Editorial: The city has chosen a contractor to upgrade the heating systems in public buildings. Support Only 40 percent of the technicians employed by this contractor are certified by the Heating Technicians Association. So Conclusion the city selected a contractor 60 percent of whose technicians are unqualified, which is an outrage.
The author concludes that the city selected a contractor with 60% of its technicians who are unqualified.
What makes the author believe this?
Because 60% of the contractor’s technicians are not certified by the Heating Technicians Association.
The author assumes that if a technician is not certified by the association, then they are not qualified. In other words, the author assumes that in order to be qualified, they must be certified.
Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument in the editorial?
Certified technicians receive higher pay than uncertified technicians.
Not necessary, because a technician’s pay is irrelevant to the reasoning.
There are no contractors with fewer than 40 percent of their technicians certified.
Not necessary, because the argument concerns the specific contractor hired by the city. What is true about other contractors doesn’t matter.
Technicians who lack certification are not qualified technicians.
Necessary, because if it were not true — if technicians who lack certification CAN still be qualified — then the fact 60% are not certified would not prove that 60% are not qualified.
Qualified technicians installed the heating systems to be upgraded.
Not necessary, because the argument doesn’t concern who did the initial installation. The argument concerns the contractor hired to do the upgrade.
The contractor hired by the city has personal ties to city officials.
Not necessary, because speculation about why the contractor was hired has nothing to do with the reasoning of the argument. What matters is whether lack of certification implies lack of qualification.
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