Flaw in Reasoning

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Flaw in Reasoning

by harsh.champ » Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:48 am
Time and again it has been shown that students who attend colleges with low faculty/student ratios get the most well-rounded education. As a result, when my children are ready to attend college, I'll be sure they attend a school with a very small student population. Which of the following, if true, identifies the greatest flaw in the reasoning above?


A. A low faculty/student ratio is the effect of a well-rounded education, not its source.
B. Intelligence should be considered the result of childhood environment, not advanced education.
C. A very small student population does not by itself, ensure a low faculty/student ratio.
D. Parental desires and preferences rarely determines a child's choice of a college or university.
E. Students must take advantage of the low faculty/student ratio by intentionally choosing small classes.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by komal » Fri Feb 05, 2010 5:24 am
harsh.champ wrote:Time and again it has been shown that students who attend colleges with low faculty/student ratios get the most well-rounded education. As a result, when my children are ready to attend college, I'll be sure they attend a school with a very small student population. Which of the following, if true, identifies the greatest flaw in the reasoning above?


A. A low faculty/student ratio is the effect of a well-rounded education, not its source.
Incorrect : Here a new element (source) is introduced. Hence Eliminated.

B. Intelligence should be considered the result of childhood environment, not advanced education.
Incorrect : Again new elements (intelligence, childhood environment) are introduced. Eliminated.

C. A very small student population does not by itself, ensure a low faculty/student ratio.
Correct : The author in the argument made an unwarranted assumption that school with a very small student population will also have low faculty/student ratio. This answer choice points to this specific flaw.

D. Parental desires and preferences rarely determines a child's choice of a college or university.
Incorrect : Clearly out of scope

E. Students must take advantage of the low faculty/student ratio by intentionally choosing small classes.
Incorrect : Irrelevant to the scope of the argument
Last edited by komal on Fri Feb 05, 2010 8:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

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by thephoenix » Fri Feb 05, 2010 5:33 am
ratio=faculty/student

it depends on two entity

with only entity known the ratio can not be developed and hence the fact which depends on the ratio can not be justified

Only C is stating that

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by joseph32 » Sun May 15, 2016 11:15 pm
I will Go with option C in this case