Self-study
A report of a government survey concluded that Conclusion Center City was among the ten cities in the nation with the highest dropout rate from its schools. ███ ██████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ █ ████ ██████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████
Summarize Argument
The report concludes that Center City schools had one of the highest dropout rates in the country. To support this, it cites a survey that asked residents over 19 if they graduated high school and then calculated the percentage of those who didn't graduate high school.
Identify and Describe Flaw
We are looking for a flaw in the survey report’s reasoning that allows the school official to criticize the report’s conclusion.
This is a survey flaw. The report makes a conclusion about the dropout rate in Center City schools based on a survey of its residents. It divides the number of people over 19 who didn't graduate high school by the total number of people. However, the survey doesn’t confirm if the people surveyed actually went to school in Center City, even though the conclusion is about Center City schools.
15.
The school official can most ████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
take into account █████████ ██ ████████████ ████████ ███ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ████ ██████
The report’s conclusion is about the dropout rate in all Center City schools, not just in high schools. By asking respondents if they graduated high school, the survey does take into account instances of dropping out that occurred before high school.
b
ask residents whether ████ ███ █████████ █████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ █████
This isn’t the flaw because, even if some residents did complete their high school work in less than four years, they still graduated high school.
c
distinguish between residents ███ ███ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ████████ █████ █████████ █████████
The report’s conclusion is about the dropout rate from Center City schools, but it never establishes if its survey respondents actually attended Center City schools. Perhaps many of them dropped out of schools in other cities and then moved to Center City.
d
predict the effect ██ ███ ███████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████ ███████ █████ ███ ███ ████
The report’s conclusion is simply claiming that Center City schools had one of the highest dropout rates in the country. It doesn't need to predict any future effects of this information.
e
consider whether a ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███████████ ████ ████
The argument never addresses the value of a Center City high school diploma, nor does it need to. It’s simply arguing that Center City schools have a high dropout rate.