Ms. Campbell: Requiring students to pay for extracurricular activities

Question

Ms. Campbell: Requiring students to pay for extracurricular activities will not make our program better. It would only produce an unequal distribution of students along socioeconomic lines, and that would defeat the purpose of the program, which is to make these activities available to all students.

Ms. Martin: But these programs are being cut all the time due to lack of funding.

The best assessment of the role of Ms. Martin's response in this argument is that it

A. offers additional evidence for the correctness of Ms. Campbell's conclusion.
B. states one of Ms. Campbell's unspoken assumptions.
C. contradicts Ms. Campbell's claim about the purpose of the program.
D. identifies a weakness in Ms. Campbell's rationale.
E. implies that Ms. Campbell's conclusion is correct, but not for the reasons given.

tenben · Answer

Official Answer awaited but my reasons for choosing D is as follows:-
Ms. C:-Requiring students to pay for extracurricular activities will not make our program better.
premise:-It will produce an unequal distribution of students along socioeconomic lines, and that would defeat the purpose of the program

Ms. M-But these programs are being cut all the time due to lack of funding.

My prethinking so anyways these programs are not benefitting the purpose because of no funds.
Let's dive into the question

A. offers additional evidence for the correctness of Ms. Campbell's conclusion.  It does not offer any evidence to support.

B. states one of Ms. Campbell's unspoken assumptions.  It is not an assumption.

C. contradicts Ms. Campbell's claim about the purpose of the program.  It is not contradicting. It is just saying a fact that weakens the whole purpose

D. identifies a weakness in Ms. Campbell's rationale.  correct. because anyways these programs are not benefitting the purpose coz of no funds.

E. implies that Ms. Campbell's conclusion is correct, but not for the reasons given.   it  is not saying that the conclusion is correct on the contrary it is telling a weakness why the conclusion doesn't work.

oscarpiastri81 · Answer

Why I think it is D - Ms. Martin is mentioning a flaw in the reasoning. If the program itself is scrapped due to insufficient funding, how would it be available at all for all students which is being raised as the primary purpose of these programs.
I was confused between B and D. B because Ms. Campbell assumes funding exists to ensure the programs are available to all but this is a slightly vague reasoning.
D is a more accurate reasoning for this question.

DishaAgarwal12 · Answer

A. Contradicts Campbell
B. We dont know the assumption
C. Doesn't contradict purpose
D. Yes, the weakness is that Campbell doesn't account for programs being cut due to lack of funds
E. No, in fact Campbell's conclusion is not even mentioned

D

Deepsimar · Answer

Hi, can anyone tell why E cannot be the right answer?

As per me, the tone of option E is like Ms. Martin agrees to Ms. Campbell's statement but the reasoning is not apt

guddo · Answer

Ms. Campbell: Requiring students to pay for extracurricular activities will not make our program better. It would only produce an unequal distribution of students along socioeconomic lines, and that would defeat the purpose of the program, which is to make these activities available to all students. 
 
Ms. Martin: But these programs are being cut all the time due to lack of funding. 
 
The best assessment of the role of Ms. Martin's response in this argument is that it

Ms. Campbell argues that charging students would hurt the purpose of the program because the activities are supposed to be available to all students. Ms. Martin responds by pointing out that without funding, the programs are being cut.  So Ms. Martin is showing a weakness in Ms. Campbell’s reasoning : if the activities are cut due to lack of funds, then they may not remain available to all students anyway.

A. offers additional evidence for the correctness of Ms. Campbell's conclusion.

Wrong. Ms. Martin is not supporting Ms. Campbell. She is challenging the reasoning behind Ms. Campbell’s conclusion.

B. states one of Ms. Campbell's unspoken assumptions.

Wrong. Ms. Martin does not state something Ms. Campbell assumes. She raises a problem Ms. Campbell has not addressed.

C. contradicts Ms. Campbell's claim about the purpose of the program.

Wrong. Ms. Martin does not deny that the purpose is to make activities available to all students.

D. identifies a weakness in Ms. Campbell's rationale.

Correct. Ms. Martin points out that the programs are being cut because of lack of funding. This weakens Ms. Campbell’s argument by suggesting that refusing to charge students may also prevent the program from serving all students.

E. implies that Ms. Campbell's conclusion is correct, but not for the reasons given.

Wrong. Ms. Martin does not imply that Ms. Campbell is correct. She suggests that Ms. Campbell’s position may be impractical.

Answer: (D)

Ms. Campbell: Requiring students to pay for extracurricular activities

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Ms. Campbell: Requiring students to pay for extracurricular activities

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

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My Rewards