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Assumption

by heshamelaziry » Wed Nov 04, 2009 5:39 pm
David is a 26 years old, very successful entrepreneur and he argues that money and time invested in acquiring a degree in management administration are totally wasted. As evidence supporting his view, he recounts the story of his brother who, at considerable expense of money and time, completed his MBA at a top tier business school and then married an heiress and abandoned a promising career to stay at home and care for their children.

David makes the unsupported assumption that:

A) What was unacceptable to the previous generation has no hope of being embraced today.

B) Marriage wiht children can not be as fulfilling as life long bachelorhood.

C) Professional success is a function of the quality of one's formal education.

D) An education in management administration is useful only in pursuing career related activities.

E) A MBA lost its prestige and wight it once carried in the world of business.



[spoiler]OA D. Why not E ??!!! Where is any hint? if I negate D: "An education in management administration is not useful in pursuing career related activities", the argument and the conclusion do not break or change ??[/spoiler]
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Re: Assumption

by farooq » Wed Nov 04, 2009 8:10 pm
heshamelaziry wrote:David is a 26 years old, very successful entrepreneur and he argues that money and time invested in acquiring a degree in management administration are totally wasted. As evidence supporting his view, he recounts the story of his brother who, at considerable expense of money and time, completed his MBA at a top tier business school and then married an heiress and abandoned a promising career to stay at home and care for their children.

David makes the unsupported assumption that:

A) What was unacceptable to the previous generation has no hope of being embraced today.

B) Marriage wiht children can not be as fulfilling as life long bachelorhood.

C) Professional success is a function of the quality of one's formal education.

D) An education in management administration is useful only in pursuing career related activities.

E) A MBA lost its prestige and wight it once carried in the world of business.



[spoiler]OA D. Why not E ??!!! Where is any hint? if I negate D: "An education in management administration is not useful in pursuing career related activities", the argument and the conclusion do not break or change ??[/spoiler]
In E is talking about losing MBA degree prestige. But in in the given question, David is managing a family.

D is correct answer.
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Re: Assumption

by Testluv » Wed Nov 04, 2009 8:23 pm
heshamelaziry wrote:David is a 26 years old, very successful entrepreneur and he argues that money and time invested in acquiring a degree in management administration are totally wasted. As evidence supporting his view, he recounts the story of his brother who, at considerable expense of money and time, completed his MBA at a top tier business school and then married an heiress and abandoned a promising career to stay at home and care for their children.

David makes the unsupported assumption that:

A) What was unacceptable to the previous generation has no hope of being embraced today.

B) Marriage wiht children can not be as fulfilling as life long bachelorhood.

C) Professional success is a function of the quality of one's formal education.

D) An education in management administration is useful only in pursuing career related activities.

E) A MBA lost its prestige and wight it once carried in the world of business.



[spoiler]OA D. Why not E ??!!! Where is any hint? if I negate D: "An education in management administration is not useful in pursuing career related activities", the argument and the conclusion do not break or change ??[/spoiler]

Hi heshamelaziry,

David is not making an argument about the "prestige and weight of an MBA." Instead, he is making an argument about how useful it is: "David...argues that...that money and time invested in acquiring a degree in management administration are totally wasted."

While prestige and weight may be related ideas to usefulness, they are different from usefulness. As such, choice E is (slightly) outside the scope of the argument. Because it is outside the scope, it can't be the case that his argument depends on assuming it.

Why is D right?

Well David supports his conclusion (that MBA is a waste or not useful), by offering up the example of his brother, who got an MBA but then did not use it in a professional or work-related capacity.

So, he is assuming that the ONLY WAY an MBA can be useful (not a waste) is if it were used to pursue a career. While this is a reasonable assumption, it is still an assumption (the fact that it is a reasonable assumption makes it harder to identify).
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