Critical Reasoning

Source: Veritas

Concerns of over-population in country XYZ led to government funded birth-control initiatives that proved ineffective in curbing population growth. It has been suggested that these initiatives failed due to the traditionally high value placed on male children within the culture of XYZ.

Which of the following best explains the reasoning behind the suggestion described in the second sentence?

A. The population of country XYZ believes that birth control increases the probability of conceiving females.
B. Since every parent wishes to produce a male child, they will avoid birth control until they conceive a male.
C. Birth-control initiatives are typically only successful in female dominated cultures.
D. Cultures that place high values on male children do not respond well to government funded initiatives.
E. The citizens of country XYZ are not concerned with the possibility of over-population.

What do you guys think? I called Veritas for help and we were on this question for almost 15 minutes then gave up because the Veritas guy helping me was as indecisive as I was about the right answer.

With lots of outside knowledge and being a best judge of this mentioned situation that existed 20years back
there is no other contender for B

I think the answer is B.

Situation: Since male child is given more inportance in culture XYZ, the intiative taken by government for birth control is a failure.

In B, it links the two statements by providing a reasoning that since parents would not opt for birth control until a male child is born, the government initiative will not work. Hence B.

+1 for B

B is the right answer

IMO B

Everyone seems to like B. So, why do you guys think A is wrong? Couldn't one say that A also prevents people from using birth control, at all? In B, the rationale goes that once a parent produces a child, s/he then will potentially start using birth control. In A, given the parent's preference for a male child, would never use birth control because doing so would increase the probability of having a female child.

If we think in terms of a parent's potential to have a child, let's say parent A lives in a world of Statement A and parent B lives in the world of Statement B, but they both have the potential to have 2 children.

Parent A: after the first child, the parent doesn't start to use birth control even if the first child is a boy. So, the parent will reach his/her reproductive potential, ALWAYS: 2 children.

Parent B: after the first child, if it turns out to be a boy, the parent starts using birth control and 1 child is the most that s/he will have. If it turns out to be a girl, then the parent will try again. But, this would only happen 50% of the time.

What do you think??

It is great that they stayed on with you on the Veritas helpline to explore this question in depth! Here is my take:

Choice B is a clear path to avoiding birth control until having a male child, at which point the program may have already failed to curb population growth. We all agree this goes to the conclusion.

Choice A will give a reason to prevent the use of birth control IF WE ASSUME THAT FEMALES ARE NOT ALSO HIGHLY VALUED. Nowhere in the stimulus does it say that females are not highly valued. You may assume they are not but the stimulus does not say so.

Remember that the more direct path to the conclusion - the fewest assumptions on our part - the better. Choice B makes no assumptions but goes right to the premise about valuing male children. Choice A requires the assumption that females are not also highly valued, which the stimulus does not say.

Even if we infer than MALES are MORE VALUED this still does not make A the answer because we do not know that having females is necessarily a bad thing. It is like silver and gold, I might place a higher value on gold, but I would still take some silver! Choice A assumes that we do not want silver at all, but only gold. Choice B says that we will keep going until we have gold and that is in line with the stimulus.

(By the way, as a male I think that we men are the silver and the women are for sure the gold).

David@VeritasPrep wrote:It is great that they stayed on with you on the Veritas helpline to explore this question in depth! Here is my take:

Choice B is a clear path to avoiding birth control until having a male child, at which point the program may have already failed to curb population growth. We all agree this goes to the conclusion.

Choice A will give a reason to prevent the use of birth control IF WE ASSUME THAT FEMALES ARE NOT ALSO HIGHLY VALUED. Nowhere in the stimulus does it say that females are not highly valued. You may assume they are not but the stimulus does not say so.

Remember that the more direct path to the conclusion - the fewest assumptions on our part - the better. Choice B makes no assumptions but goes right to the premise about valuing male children. Choice A requires the assumption that females are not also highly valued, which the stimulus does not say.

Even if we infer than MALES are MORE VALUED this still does not make A the answer because we do not know that having females is necessarily a bad thing. It is like silver and gold, I might place a higher value on gold, but I would still take some silver! Choice A assumes that we do not want silver at all, but only gold. Choice B says that we will keep going until we have gold and that is in line with the stimulus.

(By the way, as a male I think that we men are the silver and the women are for sure the gold).

Thank you so much for the explanation. It all makes sense now!!

hi david , but how could you equate precious metals with children .A person could conceive either a girl or a boy . Children are something that a person doesnt consider wealth and they are something that a person can produce as many as possible whereas a person cant buy as much precious metal as possible . It depends on how rich you are .

Very true children are not precious metals - but that is an analogy and like other analogies it is only designed to shed light, not to equate two things.

Don't take things too literally!

+1 for B

Hi David,

My thoughts about choice D. Will appreciate your comments. Thanks.

D. Cultures that place high values on male children do not respond well to government funded initiatives. ---> XYZ is a culture that places high value on male children hence we can say XYZ did not respond well to government funded but there is a gap in the answer choice as we really do not know response really translated into high population growth. Hence I rejected D.