assumption

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assumption

by gmatnmein2010 » Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:18 pm
The government has proposed a plan requiring young people to perform services to correct various current social ills, especially those in education and housing. Government service, however, should be compelled only in response to a direct threat to the nation's existence. For that reason, the proposed program should not be implemented.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the government depends?
(A) Government-required service by young people cannot correct all social ills.
(B) The nation's existence is directly threatened only in times of foreign attack.
(C) Crises in education and housing constitute a threat to the nation's existence.
(D) The nation's young people believe that current social ills pose no direct threat to the nation's existence.
(E) Some of the social ills that currently afflict the nation do not pose a direct threat to the nation's existence.

source: paper test
OA is E
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by money9111 » Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:42 pm
I chose E.. at first I was going to choose C but then I decided to read the question again after eliminating a couple answers. B can be eliminated because while foreign attack is a direct threat, the question makes no mention of this. C is probably the one they want us to choose. D - this is from the perspective of the students, while the rest of the question is from the goverment's perscpective
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by sars72 » Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:45 pm
is there a typo in the question? shouldn't it be "assumption on which the argument depends" instead of "..government depends"?

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by thephoenix » Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:55 pm
gmatnmein2010 wrote:The government has proposed a plan requiring young people to perform services to correct various current social ills, especially those in education and housing. Government service, however, should be compelled only in response to a direct threat to the nation's existence. For that reason, the proposed program should not be implemented.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the government depends?
(A) Government-required service by young people cannot correct all social ills.
(B) The nation's existence is directly threatened only in times of foreign attack.
(C) Crises in education and housing constitute a threat to the nation's existence.
(D) The nation's young people believe that current social ills pose no direct threat to the nation's existence.
(E) Some of the social ills that currently afflict the nation do not pose a direct threat to the nation's existence.

source: paper test
OA is E
The argument is that a particular proposal should not be implemented until it threatens a nation's existence. Then there is a talk of social ills, which mandated the proposal.

in other words: there is a proposal to make young people correct social ills. However, there is a theory that government should only be compelled to act in response to a direct threat to a nation's existence.

Then, the assumption i.e the missing piece is "young people's correction of social ills is NOT a direct threat". That's why the argument can conclude that this proposal is not something the government is compelled to act on.

prephrasing the apparent gap between the argument and the premise: "social ills do not threaten the nation's existence"

thats E

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by reply2spg » Tue Feb 16, 2010 10:03 pm
It is E by POE