LSAT 155 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q4

LR Question 4 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Although smaller class sizes are popular with parents and …

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: Public funds are better spent on teacher recruitment and retention than class size decreases.

REASONING: The author believes that when thinking about education policy, the question to be asked is “Is there a more productive use of education dollars?”. Smaller class sizes, although popular, only lead to slight improvements in education quality.

ANALYSIS: The author gives us a principle – we should be implementing policy that’s the most productive use of education dollars. The author also tells us that small class sizes, although popular, are not productive. They then conclude that it would be better to spend dollars on teacher retention.

The problem here is that the author has given us a comparative principle. We should do the things that are the better use of education dollars, compared to the other policy options. However, all they’ve told us is that class size reduction only has a small effect. We don’t know that teacher recruitment and retention is a better use of the money at all!

___________

1. It doesn’t matter that reducing class size is expensive. That still doesn’t tell us that it’s worse than recruitment and retention.
2. CORRECT. See above. If we assume this, then we can properly draw the conclusion based on the principle.
3. The conclusion doesn’t have anything to do with how easy it is to get a particular policy passed.
4. The author is comparing the two potential policies: teacher recruitment/retention and lower class sizes. The conclusion is not about whether one leads to the other, and that isn’t relevant to the argument.
5. This isn’t an assumption required by the argument. In fact, the author’s principle would indicate that the author thinks the productivity of a policy is determinable, because they want to use it to make a decision.

Recap: The question begins with “Although smaller class sizes are popular with parents and “. It is a Necessary Assumption question. Learn more about LSAT Necessary questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.