Name the faulty reasoning
Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
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Leaf Blowers in Dorset Point (hearing transcript)
Dr. Nora Elling, a retired hearing specialist: [1] The proposed rule would ban gas-powered leaf blowers in Dorset Point from June through August, while allowing electric blowers all year. [2] The town's health office measured the gas blowers used in town at 70 to 75 decibels from fifty feet away, while the electric models it tested measured about 60. [3] Many residents who work from home or care for babies have asked the town for quieter summer mornings.
Mr. Felix Amari, owner of a landscaping company: [4] Dr. Elling wants to take away every tool that landscapers use, so that lawns in this town would have to be trimmed with scissors. [5] Either we keep gas blowers, or every yard in Dorset Point will be buried in leaves by September. [6] Besides, Dr. Elling lives on the quietest street in town, so she has no business telling the rest of us about noise. [7] Electric blowers cost more up front, and small companies like mine would need help to replace our equipment. [8] If the town bans gas blowers this summer, it will ban gas mowers next summer, and after that it will ban cars from our streets.
Dr. Elling: [9] Mr. Amari's point about cost is fair, and the rule could include a fund to help small companies switch. [10] The ban covers three summer months, so the leaves that fall in autumn could still be cleared with any blower. [11] The rule would not limit electric blowers, so crews could keep their usual hours with quieter machines.
Mr. Amari: [12] I could accept a summer rule if help with the cost of new equipment were written into it.
Ari wants to keep Mr. Amari's worry about yard work in sentence 5 but remove the false choice. Which rewrite does that?
- Crews may need more time to clear yards without gas blowers, so the rule should allow for that.
- Leaf blowers are one of many tools that landscapers carry from yard to yard during a busy summer week.
- Most landscapers in Dorset Point use gas blowers, so the town should let them keep doing so.
- Either Dorset Point keeps gas blowers, or many of its yards will end up covered in leaves.
Bo asks what sentence 6 does to the people listening at the hearing. Which answer describes its effect?
- It turns listeners from the decibel readings to Dr. Elling's street, so the noise question goes unanswered.
- It gives listeners a fair reason to doubt the decibel readings that the health office reported in sentence 2.
- It makes listeners fear that one rule will lead to more and more bans on machines.
- It is a small personal aside that does not change what listeners think about the rule.
Esme wants to answer sentence 8 fairly. Which reply points out the flaw without a fallacy of its own?
- Electric blowers are much quieter, as the health office's readings in sentence 2 show.
- The rule covers gas blowers in summer; a mower or car ban would need its own vote, and none is planned.
- Mr. Amari sells landscaping, so of course he wants to keep every noisy tool that his crews own and use.
- Most towns along the coast already ban gas blowers, so the worry about mowers is silly.
A Year-Round Calendar for Elwood (two opinion columns)
Text A, a column by Ms. Priya Lindgren, a fourth-grade teacher: [1] Elwood's school board is considering a year-round calendar that would keep the same 180 school days but spread them across the whole year. [2] Summer break would shrink from ten weeks to six, and students would get two-week breaks in the fall, winter and spring. [3] Teachers at Elwood report spending the first four to six weeks of each fall reviewing material that students forgot over the summer. [4] Studies of summer learning have found that many students lose some math skills over a long break, so shorter breaks could cut that review time.
Text B, a column by Mr. Oscar Bell, a parent: [5] Ms. Lindgren wants children sitting in classrooms all year long, with no summer vacation at all. [6] A teacher I know at a year-round school says her students' grades dropped after the switch, so the plan clearly harms students. [7] What Elwood really needs is a new roof on the middle school gym, which has leaked for two years. [8] Many families plan summer jobs, camps and trips around a ten-week break, and a six-week summer would force some of them to change those plans. [9] Since the year-round plan adds school days, it would cost the district far more to run than the calendar we have now. [10] Before the board votes, it should survey families about camps and child care during the shorter breaks. [11] A survey would show whether the new breaks fit the way that Elwood families actually live. [12] Until then, I urge the board to keep the present calendar.
Jun wants to keep Mr. Bell's concern about grades in sentence 6 but remove the hasty generalization. Which rewrite does that?
- Ms. Lindgren has not taught at a year-round school, so she cannot judge the plan.
