#4 - Huang: Most people who commit violent crimes do not

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Point at Issue. The correct answer choice is (D).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E):

[kcho10]

Hello,

Could someone explain why A is incorrect? Since Huang says we should attend to the root causes, doesn't that imply that he thinks that is the best option?

[Adam Tyson]

You're right about Huang, kcho, but what about Suarez? The correct answer to a Point at Issue question is one that you have clear evidence that one of the parties would say "true" and the other would say "false". I think there is reasonably good evidence that Huang would say "true" to answer A. The problem is that we have no idea what Suarez would say about what is "best". Suarez might agree that attending to the root causes is best, but still claim that punishment makes sense and does work. To say that Suarez thinks attending to the root causes is NOT the best way is to read too much into what she says on the subject.

On the other hand, the different answers to D are abundantly clear. Suarez says "true - that's exactly what I just said" and Huang clearly thinks this is false based on the text in the first sentence as well as the overall gist of his argument. That makes D a better answer than A, even if you were to make some reasonable (but unwarranted by the text) assumptions about what she would say.

I hope that helps! Remember, the answer needs to be addressed by BOTH parties to the argument, not just one side!