#10 - Annie: Our university libraries have been sadly

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Point at Issue. The correct answer choice is (D)

In this stimulus, Annie and Matilda are having a disagreement. Annie believes the flawed policies of the university administrators have led to the poor state of the university libraries, and that the problem should be fixed in the fastest way possible, which is to charge students a library fee and to use those funds for library improvements.

Matilda agrees that the libraries are in poor condition and that their condition is the fault of the library officials (to whom Annie and Matilda variously refer as “university administrators,” “library officials,” and “library administrators”). However, Matilda disagrees that the students, who are not at fault for the poor condition of the libraries, should have to pay to fix the problem.

The stimulus is followed by a Point at Issue question, so the correct answer will present a statement concerning which Annie and Matilda hold opposing views. Our prephrase is that Annie and Matilda disagree about who should pay for the improvements needed by the library.

Answer choice (A): Annie and Matilda agree the library administrators, also referred to as the “university administrators” or as the “library officials,” are at fault.

Answer choice (B): While Annie believes this to be true, Matilda expressed no opinion as to the fastest way to implement library improvements. Unless both speakers expressed an opinion, we cannot say whether they hold opposing views.

Answer choice (C): While it certainly seems plausible, neither speaker expresses an opinion regarding whether the students would ultimately benefit from the improvements.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Annie and Matilda agree the students are not responsible for the problem, but they disagree about whether the students should bear the cost of remedying it. Annie thinks the students should bear the cost, while Matilda thinks they should not.

Answer choice (E): Although Annie does not expressly say there are ways other than the use of student fees to raise the required funds, she implies there may be. In any event, it is clear that Matilda offers no opinion concerning whether library improvement funds could be raised without additional student fees. She simply argues they should not be raised that way.

[kcho10]

Hi, I'm a little unsure about (D)

How do we know that Annie thinks students are not responsible? While I can kind of see why this is the best answer, this one threw me off because the question isn't asking for what 'must be supported' but what they definitely disagree on. But Annie doesn't seem to say anything that shows it is not the fault of students. Thank you!

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi kcho10,

Thanks for your question! Remember that Point at Issue questions are Prove-family questions: we need to prove the correct answer choice by referring to each of the two arguments in the dispute. In particular, we need credible evidence that one of the speakers would agree with the correct answer choice, while the other one would disagree.

Answer choice (D) passes the Agree/Disagree test. Annie certainly blames the university administrators for the problem ("The university’s administrators should admit that their library policies have been in error"), but ultimately argues that the students should be the ones to foot to bill. Thus, Annie would probably agree that those not responsible for the problem (i.e. the students) should bear the cost of remedying it. Matilda would clearly disagree, which is why (D) states correctly the point at issue between the two.

Does this make sense? Let me know.

Thanks!

[ncolicci11]

Hi Powerscore,

I was between A and D and picked D because I did not consider the two using the university admin and library officials interchangeably. I see why D is correct but is there a way to know for sure on future questions when to equate these groups?

Thanks!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi ncolicci11!

It's difficult to make a blanket statement about when you can assume that two groups are equivalent and when you cannot. It mainly comes down to the context of the statements. Here, Matilda refers to both library officials in her premise and draws a conclusion about library administrators. It appears that she is using these two terms interchangeably, which makes sense since, by basic definitions, officials are administrators. Annie refers to university administrators, which seems pretty similar to the idea of library administrators that Matilda uses. It seems that both of them are drawing a distinction between "students" and "officials/administrators" but neither of them is making any distinction between "university administrators" and "library administrators." So, based on this context, we can assume that "university administrators," "library administrators," and "library officials" are all ways to refer to the officials/administrators in charge of creating the library policies which have resulted in the current poor condition of the libraries and they are disagreeing over who should be responsible for bear the cost of improving the libraries.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey