Our school district should not spend its money on the new Verbal

Question

Our school district should not spend its money on the new Verbal Advantage reading program. After all, our students get all the reading practice they need by studying history and science.

The argument above depends on which the following assumptions?

(A) The Verbal Advantage program would not help the students learn history and science.
(B) Other reading programs are just as effective but less expensive than the Verbal Advantage program.
(C) The Verbal Advantage program involves only reading practice.
(D) Teaching students history and science is more important than teaching them reading skills.
(E) The students can already read well enough to study history and science.

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LamboWalker · Answer

(A) The Verbal Advantage program would not help the students learn history and science. 
We are only concerned with reading practice here, not the knowledge of history and science.

(B) Other reading programs are just as effective but less expensive than the Verbal Advantage program. 
Negation - Even if other programs are not as effective, the argument still stands true.

(C) The Verbal Advantage program involves only reading practice.
Correct. If the opposite of this were true, the whole argument fails.

(D) Teaching students history and science is more important than teaching them reading skills. 
Out of scope.

(E) The students can already read well enough to study history and science. 
Strengthener if anything.

Answer is C

enduser1993 · Answer

IMO - C : Negation technique

conclusion: Our school district should not spend its money on the new Verbal Advantage reading program. 
Premise : All reading skills obtained from that program can be obtained from studying History and science

The Verbal Advantage program involves "not" only reading practice - So there are other benefits of verbal program. Hence spending is ok.

riyabatra2206 · Answer

How is C correct?

Option C - The Verbal Advantage program involves only reading practice.
Negated - The Verbal Advantage program does NOT involve only reading practice.
The question says "Verbal Advantage READING program". So how can there be other things taught in the program apart from reading?

IMO it should be E.
E when negated - The students CANNOT already read well enough to study history and science. If they cannot read well enough already, the conclusion that the school should not spend its money on the new Verbal Advantage reading program would break as this would clearly indicate that the students need more reading practice than are already receiving by studying history and science.

SirSanguine · Answer

E is definitely an assumption.

Its negation ie students cant read well enough to study history concludes the need of a verbal advantage program.

For C to be the favorable choice it should have additional info such as:

(C) The Verbal Advantage program involves only reading practice, which is not of a higher level than that from the history textbooks.

Nayaab24 · Answer

Option E is no less than a conclusion. On the other hand, C safely assumes that Verbal program is more than developing reading skills. Hence, C

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Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The correct answer is (C).

The argument boils down to the following, including the unstated assumption provided by choice (C):

Premise : Students get enough reading practice already.
 Unstated assumption (choice C) : The program provides only reading practice.
 Conclusion : The program is unnecessary.

None of the other four choices provides the necessary assumption.

SkyBulb · Answer

negation of E works fine too?

they cant read -> they are not getting reading practice -> they need the program

AbhishekP220108 · Answer

Hi  SkyBulb  let me help with this

Premise- Studying history and science gives students all the "reading practice" they need
Conclusion- The school district should not spend money on the Verbal Advantage reading program.

What is the gap? The author assumes VARP is not going to give an advantage other than reading practice.

Also the assumption has to be new info and must be true.

Lets compare E and C

As Per E -The students can already read well enough to study history and science. - Ask, "Is this new information?" No, right, the same is already given in the premise; it's just that this option has taken the elements of the argument, which doesn't mean it is an assumption. Secondly, the negation of this is countering our premise: the students are already getting enough reading practice by studying history and science, and if we negate the E, we are saying they cannot read well enough. How can these TWO statements be in the same argument to hold the conclusion true?

Whereas Option C says there is only reading practice benefit from VARP, which is the same as our identified gap.

zitipiti · Answer

The students can already read well enough to study history and science. 
This reverses the causal premise. The argument asserts that students build their reading skills  by  studying history and science, not that they must master reading before taking those classes.

Our school district should not spend its money on the new Verbal

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Our school district should not spend its money on the new Verbal

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