Self-study
Many parents rigorously organize their children's activities during playtime, thinking that doing so will enhance their children's cognitive development. ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ██████████ █████████ █ ███████ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ █ ████████ ███ ███████████ █████ █████ ██ ████ █████████ █ ████ █████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The author concludes that rigorously organizing children’s activities during playtime will not enhance the child’s cognitive abilities. This author supports this conclusion with an analogy to a novel. We wouldn’t expect a good novel to be produced by someone told exactly what the plot and characters should be. And similarly, we wouldn’t expect to produce a “creative and resourceful child” by structuring the child’s activities during playtime.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that enhancing a child’s cognitive development requires doing things that produce a “creative and resourceful” child. This overlooks the possibility that something can enhance the child’s cognitive development even though it does not help make the child more creative or resourceful.
18.
The argument is most vulnerable ██ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
a
It takes for ███████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ █████████ ██ █ ███████ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ █████ █████
The author assumes that if something is NOT conducive to making creative/resourceful child, it can’t enhance that child’s cognitive development. But the assumption is not about what’s implied if something IS conducive to a certain goal.
b
It overlooks the ███████████ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ██████████ █████████ █████████
What children enjoy has no relevance to the argument’s reasoning. Whether children enjoy organized activities doesn’t reveal anything about whether such organization can enhance their cognitive development.
c
It takes a █████████ █████████ ███ ███████████ █████████ █ ███████ ██████████ ███ ███████████████ ██ ██ █ ██████████ █████████ ███ ███ █████ ███
The stimulus does not present any necessary conditions for enhancing creativity/resourcefulness, nor any sufficient condition.
d
It fails to ████████ ███ ███████████ ████ █████ ████ ██ █████ █ ████ █████ ████████ █████████ ████ ████ ██████████ ███ ████████████████
The author said we wouldn’t expect a good novel if we told someone what plot and characters to write. This doesn’t assert that creativity/resourcefulness will make a good novel.
e
It fails to ████████ ███ ███████████ ████ █████████ █████ ███████ █ ███████ ███████ █████████ ███████████ ███████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ███ ████████████████
This possibility, if true, shows that the author’s premise does not prove his conclusion. Organized activities might be able to enhance cognitive development even if it doesn’t enhance creativity/resourcefulness.