Reading 2: Asking The Right Questions

UNIT 3- What’s the issue and what’s the conclusion?

I. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion drawn
by the argument as a whole?
Some paleontologists/ˌpæliɒnˈtɒlədʒɪst/have suggested that Apatosaurus, a huge dinosaur, was able
to gallop. This, however, is unlikely, because galloping would probably have broken
Apatosaurus’s legs. Experiments with modern bones show how much strain they can withstand
before breaking. By taking into account the diameter and density of Apatosaurus leg bones, it is
possible to calculate that those bones could not have withstood the strains of galloping.

(A) Galloping would probably have broken the legs of Apatosaurus.

(B) It is possible to calculate that Apatosaurus leg bones could not have withstood the strain of
galloping.
(C) The claim of paleontologists that Apatosaurus was able to gallop is likely to be incorrect.
(D) If galloping would have broken the legs of Apatosaurus, then Apatosaurus was probably
unable to gallop.
(E) Modern bones are quite similar in structure and physical properties to the bones of
Apatosaurus.
II. Read the following passages and locate the issue and conclusion.
1.

Corporate managers are always interested in techniques for increasing the productivity of their
workers. One interesting suggestion made by productivity consultants is to pipe music into the
work area. Several recent studies have explored the extent to which different types of music
affect workers output. The primary hypothesis examined in the studies was that soft-rock music
would prove the greatest aid to productivity. The research has found almost universally that
country and western music is the greatest inducement to efficiency. Therefore, corporate officials
should seriously consider playing country and western music as a stimulus to worker
productivity. 

Issue:

Conclusion:

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Reading 2: Asking The Right Questions

2.

Getting in your run early certainly has its advantages. Those who develop the first-thing-in-the-
morning routine tend to be more consistent in their training. . . . Morning runs also avoid the heat
and peak air pollution. You can enjoy your run without carrying along all the stress that builds up
during the day. Early-morning runs . . . save time too by combining your morning and postrun
shower. (Bob Glover and Shelly-lynn Florence Glover, The Competitive Runner’s Handbook)

Issue:

Conclusion:

3.

Shop at the farmer’s market. You’ll begin to eat food in season, when they are at the peak of
their nutritional value and flavor, and you’ll cook, because you won’t find anything processed or
microwavable. You’ll also be supporting farmers in your community, helping defend the
countryside from sprawl, saving oil by eating food produced nearby, and teaching your children
that a carrot is a root, not a machine-lathed orange bullet that comes in a plastic bag. (Michael
Pollan, “Six Reasons for Eating Wisely”)

Issue:

Conclusion:

4.

Professor Jack W. Meiland, offering advice to new college students: There is one question which
you should not ask, nor feel any temptation to ask, your instructor. That question is: “Will this be
on the exam?” This question infuriates many instructors, and rightly so. For this question
indicates that your main interest is in getting through the course with a good grade rather than in
learning what the instructor has to teach. It is insulting to the teacher who has worked hard to put
you in a position to appreciate the material- its intrinsic interest, its subtlety, its complexity. (and
therefore…?)

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Reading 2: Asking The Right Questions

Issue:

Conclusion:

5.

Thinking instruction in elementary and secondary education should not be limited to the honors
program. Everyone needs thinking skills to meet the demands of career and citizenship. More
important, everyone needs such skills to realize his or her potential as a human being. The
highest of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, self-actualization, is unachievable
without the ability to think productively. Thus to deny meaningful instruction in thinking to
students below a certain IQ or proficiency level is to deny them an essential part of their
humanity. Similarly, the constitutional guarantees of freedom to speak, to choose one’s own
religion, and so on, lose much of their meaning when only some individuals are trained to
evaluate and choose among competing views.

Issue:

Conclusion:

6.

School tests should be abolished. Tests introduce competition where it does not belong. They
deny the individuality of students’ talents and interests. They degrade education by encouraging
passivity, mindlessness, and triviality. Finally, they send the wrong messages about what is
valuable in education and in life. (stated but not endorsed in E. D. Hirsch Jr., The Schools We
Need and Why We Don’t Have Them)

Issue:

Conclusion:

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Reading 2: Asking The Right Questions

7.

The rule of equal incomes is socially impracticable. It would deter the great majority of the more
efficient from putting forth their best efforts and turning out their maximum product. As a
consequence, the total volume of product would be so diminished as to render the share of the
great majority of persons smaller than it would have been under a rational plan of unequal
distribution.

(John A. Ryan, Distributive Justice, 3rd ed.)

Issue:

Conclusion:

8.

True/false and multiple-choice tests have well-known limits. No matter how carefully questions
are worded, some ambiguities will remain. The format of the questions prohibits in-depth testing
of important analytic skills. Students can become so “test savvy” that objective tests measure
test-taking skill as much as subject-matter content. (Douglas J. Soccio, Instructor’s Manual for
Archetypes of Wisdom, 3rd ed.)

Issue:

Conclusion: