated

D. many female high school dropouts said that poor economic conditions forced them to leave school and find jobs - effectively addresses the cause and effect in the conclusion. The cause of the increased dropout rate was economic conditions, not pregnancy. Therefore, even if they program had been successful, the dropout rate would've still increased.  Correct

E. the school also implemented a program designed to reduce the incidence of drug use among teenagers in 2001 - out of scope.  Eliminated

In 2001, a local high school implemented a new program designed to

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In 2001, a local high school implemented a new program designed to