Critical Reasoning

In Europe, schoolchildren devote time during each school day to calisthenics. North American schools rarely offer a daily calisthenics program. Tests prove that North American children are weaker, slower, and shorter-winded than European children. We must conclude that North American children can be made physically fit only if they participate in school calisthenics on a daily basis.
Which of the following is an assumption required by the argument above?

A)Physical fitness is a compelling national priority worthy of taxpayer resources.
B)School calisthenics programs are an indispensable factor in European student fitness.
C)All children can be made equally physically fit.
D)European schoolchildren enjoy physical activities more than do American children.
E)American physical education teachers are capable of designing a successful calisthenics program.

This is a great LSAT assumption question. It fits well with the GMAT critical reasoning format.

Start by finding the conclusion:

"We must conclude that North American children can be made physically fit only if they participate in school calisthenics on a daily basis."

What evidence do we have for this conclusion?

In Europe = calisthenics; North America = no calisthenics; And European kids = better health.

This seems to add up right? I mean if European kids have better health and they do the calisthenics daily that must have something to so with it right?

Actually that is an assumption! It might be genetics, it might be diet, it might be a number of things. So when the conclusion jumps to "North American children can be made physically fit only if they participate in school calisthenics on a daily basis" we need some more support for this.

This is exactly what choice B does. It indicates the assumption that we are making in this argument. Because if school calisthenics are not indispensable then the conclusion fails. If the calisthenics are not "indispensable" then the word "only" in the conclusion is not justified.

The other choices are not REQUIRED by the argument.

(Be aware that this question is slightly different answer choices from the official LSAT original. So the letter of the correct answer to this question is different than the letter of the correct answer to the official LSAT question but the actual correct answer choice is the same).

Hope it helps!

David