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Difficulty:
45%
(medium)
Question Stats:
69% (01:55) correct
31%
(02:14)
wrong
based on 13522
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Vargonia has just introduced a legal requirement that student-teacher ratios in government-funded schools not exceed a certain limit. All Vargonian children are entitled to education, free of charge, in these schools. When a recession occurs and average incomes fall, the number of children enrolled in government-funded schools tends to increase. Therefore, though most employment opportunities contract in economic recessions, getting a teaching job in Vargonia's government-funded schools will not be made more difficult by a recession.
Which of the following would be most important to determine in order to evaluate the argument?
(A) Whether in Vargonia there are any schools not funded by the government that offer children an education free of charge
(B) Whether the number of qualified applicants for teaching positions in government-funded schools increases significantly during economic recessions
(C) What the current student-teacher ratio in Vargonia's government-funded schools is
(D) What proportion of Vargonia's workers currently hold jobs as teachers in government-funded schools
(E) Whether in the past a number of government funded schools in Vargonia have had student teacher ratios well in excess of the new limit
Which of the following would be most important to determine in order to evaluate the argument?
(A) Whether in Vargonia there are any schools not funded by the government that offer children an education free of charge
(B) Whether the number of qualified applicants for teaching positions in government-funded schools increases significantly during economic recessions
(C) What the current student-teacher ratio in Vargonia's government-funded schools is
(D) What proportion of Vargonia's workers currently hold jobs as teachers in government-funded schools
(E) Whether in the past a number of government funded schools in Vargonia have had student teacher ratios well in excess of the new limit
28 Jun 2012, 14:21
Kudos
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This is a tricky question. We want to make sure we do not lose track of the conclusion, which can basically be boiled down to: in a recession getting a teaching job at Vergonia's government-funded schools will not become difficult.
Vargonia has just introduced a legal requirement that student-teacher ratios in government-funded schoolsnot exceed a certain limit. All Vargonian children are entitled to education, free of charge, in these schools. When a recession occurs and average incomes fall, the number of children enrolled in government-funded schools tends to increase. Therefore, though most employment opportunities contract in economic recessions, getting a teaching job in Vargonia's government-funded schools will not be made more difficult by a recession.
Which of the following would be most important to determine in order to evaluate the argument?
(A) Whether in Vargonia there are any schools not funded by the government that offer children an education free of charge
Schools that are not government-funded are irrelevant to the argument.
(B) Whether the number of qualified applicants for teaching positions in government-funded schools increases significantly during economic recessions
Here we have a reason that undermines the conclusion. If everybody is applying for a job at Vergonia's schools during a recession, getting a job there will not be easy. The assumption in the argument is that the increased demand for teachers will not be met with an increased supply of teachers. (B) exposes this assumption. Thus, in evaluating the argument, we need to know whether government-funded schools are inundated with a supply of teachers.
(C) What the current student-teacher ratio in Vargonia's government-funded schools is
This knowledge does not address the conclusion.
(D) What proportion of Vargonia's workers currently hold jobs as teachers in government-funded schools
Knowledge of the number of workers in Vargonia who currently work at government schools will not help us determine the validity of the conclusion. We need an answer choice that addresses the questions: Will it be easy to get a job at government-related schools in a recession.
(E) Whether in the past a number of government funded schools in Vargonia have had student teacher ratios well in excess of the new limit
Again, this answer choice does not help us address the conclusion.
Vargonia has just introduced a legal requirement that student-teacher ratios in government-funded schoolsnot exceed a certain limit. All Vargonian children are entitled to education, free of charge, in these schools. When a recession occurs and average incomes fall, the number of children enrolled in government-funded schools tends to increase. Therefore, though most employment opportunities contract in economic recessions, getting a teaching job in Vargonia's government-funded schools will not be made more difficult by a recession.
Which of the following would be most important to determine in order to evaluate the argument?
(A) Whether in Vargonia there are any schools not funded by the government that offer children an education free of charge
Schools that are not government-funded are irrelevant to the argument.
(B) Whether the number of qualified applicants for teaching positions in government-funded schools increases significantly during economic recessions
Here we have a reason that undermines the conclusion. If everybody is applying for a job at Vergonia's schools during a recession, getting a job there will not be easy. The assumption in the argument is that the increased demand for teachers will not be met with an increased supply of teachers. (B) exposes this assumption. Thus, in evaluating the argument, we need to know whether government-funded schools are inundated with a supply of teachers.
(C) What the current student-teacher ratio in Vargonia's government-funded schools is
This knowledge does not address the conclusion.
(D) What proportion of Vargonia's workers currently hold jobs as teachers in government-funded schools
Knowledge of the number of workers in Vargonia who currently work at government schools will not help us determine the validity of the conclusion. We need an answer choice that addresses the questions: Will it be easy to get a job at government-related schools in a recession.
(E) Whether in the past a number of government funded schools in Vargonia have had student teacher ratios well in excess of the new limit
Again, this answer choice does not help us address the conclusion.
15 Jul 2013, 05:26
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rohanGmat
Hi Rohan,
Let me try to address your doubt.
In all argument questions, it is very important to understand the conclusion very thoroughly. Let's look at the conclusion here:
Therefore, though most employment opportunities contract in economic recessions, getting a teaching job in Vargonia's government-funded schools will not be made more difficult by a recession.
Pay attention to the key words here: "more" and "not difficult"
"More" implies we are making a comparison. Comparison of what? Comparison of two time periods - recession and normal periods.
"Not difficult" means that job opportunities per applicant will not decrease during the recession. It does not mean that it will rise during the recession. So, anything which suggests that opportunities will not rise during recession is not a weakener because the conclusion is not talking about increase in opportunities.
However, anything that suggests that opportunities will decrease during the recession is a valid weakener.
Now, let's look at option C:
(C) What the current student-teacher ratio in Vargonia's government-funded schools is?
As your rightly observed, if the teacher-student ratio is very low, then the schools may not need to hire during the recession. But does that weaken the conclusion? Does this mean that the job opportunities will decline during recession? The answer is No. If the ratio is low, then the schools don't have requirement both in the normal and the recessionary periods. So, there is no decline in opportunities during recession. In case of low ratio, it would only mean that opportunities may not rise during recession; however, that would not weaken the argument as we understood before.
Now, let's look at option B:
(B) Whether the number of qualified applicants for teaching positions in government-funded schools increases significantly during economic recessions
This option specifically creates a difference between normal and recession periods. It says that during recessions, the number of applicants for teaching positions increases significantly. So, even if new jobs are created because of additional students, it may not make the job easier to get since the number of applicants has also increased. So, even if the supply of jobs increases, it will not make job easier to get because the demand would also increase.
Does this help?
Thank you.
Chiranjeev
are you serious ... please pray that GMAC starts providing approx 4 this kinda options with the right one .....
