PrepTest 112, Section 4, Question 11
High school students who feel that they are(57 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(11 more words not shown)
- AThere was a(11 more words not shown)
- BThe morale of(16 more words not shown)
- CAs in the(12 more words not shown)
- DHigh schools in(12 more words not shown)
- EThe antidropout program(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if there aren't jobs to leave school for? A student could still feel unsuccessful in school yet stay because the alternative looks worse. A lower dropout rate wouldn't necessarily mean the student's morale had improved.
The argument gives us a plausible story: discouraged students often leave to work, a program tries to improve morale, and the dropout rate then falls. The program might deserve credit. But the change in the rate doesn't tell us what made students stay. We need to distinguish feeling better about school from having fewer attractive options outside it.
What we’re looking for
For the weakener, I'd look for another reason the dropout rate fell. In particular, fewer job opportunities could make dropping out less appealing without any improvement in morale. We don't have to show that the program helped nobody; another explanation would make the decline less convincing as evidence of its success.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
High unemployment changes the work option the passage identifies. A discouraged student who might otherwise have left for a job could remain in school because finding that job is now harder.
That gives the decline an explanation separate from the morale program. The same students could feel just as discouraged while being less willing to leave. A doesn't prove that the program had no effect, or that no jobs existed. It makes the observed drop a less reliable sign that improved morale caused it.
- B
Low morale before high school tells us when the discouragement began. It doesn't show that the program failed to improve morale or explain why the dropout rate changed last year. A long-standing problem could still respond to a new program.
- C
More than half could remain in school in both years while the dropout rate changed substantially. For example, a fall from 20 percent dropping out to 10 percent would leave a majority in school throughout. Knowing which group is larger doesn't explain the change in their relative sizes.
- D
Helping graduates find jobs could make finishing school more attractive. But this doesn't clearly separate an outside reason for staying from school efforts that improve students' outlook. The offices might help students feel that succeeding in school leads somewhere. Unlike A's contraction in available jobs, D doesn't directly undermine the proposed morale explanation by changing the alternative students leave school to pursue.
- E
Targeting schools with the highest dropout rates tells us where the program concentrated its efforts. It doesn't establish whether those efforts caused the later decline. That targeting is consistent with an attempt to address the problem, not a reason to doubt the program's effect.
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