Logical Reasoning

PT1 · S4 · Q6 The most successful economies

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The most successful economies have been, and will continue to be, those that train as many people as possible in the human skills required to research, to develop, and to apply new technology.

Facts

conditional

Most successful → trained max possible ppl economy for new tech

contrasts / similarities

Japan: does train max possible Europe: not so much (insufficient supply of workers who can use new tech and scientists to develop new tech)

pivot

Japan: shortage of qualified technical people + too many qualified only for menial tasks

most of Europe: too many qualified only for menial tasks

Evidence

It's not clear where this is headed, but the Pivot catches my eye. We had established that Japan was basically one of the best when it comes to training maximum people for new tech, and then a second later we hear .

That suggests that even if you do your best to train, you won't necessarily match the demand trained people.

We could also use the contrapositive of the conditional to say that most of Europe does not have the most successful economies, since they're not great at training people for new tech.

Goal

Who knows if this answer will compare Europe to Japan, address Japan's noble but insufficient efforts, or find a way to apply the conditional rule to say that . We'll look for the most provable answer.

6.

Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

  1. There is a greater worldwide

    Unsupported

    The passage gives no information about a worldwide comparison between scientist shortages and engineer shortages. The passage never specifically addresses engineers.

    2% picked this

  2. Japan is not the best

    Unsupported

    The passage uses Japan as a model for training effort, not as a shady benchmark. Saying Japan is "not the best country against which to measure economic success" is a value judgment the passage doesn't support; it seems to contradict the passage's use of Japan as a positive example that is doing something associated with the most successful economies.

    11% picked this

  3. Japan’s successful economy depends upon

    Unsupported

    We know that Japan is famously good at training people in new tech, which would make them highly skilled laborers. But that doesn't mean their economy depends on an uncommonly narrow base of skilled labor. Skilled labor comes in many forms (plumbing, electrical, sculptural, etc.) The fact that Japan is good at trying to get people to be skilled with new tech doesn't mean they have more skilled laborers overall than other countries, nor does it mean their economy is based on an uncommonly narrow base of skilled labor.

    21% picked this

  4. Correct

    To be economically more successful,

    Why this is right

    This reinforces the contrapositive inference. Since Europe isn't doing the best at training people in new tech, they don't have the most successful economies. In order to be a most successful economy, they would need to meet that necessary condition of "training as many people as possible in new tech".

    Skill tested: Must be True · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    66% picked this

  5. European countries have economies that

    Unsupported

    Out of Scope (most other countries) Opposite (if anything) The passage describes Europe as economically weaker on the training-and-skills dimension, which would lean towards being LESS economically successful. Also very importantly, we have no comparison between Europe and "most other countries" on overall economic success.

    0% picked this

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