PrepTest 110, Section 2, Question 10
Although the charter of Westside School states that(32 more words not shown)
The conclusion of the argument(10 more words not shown)
- AAll students with(6 more words not shown)
- BThe school currently(6 more words not shown)
- CThe school should(6 more words not shown)
- DThe only students(9 more words not shown)
- EThe school's charter(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Does “special educational needs” mean only learning disabilities?
Maybe the charter's category also includes students who need physical accommodations. A student who uses a wheelchair, for example, might meet that category under the school's definition without having a learning disability. We aren't told what the charter includes, so this is a possibility rather than a claim about every student's educational needs.
The school could then have students with special educational needs while having none with learning disabilities. The author has moved from the absence of one possible group to the absence of the broader required group without showing that they cover the same students.
What we’re looking for
To make the conclusion follow, we need to rule out those other ways to qualify. If every student with special educational needs has a learning disability, a school with no students with learning disabilities cannot meet the charter's requirement. That's the direction the missing connection has to take.
Working the answers
- A
This says students with learning disabilities fall within the special-needs category. It doesn't say they are the only students in that category.
Under A, the school could have students who qualify for some other reason and satisfy the charter without enrolling anyone with a learning disability. We need a rule about every student with special educational needs, not just about every student with a learning disability.
- B
We already know that no students with learning disabilities have enrolled. Repeating that fact doesn't establish that the school has no students with special educational needs. The missing connection between the two descriptions remains.
- C
The charter already requires the school to include students with special educational needs. Saying the school should do so doesn't establish that it currently fails to do so. We need to know whether the absent learning-disability group covers everyone who could satisfy the requirement.
- DCorrect
Now the only students who can meet the special-educational-needs requirement are students with learning disabilities. None of those students have enrolled, so the school has no students who can fulfill that requirement. Its current student body therefore violates the charter.
D closes the possibility that made us hesitate: students who qualify through some other kind of need. A left that possibility open; D rules it out.
- E
Whether the charter could be changed later doesn't determine whether the school meets the charter now. An amendable rule can still be violated before it is amended. E also leaves the key question unanswered: can students without learning disabilities have the special educational needs the current charter requires?
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