The reforms to improve the quality

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct69% picked this

   In selecting schools parents would tend to prefer a reasonable level of academic quality to greater sports opportunities

   Why this is right

   Negating this assumption implies that parents might prioritize non-academic factors, which would undermine how the author's plan is intended to work. If parents are prioritizing sports opportunities or location, then raising academic quality wouldn't be how a school would try to attract students.

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

   69%
2. B

   Out of Scope: job market discipline2% picked this

   Improvement in the academic offerings of schools will be enforced by the discipline of the job market in

   We're only analyzing whether the school voucher plan would result in improved academic quality. This answer addresses what would come after that. Would the improved academic quality be enforced by X? That's beyond the scope of what we're analyzing. If the plan results in improved academic quality, the author wins her case. She doesn't have to assume anything about what happens after that.

   2%
3. C

   Too Strong: single best way2% picked this

   There is a single best way to

   This is an extreme idea that is not even important to whether this voucher plan would work. The author is only assuming that if parents got to choose schools for their kids, schools would figure out ways to academically improve in order to attract parents. But that doesn't require that there is one single best way to educate. If there are multiple best ways to educate, the plan still can make sense.

   2%
4. D

   Irrelevant Causality: children influencing7% picked this

   Children are able to recognize which schools are better and would influence

   The argument doesn’t require such a detailed assumption about who influences the voucher decision. If children weren't able to pick the best school for themselves or weren't influencing their parents, the plan could still work (as long as parents were able to correctly pick schools with higher academic quality for their kids).

   7%
5. E

   Too Strong: all20% picked this

   Schools would each improve all of their academic offerings and would not tend to specialize in one particular field

   This is another answer that's very strong, so we should be suspicious. Does the plan require that schools improve EVERY SINGLE ONE of their academic offerings? If they only improved 90% of their academic offerings would that derail the plan? Of course not. If 90% of offerings are improved, then would certainly mean the school's overall academic quality had improved, so the goal would still be achieved. The author was only ever talking about academic quality overall, not subdividing into specialties.

   20%