【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】 Argument Evaluation
   Situation  During a recession, the number of children in government-funded schools in Vargonia tends to
              increase. Vargonian children are entitled to a free education in these schools. A new law requires
              student-teacher ratios in these schools to remain below a certain limit.
   Reasoning  Which of the five questions would provide us with the best information for evaluating the argument?
              The argument's conclusion is that recessions do not make teaching jobs in Vargonia's
              government-funded schools harder to get. During recessions, the reasoning goes, more students
              will enroll in Vargonia's government-funded schools than in nonrecession times. Implicit in the
              argument is the thought that, because the new law sets an upper limit on the average number of
              students per teacher, schools that get an influx of new students would have to hire more teachers.
              During a recession, however, there might be much more competition in the labor market for
              teachers because many more qualified people are applying for teaching jobs.
   A   This information is not significant in the context of the argument, which does not need to assume that only government-funded schools provide free education.
   B   Correct. Getting an answer to this question would provide us with specific information useful in evaluating the argument. A "yes" answer to this question would suggest that competition for teaching jobs in Vargonian government-funded schools would be keener during recessions. A "no" answer would suggest that the level of competition would decrease during recessions.
   C   Discovering the current student-teacher ratio in Vargonia's schools would be of no value, by itself, in evaluating the argument. We do not know what the new upper limit on the student-teacher ratio is, and we do not know whether Vargonia is currently in a recession.
   D   Finding out whether the proportion this refers to is 1 percent, for example, or 4 percent, would tell us nothing about whether getting teaching jobs at government-funded schools in Vargonia becomes more difficult during a recession. Among other things, we do not know whether Vargonia is currently in a recession, and we do not know what proportion of Vargonia's workers would be qualified candidates for teaching jobs.
   E   This is of no relevance in evaluating the argument because, presumably, the new limit on student-teacher ratios will be complied with. Thus, even if student-teacher ratios in the past would have exceeded the new limit, the argument concerns whether, in the future, getting a teaching job in Vargonia's government-funded schools will be made more difficult by a recession.
   The correct answer is B.