Congress is considering a "National Service" program under which high

Question

Congress is considering a "National Service" program under which high school graduates who need federal assistance for college would serve for two years in the military or on a community service program rather than receive and repay a government-sponsored loan. Proponents say that it will show the nation's youth that everyone benefiting from the rights of a democratic society must also recognize his or her responsibilities to that society.

Which one of the following points would be most useful to an opponent of the National Service program?

A. Students who choose not to go to college should not be obligated to participate in a National Service program.

B. Women would have fewer choices of positions in the military.

C. Students well-off enough not to need federal financial assistance could forego National Service.

D. The federal assistance offered by a National Service program would not be adequate to completely pay for a college education.

E. Today's youth are greatly lacking in civic values and social responsibility.

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pudu · Answer

C. Students well-off enough not to need federal financial assistance could forego National Service.

because Congress claim the law is it is to make future generation aware about duties along with rights. So the biggest weakness is something that pointed out some section of the population is excluded from this awareness. Hence C

belanieshaan · Answer

why can't the answer be D , it also point out a flaw in the idea

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Susarla96 · Answer

Let me try to explain why C is better.

Since it is a weaken type question, our goal is to attack the reasoning the author (here, the Proponents of the NSP) used to arrive at their conclusion.

They say, the Program shows the nation's youth that everyone benefitting from the rights of the democratic society must also recognize his/her responsibilities to that society. Note that he program is only for the group of HS grads who need fed assistance for their college. Not everybody is in need of fed money or will join the program --> i.e, you cannot generalise the youth as a whole will enjoy the right of fed assistance/learn their responsibilities.

Option C talks just that. D doesn't talk on this, but rather says the fed assistance will not be sufficient. We also don't know whether the govt-sponsored loan will be adequately given in the first place.

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Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation

Identify the Question Type:

The question asks for something "useful to an opponent" of the program described. An opponent would use something that Weakens the plan.

Untangle the Stimulus:

The National Service program involves having students perform military or community service to earn federal assistance for college. Proponents claim this will show students how everyone in a democratic society must recognize responsibility to that society.

Predict the Answer:

The proponents argue the program will show how everyone must recognize responsibility. However, the only people given responsibility under the National Service program are those "who need federal assistance." So what about the people don't need federal assistance? Proponents must assume they will still recognize responsibility. Opponents can weaken that assumption by saying otherwise: People who don't need federal assistance may not recognize their responsibility.

Evaluate the Choices:

(C) matches the prediction, and is thus correct. If those who don't need financial assistance aren't required to perform National Service, then there's a danger that youth will get the idea that only those without a lot of money have responsibility to society.

(A) does not hurt the proposal. It does not say that students who do not want to go to college will be "obligated" to participate in National Service.

(B) is irrelevant. This may raise the question of fairness and equity, but women would still be able to recognize their responsibility, so this does not hurt the proposal.

(D) does not hurt the proposal. The program is just meant to provide assistance, not cover the entire cost.

(E) is a 180, at worst. This supports the plan, which would provide the kind of responsibility that is lacking.

TAKEAWAY:  Watch for authors who make extreme claims (e.g., everybody will benefit). Such claims can easily be weakened by showing even one exception.

sayan640 · Answer

I think this is a flawed question. What do you think  MartyMurray   KarishmaB  ?

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MartyMurray · Answer

I think it works.

The conclusion is presented by this sentence:

Proponents say that it will show the nation's youth that everyone benefiting from the rights of a democratic society must also recognize his or her responsibilities to that society.

So, the fact presented by (C), which indicates that not "everyone benefiting from the rights" will have to recognize responsibilities through participation in the program, makes sense as a point that an opponent to the program could bring up.

Also, none of the other choices work.

In particular, the fact presented by (D) does not mean that the program would not achieve it's overall goals.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Congress is considering a "National Service" program under which high

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Congress is considering a "National Service" program under which high

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