#17 - Educator: Traditional classroom education is

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Justify the Conclusion—SN. The correct answer choice is (D)

This educator’s conclusion is presented in the first sentence of the stimulus: traditional classroom education, the author argues, is not effective. This, the author asserts, is because such education is not really a social process:

• Traditional classroom education social process

The author then goes on to explain that student insights can be developed only through social processes.

• Development of student insights social processes

The contrapositive of the conditional statement above would be as follows:

• social processes develop insights

Linking this conditional statement with the first one discussed above, we get the following:

• Traditional classroom education social process develop insights

Based on the above premises the author concludes that the traditional education offered in a classroom is ineffective. In order to justify this conclusion, as required to do by the question stem that follows, we must link the rogue elements of the argument; the correct answer choice will link teaching ineffectiveness—either to a lack of social process or to a lack of insights developed.

Answer choice (A): This incorrect answer choice can be diagrammed as follows:

• Insight development genuine education

Since the stimulus provides that a traditional classroom education does not develop insights, this choice is irrelevant to the argument, and as such it fails to justify the author’s conclusion.

Answer choice (B): This incorrect answer choice provides that if student-teacher interaction is non-rigid and non-artificial, classroom education is effective. This conditional statement can be diagrammed as follows:

• rigid student-teacher communication
  + classroom education effective
  artificial student-teacher communication

Again, the conclusion from the stimulus is that traditional classroom education is NOT effective, so this choice cannot possibly justify the author’s conclusion.

Answer choice (C): Part of the author’s argument is that the traditional classroom education is NOT a social process. Thus, information regarding social processes is not relevant, and it does not matter whether all social processes provide interaction that is non-rigid and non-artificial.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice because it links the rogue elements of the author’s argument as discussed in our prephrase above. If, as this answer choice provides, education is ineffective unless it leads to insight development:

• effective insight development

so education that does not lead to insight development is ineffective:

• develop insights effective education

When we combine this answer choice with the premises provided in the stimulus, the author’s conclusion is justified:

• Stimulus: traditional class.ed social process develop insights
  + Choice (D): develop insights effective education
  
  Trad. Class ed. social process develop insights effective ed.

As shown above, correct answer choice (D), combined with the premises from the stimulus, fully justifies the author’s conclusion that traditional classroom education is not effective.

Answer choice (E): The author’s conclusion is limited to the education provided in a traditional classroom setting, so non-traditional classroom settings are not relevant to the argument, and a statement about how teachers act in such settings does not justify the conclusion drawn by the author in the stimulus.

[netherlands]

Hi there PS,

Can you explain the differences between C & D in this one. For some reason both of these seem correct to me.

[David Boyle]

Hi there PS,

Can you explain the differences between C & D in this one. For some reason both of these seem correct to me.

Hello netherlands,

D is good since one could diagram part of the stimulus, "tce arrow slash sp arrow dsi", i.e., "trad. classroom education isn't a social process so doesn't develop student insight", as a premise, then, "tce arrow slash e" (trad. classroom education is ineffective) as the conclusion. So, how do we get to the conclusion?
By saying "e arrow dsi", which is what answer D says, and taking the contrapositive, we can make a big chain, "tce arrow slash sp arrow slash dsi arrow slash e". (I'd use actual arrows instead of saying "arrow", but my computer isn't letting me!) That makes the stimulus valid.
Answer C is more like "sp arrow slash r plus slash a". The stimulus isn't even that explicit about saying rigidness and artificiality preclude a real social process, though it may be implied. Even if it were explicit, though, then, "sp arrow slash r OR slash a" might be more accurate, since the contrapositive, so to speak, of "rigid and artificial" is "not rigid OR not artificial".

Hope that helps,
David

[sarae]

Please explain why answer choice C is incorrect

[Steve Stein]

Hi Sara,

Thanks for your question This is a Justify the Conclusion question, so the right answer must fully justify the author's argument. How did you break this one down? It would be helpful to know how you saw C as justifying the argument, and what your thoughts are on the right answer as well.

Let us know--thanks!

~Steve

[Applesaid]

hello!

I feel bad because this is again a justify the conclusion question. Although I got the answer correctly I am not sure why it is a correct one. The second sentence in the stimulus is giving me trouble, I am not sure why it doesn't need to be connected in the missing link--justify the conclusion.

[Jacques Lamothe]

Hey Applesaid,

Based on reading over a few of your other forum posts, you seem to do pretty well on justify the conclusion questions, even when you're a little unsure about how you got there. So you're definitely on the right track!

