Logical Reasoning

PT114 · S1 · Q11 Some teachers claim that students

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

  • Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Start practicing free

Some teachers claim that students would not learn curricular content without the incentive of grades.

Conclusion (therefore)

The incentive of grades serves no essential academic purpose.

Evidence

Students with intense interest in the material would learn it without the incentive of grades.

Students lacking all interest in the material are unaffected by such an incentive.

Evaluate

This is a semi-famous flaw called False Choice, in which the author acts like the options named are the only options to consider.

There's a version of this flaw that simply fails to establish that the options mentioned are the only ones: (Who said that limo and charter bus are the only options? He's offering us a False Choice)

And then there are versions where the author fails to perceive a middle ground between two options. The author talks about people who always jaywalk or who never jaywalk, but fails to consider people who sometimes jaywalk.

Here's an example, and another example.

Goal

The author established that grades serve no purpose for students with intense interest and for students lacking all interest. But what about all the students in between, with some interest but not intense interest? Maybe for students with a moderate amount of interest, grades still serve an essential academic purpose of incentivizing their learning of curricular content.

11.

The reasoning in the argument is flawed because the argument

  1. takes for granted that the

    Too Strong: the only

    Does this author need to assume that the only purpose of school is to convey a fixed body of info? Would it hurt the argument if an additional purpose of school was to build social skills? Of course not. The author didn't commit himself to this extreme idea that school as one and only one purpose: conveying a fixed body of information. (fun!)

    2% picked this

  2. takes for granted that students

    Not Assumed Contradicted

    Is the author assuming anything about students who are indifferent to grades? We know that students who lack all interest in the curricular material are unaffected by the incentive of grades. So it's fair to say that those students are indifferent to grades, although others may also be indifferent to grades. Does the author need to assume that these students who lack all interest in the material (and are indifferent to grades) are genuinely interested in the curricular material? No, that was a self-contradiction. The author is arguing that grades serve no purpose because you have one crew that loves the material and so doesn't need any incentive from grades, and another crew who is genuinely disinterested in the material and unaffected by the incentive of grades.

    12% picked this

  3. fails to consider that the

    Out of Scope Objection

    Can we hurt the argument by saying, "Hey author — grades may serve some useful nonacademic purpose"? Nope, because the conclusion is specifically constrained to whether or not grades serve an essential academic purpose.

    13% picked this

  4. ignores the possibility that students

    Irrelevant Objection

    This answer seems to be trying to solve the problem of the students who lack interest in curricular material, which is not our concern. In order for us to like an answer, it should help us argue that "grades may in fact serve an essential academic purpose". But this answer has nothing to do with grades.

    2% picked this

  5. Correct

    fails to consider that some

    Why this is right

    This points out the illegal False Choice that was being made. We can argue that "grades may in fact serve some essential purpose" by saying that there's a huge group of students the author has failed to consider. We can say, "Sure, grades serve no purpose for the super-interested students who would be into the periodic table even if there's weren't a grade motivating them. And sure, grades serve no purpose for the super-apathetic who aren't willing to try at school for any reason. But grades serve an essential purpose in motivating all the students in between those two poles. They have mild interest in curricular material, but grades give them the extra incentive they need to learn the material."

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

    71% picked this

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill
LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free