#18 - Despite the efforts of a small minority of graduate

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Flaw in the Reasoning—#%. The correct answer choice is (E)

In the first sentence of this stimulus we are told that there is a small minority of graduate students
at a particular university interested in unionizing, while the majority of students are completely
unaware of these efforts. Among the minority of students who are aware of these efforts, most feel
that a union would not represent or pursue their interests.

From this information the author jumps to the conclusion that “the majority of them obviously
disapprove of the attempt,” and based on this faulty conclusion, the author asserts that the students
should not unionize.

What is the problem with the conclusion that the majority of students disapprove of the effort? We
were told from the outset that the majority of students at the university were entirely unaware of
the efforts to unionize. If this is true, then the author cannot logically conclude that the majority
disapprove. This should be expressed in the correct answer to the flaw question that follows the
stimulus.

Answer choice (A): The author makes no mention of a long standing practice in support of the
conclusion drawn. Rather, the conclusion is based on the students’ lack of approval, misconstrued by
the author as disapproval.

Answer choice (B): There is no discussion of the reasons behind students’ approval or disapproval of
the plan. Since no such reasons are discussed, the failure to consider alternative explanations is not a
flaw, and this answer choice cannot be correct.

Answer choice (C): This incorrect answer choice might be appealing, but the author does not make
any such value judgements. There is no discussion about whether or not unionization is a good
idea—just about whether or not the students at the university are in support of the idea.

Answer choice (D): Like incorrect answer choice (B) above, this choice deals with the reasons for
unionizing or not unionizing. The author’s conclusions are based on student support, or lack thereof,
but the author does not discuss the underlying reasons for these decisions.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. The author makes the claim that the
majority of students actively disapprove of the plan to unionize, although the passage has already
established that the majority of students at the university don’t know anything about it. If this is the
case, then those students did not approve of the plan, but they did not disapprove either.

[Nina]

I was so easily enticed by the word "majority" and wrongly chose answer C.

As for the correct answer E, does the "mere lack of approval" refers to the fact in stimulus that since the majority remain unaware, we cannot know whether they prove or disapprove of the attempt?

Many Thanks!

[Steve Stein]

Hey Nina,

You got it--based on the information provided in the stimulus, we don't have evidence of approval on the part of most students, and the author acts as though this means that most students actively disapprove.

I hope that's helpful!

~Steve

[Nina]

Thanks, Steve!

[Kdup]

Hi Powerscore,

So, I am a little confused by the correct answer to this question. After reading the stimulus, I isolated the conclusion that " Graduate students at the univ. shouldn't unionize, since the majority of them obviously disprove of the attempt. " This conclusion is based on the fact that the majority don't know about it. So, I prephrased that answer to say something along the lines that just because a majority of people don't know about something, it does not meant that what is being presented is not a good ideal. So, for me "C" mirrored that. Can you help explain where my reasoning went wrong?

[Francis O'Rourke]

Answer choice (C) states that the speaker's conclusion is based on the fact that the majority of students are not aware of the unionization attempt. This mischaracterizes the argument and ignores the final statement of the stimulus.

The author makes a jump from stating that the majority are not aware, to stating that the majority disapprove. The conclusion is based on this final premise, not the initial one.

While it would be a flaw to presume that something is not good because a majority are unaware of it, the speaker's line of argument does not rely on this reasoning. This is a common incorrect answer choice: although it states what would be a flaw in another argument, the specific flaw was not in this stimulus. The correct answer choice must describe a flaw and must describe a flaw that was present in the stimulus.

Answer choice (E) correctly states that the author "blurred the line" between or made a jump from stating that the majority are unaware to stating that the majority disapprove.

[Relaxo]

Hi,

from (E), how do we know that there is a lack of approval? Assuming that I know that I foresee that my interests won't be represented, and even if represented, then not effectively so. I could still approve , because, for example, I know that there are other benefits to it (for example students in the union get 5% of meals).

[Robert Carroll]

Relaxo,

We know there is lack of approval because a majority are not even aware. Further, if the union does not represent your interests, that seems like lack of approval to me - "interests" is broad enough to cover anything you could want. If there are other perceived benefits, those would count as interests anyway.

Robert Carroll

[Relaxo]

Hi,

if a majority doesn't even know about something, does that count as lack of approval already?

[Beth Hayden]

Hi Relaxo,

Exactly, the majority of the students don't have any idea about the unionization attempt. So they don't necessarily disapprove of it, but they can't approve of it either; you can't approve or disapprove of something you don't even know about! Lack of approval is just the logical opposite (not approved). If I apply for a loan, but my application is just sitting in a pile and no one has looked at it yet, I haven't been approved but I also haven't been rejected--there is a lack of approval.

We have no idea what the majority would think if they did know about the unionization attempt.

That is what answer choice (E) is getting at--the fact that the majority don't (yet) approve of the unionization does not mean they actively disapprove of it.

Hope that helps!
Beth