I can understand your hesitance to pick an answer choice that seems unrelated to a big part of the stimulus. But that is actually one of the best parts of justify the conclusion questions. You do not need to find an answer that links all of the premises together. You just need to find an answer that lets you move from at least one of the premises to the conclusion. In this case, the conclusion is that traditional teaching is ineffective. If you can reach that conclusion using only your answer choice and the information from the premises in the first sentence of the stimulus, there is not a problem with that.

Answer choice (D) is the correct choice because, when combined with the information from the first sentence, we get our conclusion. If education can only be effective if it develops insight and the traditional education classroom cannot develop insight (because it is not a social process and only social processes develop insight), then we can infer the traditional classroom education is ineffective. If you are ever uncertain about whether you have actually justified the conclusion, you can quickly diagram the sentences in the stimulus and see whether you can reach your conclusion after assuming that your answer choice is true.

I hope that helps!
Jacques

[agroves]

Hello,

Can you please explain how you were able to select D as a superior answer to C. I see why D is a correct answer, but I'm having trouble explaining why it is better than C. It seems that C provides an important link between claims of social processes and the traditional classroom.

Thank you!

Angela

[erc4]

Hi Angela -- I literally just took this one so it's still fresh. Here's the approach I used, hope it helps!

Method: identify the conclusion; ask yourself why (or because) to get premises then identify the gap -- the jump (or missing link) between the premises and the conclusion

C: Traditional Classroom Education (TEC) --> Ineffective (- Effective)
Why:
P1: TEC --> Not Social Process (-SP)
Contra: SP --> -TEC
P2: Insight --> SP
Contra: -SP --> -Insight

Gap: TEC --> -SP --> -Insight --> {GAP} -Effective

So now looking through the answer chooses you need to find an answer that bridges the gap between -Insight & -Effective which is exactly what D does: education not effective unless it develops insight {-Insight --> -Effective} so when you put it all together you get:
TEC --> -SP --> -Insight --> -Effective

Answer choice C doesn't bridge the gap. The last sentence merely provides details about interactions taking place in a traditional classroom which we already know from the first sentence (and main conclusion) are not truly a social process.

Hope this helps!

[Ron Gore]

Hi Angela! Thanks for your question.

And, erc4, it's great to see that you've got a strong handle on this question!

I'd like to offer a response as well. This is a Justify the Conclusion question, in which the task is to select the answer choice that shows the conclusion is valid. You can think of it as a 100% strengthen question. Because of that, we can have a very mechanical prephrase process, which we call the Justify Formula. Very much along the lines of what erc4 described: add the correct answer choice to the premises and that combination will prove the conclusion is valid.

The conclusion here is that "traditional classroom education is ineffective." The immediate reason given for that conclusion is that "education in such an environment is not truly a social process." Connected to that evidence, the stimulus provides a rule, that "only social processes can develop students’ insights." This is a conditional statement:

develops student insight social process

As erc4 describes, this rule, when viewed as the contrapositive, connects with the evidence that traditional classroom education (TEC) is not a social process:

social process(TEC) develops student insight(TEC)

The rest of the stimulus provides information more fully detailing why it is that education in a traditional classroom environment is not a social process. However, we're left with a logical gap. We can see that gap fairly clearly by mapping out the premises and the conclusion, though in a different order of presentation than provided by the stimulus:

Premise: education in such an environment is not truly a social process

Premise: social processTEC develops student insight(TEC)

Gap: [connection between develops student insight and being ineffective?]

Conclusion: traditional classroom education is ineffective

The gap occurs because there is no support offered for the apparent connection between failing to develop student insight and the conclusion that traditional classroom education in ineffective. In fact, nowhere in the stimulus can we find any discussion of effectiveness before we see that concept for the first time in the conclusion. So, we can prephrase that the correct answer choice will provide this connection:

Prephrase: develops student insight(TEC) ineffective(TEC)

Answer choice (D) provides this connection, though it does so using an often-confusing "unless" statement, which in the context of the stimulus we would diagram as:

effective develops student insight

The contrapositive of that state is:

develops student insight effective (i.e., "ineffective)

Answer choice (C) is incorrect because it does not so much provide a link between the premises and the conclusion as it does provide a test to determine whether a process is a social process. We were given, as a premise, that traditional classroom education is not a social process, and that fact does not require additional support.

Our job is to select the answer choice that proves the conclusion is valid, that traditional classroom education is ineffective. To prove that, the answer choice must provide information that connects being ineffective with the premises already provided.

Please let me know if this helps. Thanks!

Ron