Paul: I disagree. Some students forced to perform community service have enjoyed it so much that they subsequently actually volunteer to do something similar. In such cases, the policy can clearly be said to have fostered a habit of volunteering.
Speaker 1 Summary
Sarah argues that a school policy requiring students to perform community service cannot, by itself, succeed in its goal of fostering a habit of volunteering in students. Why not? Because forced community service isn’t really “volunteering,” and you can’t foster a habit of volunteering in someone who’s never volunteered.
Speaker 2 Summary
Paul disagrees with Sarah: he thinks a school policy forcing students to perform community service can single-handedly foster a habit of volunteering in those students. Why? Some students enjoy community service so much that they become volunteers. This is an example of the policy fostering a habit of volunteering.
Objective
We need to find a point of disagreement. Sarah and Paul disagree about whether or not a policy forcing students into community service can, by itself, foster a habit of volunteering in those students.
A
there are any circumstances under which an individual forced to perform a task can correctly be said to have genuinely volunteered to perform that task
Sarah agrees with this: she outright states that a person forced into a task isn’t really a volunteer. However, Paul never expresses an opinion about whether forced work can also be volunteering. His focus is only on the impact of doing the work.
B
being forced to perform community service can provide enjoyment to the individual who is forced to perform such service
Paul agrees with this statement, as shown by his example of students who enjoy forced community service. Sarah, on the other hand, never gives an opinion. She says forced work isn’t volunteering, but doesn’t weigh in on whether it can be enjoyable.
C
being forced to perform community service can by itself encourage a genuine habit of volunteering in those students who are forced to perform such service
Sarah disagrees with this, but Paul agrees, making it the point at issue between the two. Sarah’s conclusion is that forced service cannot foster a habit of volunteering. Paul concludes the opposite, and in doing so explicitly disagrees with Sarah on this point.
D
it is possible for schools to develop policies that foster the habit of volunteering in their students
Paul agrees with this: he argues that a particular policy can foster a habit of volunteering, meaning it must be possible. However, Sarah doesn’t state an opinion. She just says that one policy can’t foster a habit of volunteering, but she might think another policy could.
E
students who develop a habit of volunteering while in school are inclined to perform community service later in their lives
Neither of the speakers says anything about the effects that a habit of volunteering would have later in life. The discussion is just about whether a certain policy could create such a habit, not what comes next.
A
The directors of an art museum can generally raise funds for refurbishing the building in which the museum’s collection is housed by means other than selling part of its collection.
Whether or not the art museum could’ve raised funds some other way is irrelevant. We need to weaken the argument—that these paintings are of inferior quality and can therefore be sold.
B
The quality of an art collection is determined not just by the quality of its paintings, but by what its collection demonstrates about the development of the artistic talent and ideas of the artists represented.
While these immature works are not high-quality, they represent integral stages in Renoir and Cézanne’s artistic development. The quality of the paintings might be mitigated by their importance to the collection as a whole, meaning the gallery has a reason not to sell them.
C
The immature works by Renoir and Cézanne that were purchased by Ms. Federici were at that time thought by some critics to be unimportant juvenile works.
It doesn’t matter what critics thought at the time these paintings were purchased. We need to know whether or not their quality means the gallery should sell them today.
D
Those people who speculate in art by purchasing artworks merely to sell them at much higher prices welcome inflation in the art market, but curators of art museums regret the inflation in the art market.
This is irrelevant. We don’t care what curators think about inflation.
E
The best work of a great artist demands much higher prices in the art market than the worst work of that same artist.
We don’t care how much money the gallery will get for these works. We need to know if their quality means the gallery should sell them.