LSAT Explanation PT 26, S2, Q5: In defending the Hyperion School of

LSAT Question Stem

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the defense offered by the dean? 

Logical Reasoning Question Type

This is a Weaken question. 

Correct Answer

The correct answer to this question is A. 

LSAT Question Complete Explanation

In this LSAT problem, we are given a passage about the Hyperion School of Journalism. The dean of the school defends the program against charges that it is of little or no value to its students by pointing to the fact that 65 percent of its graduates went on to internships or jobs in print or broadcast journalism. The structure of the argument is as follows:

Premise: 65% of graduates went on to internships or jobs in journalism.

Conclusion: The program is of value to its students.

The question type is "Weaken," which means we are looking for an answer choice that undermines the defense offered by the dean or makes the conclusion less likely to be true.

An "Evaluate" question for this argument might be: "What percentage of the students had jobs in journalism before attending the program?"

Let's analyze each answer choice:

a) More than half of the school's students came from jobs in journalism to improve their skills.

This answer choice weakens the argument because if more than half of the students already had jobs in journalism, then the fact that 65% of graduates had jobs afterward does not necessarily show that the school provided much value to its students. The program's value is lessened if a significant portion of the students were already employed in the field before attending. This is the correct answer.

b) Some newspaper editors do not regard journalism school as a necessary part of the training of a journalist.

This answer choice is not strong enough to challenge the conclusion. Just because some editors believe journalism school is not necessary, it doesn't mean that it isn't valuable. Furthermore, the term "some" is vague and doesn't provide a clear indication of how many editors hold this belief.

c) The number of cities with more than one major newspaper has declined sharply over the last 25 years.

This answer choice is irrelevant to the argument, as it doesn't address the value of the school's program for its students.

d) The program offered by the Hyperion School of Journalism is similar in quality and content to those offered by its peer institutions.

This answer choice is also irrelevant. We would need to know whether the other schools' programs were of value to their students before this information could be useful.

e) The proportion of applicants to the Hyperion School of Journalism that are admitted is lower than it was ten years ago.

This answer choice only tells us that the school is more selective now, but it doesn't provide any information about the value of the program to its students.

In conclusion, the correct answer is A, as it most seriously undermines the defense offered by the dean by suggesting that the program's value is less significant if many students already had jobs in journalism before attending.