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Political discourse

by gmatrant » Mon May 10, 2010 6:14 pm
While political discourse and the media in the United States have focused on the rise of job outsourcing, few have mentioned the sharp fall of talent "insourcing," or the drop in enrollment of foreign-born graduate students since 2001, and its dire results. The decrease in such insourcing will hurt America's competitiveness in basic research and applied technology, with serious consequences for years to come. The de-internationalization of graduate programs across the country will also negatively affect the global outlook and experience of the American students remaining in those programs; they will not have the opportunity to learn about foreign cultures directly from members of those cultures. What distinguishes the decline of talent insourcing from the rise of job outsourcing is that the former can be easily rectified by a policy change of the United States government.


1. What kind of question stem is this - an argument or fact based question stem?
2. What is the conclusion in the above CR? is there one ?
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by grockit_andrea » Sun May 16, 2010 6:12 pm
I don't see a question stem here at all; the stem is the part that says something like "Which of the following assumptions..." Since you didn't include that part, I can't really tell you whether they're looking for an argument-based answer or a fact-based one. The statement could really support either kind of question. But as far as conclusions go, I think that this one is implied, not stated: the United States government should change its policies to stop the decline of talent insourcing. That's at least what I would expect the conclusion to be if this were a magazine editorial.
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by ansumania » Sun May 30, 2010 4:47 pm
grockit_andrea wrote:I don't see a question stem here at all; the stem is the part that says something like "Which of the following assumptions..." Since you didn't include that part, I can't really tell you whether they're looking for an argument-based answer or a fact-based one. The statement could really support either kind of question. But as far as conclusions go, I think that this one is implied, not stated: the United States government should change its policies to stop the decline of talent insourcing. That's at least what I would expect the conclusion to be if this were a magazine editorial.
here I am posting the whole question Andrea: pl. provide your insight.

While political discourse and the media in the United States have focused on the rise of job outsourcing, few have mentioned the sharp fall of talent "insourcing," or the drop in enrollment of foreign-born graduate students since 2001, and its dire results. The decrease in such insourcing will hurt America's competitiveness in basic research and applied technology, with serious consequences for years to come. The de-internationalization of graduate programs across the country will also negatively affect the global outlook and experience of the American students remaining in those programs; they will not have the opportunity to learn about foreign cultures directly from members of those cultures. What distinguishes the decline of talent insourcing from the rise of job outsourcing is that the former can be easily rectified by a policy change of the United States government.

The answer to which of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the author's claim regarding the impact of decreased insourcing in America?

A-What is the cost to reverse the trend of insourcing in America?
B-How does insourcing replace domestic jobs lost from outsourcing?
C-Since 2001, what has been the decrease in the number of foreign-born students in America?
D-What opportunities do American graduate students have to interact regularly with foreigners who are not students?
E-What effect would a government policy have on the number of foreign graduate students?
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by this_time_i_will » Sun May 30, 2010 5:59 pm
the conclusion is: The decrease in such insourcing will hurt America's competitiveness in basic research and applied technology.

IMO D.
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by grockit_andrea » Mon May 31, 2010 4:53 am
The question stem asks about evaluating the author's claim about decreased insourcing. There are a couple of relevant claims in the passage: first, that the decline in insourcing will hurt America's competitiveness, and second, that the decline will negatively affect the "global outlook and experience" of the American students remaining in the program. The correct answer, D, addresses that second claim. The claim assumes that the only members of other cultures that American students will meet are foreign-born graduate students. ("...they will not have the opportunity to learn about foreign cultures directly from members of those cultures.") The information referenced in D would allow you to test that assumption.
I don't usually distinguish between "fact-based" and "argument-based" questions, because I tend to see every question as being somehow based on the argument. But since this one requires you to understand and test an assumption, I think it's safe to say it's argument-based.
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by ansumania » Mon May 31, 2010 5:15 am
Andrea,

shouldn't we try to evaluate Autor's claim: " What distinguishes the decline of talent insourcing from the rise of job outsourcing is that the former can be easily rectified by a policy change of the United States government."

Thereby choosing option E.
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by grockit_andrea » Mon May 31, 2010 5:20 am
No. That's not what the question asks. The question wants us to evaluate "the author's claim regarding the impact of decreased insourcing in America." That claim is found within the passage, not in the last sentence. E is a trick answer, because if you don't read the question closely, and try to evaluate that last sentence, E does a good job. But the last sentence isn't about the impact of decreased insourcing, so it's not the sentence we're addressing.
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