Bureaucrat: The primary, constant

Answer choices

1. A

   Out of Scope11% picked this

   An ideal bureaucracy will provide an appeal procedure for complaints even after it has defined and classified all possible problems and set

   Out of Scope: after defined all problems The author does not think that an ideal bureaucracy will ever define and classify all possible problems. After all, she's concluding that regulations will forever be expanding, because she's assuming we'll never be done finding new problems. So since the author's argument doesn't allow for the possibility of an ideal bureaucracy ever finishing its job, the author doesn't need to assume anything about what would happen in that hypothetical (and in the author's opinion, impossible) scenario.

   11%
2. B

   Too Strong: every6% picked this

   For each problem that an ideal bureaucracy has defined and classified, the bureaucracy has received at least one

   The author doesn't need to think that every problem came from a complaint, nor does she have to think that every complaint reveals a new problem. The paragraph is consistent with the idea that an ideal bureaucracy might start out with its best guess at defining all problems and writing applicable regulations. Complaints would help them figure out what they missed. We don't have to think that the process of defining problems only stems from the complaint/appeals process.

   6%
3. C

   Correct61% picked this

   An ideal bureaucracy will never be permanently without complaints about problems that are not covered

   Why this is right

   This is the ever-expanding engine the author had in mind. If we negate this, it badly hurts the argument. The negation would be saying, "Hey, author ... at some point, this ideal bureaucracy will stop getting complaints that reveal new problems, so at that point the regulations could stay put and stop expanding."

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

   61%
4. D

   Too Strong: if and only if10% picked this

   An ideal bureaucracy can reach its primary goal if, but only if, its system of regulations is always expanding to cover problems

   The author has made it seem like an ideal bureaucracy never reaches its primary goal. After all, her conclusion sounds like the ideal bureaucracy will forever be chasing its goal, ever-expanding to cover new problems it hadn't previously detected. So the "only if" part of this answer is probably fair. But the idea that "if a system of regulations is always expanding, then an ideal bureaucracy can reach its primary goal" is not applicable to the author's thinking. The primary goal is to "define and address all problems", so if the author thinks that there will always be new problems to address, then she thinks that the primary goal will never be achieved (or at least never permanently achieved).

   10%
5. E

   Too Strong: any complaint11% picked this

   Any complaint that an ideal bureaucracy receives will reveal an unanticipated problem that the bureaucracy is capable

   The author is definitely not generalizing about anything that is true of all complaints. She even qualifies a statement by saying, "If it's the type of complaint that reveals a new problem ...", so she recognizes that complaints will have a variety of types. Some may be about problems we already know. Some may be about new problems we could define/classify. Some may be about new problems we can't define/classify.

   11%