- A teacher I know at a year-round school enjoys having breaks in the fall and the spring.
- The board should check whether grades rose or fell at a number of schools that made the same switch.
- One teacher saw grades drop after a switch like this, so the plan will likely harm Elwood students as well.
Kira asks what sentence 9 does to readers of the two columns. Which answer describes its effect?
- It makes readers fear that a shorter summer will keep shrinking year after year.
- It has readers weigh a cost the plan does not have, since the first sentence keeps the same 180 days.
- It gives readers a fair reason to worry about how the district would pay for running the new plan each year.
- It is a small slip about money that leaves the debate about learning just as it was.
Luz wants to answer sentence 5 fairly. Which reply points out the flaw without a fallacy of its own?
- The plan keeps a six-week summer, so the real question is whether shorter breaks help students learn.
- Teachers spend four to six weeks each fall on review, as sentence 3 reports.
- Either Elwood moves to the new calendar, or its students will keep forgetting much of what they learn.
- Mr. Bell is a parent, not a teacher, so he cannot know how much students forget.
Turf at Upton Field (meeting transcript)
Mr. Samuel Okafor, the town's athletic director: [1] The parks department proposes replacing the grass at Upton Field with artificial turf, at a cost of about $900,000 paid over ten years. [2] The grass field was closed for forty-one days last year because of rain and mud, and youth teams lost about a third of their spring games. [3] Turf drains quickly, so the field could be used almost every day, including the morning after a storm. [4] Towns all around us have switched to turf, and Upton should not be the last town left playing in the mud.
Ms. Clara Voss, a resident: [5] Turf can get much hotter than grass on sunny days, and the town should measure how hot this field would get before it decides. [6] Mr. Okafor cares more about winning trophies than about children, so his plan should be ignored. [7] And speaking of the parks, the pool still has a cracked diving board that no one has fixed.
Mr. Okafor: [8] The heat is a fair concern, and the plan could include shade tents and a rule to cool the turf with water on the hottest afternoons.
Ms. Voss: [9] Mr. Okafor seems to think that children should play on plastic and never touch real grass again.
Mr. Okafor: [10] The plan replaces one field out of the five in Upton's parks, and the other four would stay grass.
Ms. Voss: [11] Since the turf would cost more than the town's whole parks budget for a year, the plan cannot be paid for.
Mr. Okafor: [12] The yearly payment would be about $90,000, which is less than a tenth of the parks budget of $1.2 million.
Milo wants to keep Mr. Okafor's case for turf in sentence 4 but remove the bandwagon appeal. Which rewrite does that?
- Either Upton buys turf, or its teams will keep losing their spring seasons to mud.
- Nearby towns with turf could tell us how many fewer days their fields closed, and Upton should ask them.
- Upton could keep its grass and simply schedule fewer youth games each spring.
- Most towns around us have turf fields now, so Upton would be wise to join them.
Noah asks what sentence 9 does to the people listening at the meeting. Which answer describes its effect?
- It sums up Ms. Voss's view in a lively way without changing what listeners weigh.
- It gives listeners a fair reason to prefer grass, which is softer for young players.
- It sets listeners against a town with no grass at all, so they never weigh the plan for one field.
- It makes listeners doubt Mr. Okafor by pointing to how much he wants trophies.
Pia wants to answer sentence 11 fairly. Which reply points out the flaw without a fallacy of its own?
- The cost is spread over ten years, so each year's share is far below the yearly parks budget.
- The field closed for forty-one days last year, which is why the plan matters so much.
- Ms. Voss is not an expert on budgets, so nothing she says about money should count.
- Either the town pays for turf, or its youth teams will have no field to play on.
Food Trucks at Wexford Park (meeting transcript)
Mr. Hugo Lambert, a member of the parks committee: [1] The parks committee proposes allowing up to three food trucks at Wexford Park on summer weekends, each parked in the lot by the north gate. [2] At the spring concerts, 212 of the 300 people our volunteers asked said they would stay longer if they could buy lunch in the park. [3] Each truck would pay $200 for a season permit, and the money would pay for two more trash cans and a weekly cleanup crew.
Ms. Teresa Quill, owner of the Corner Kettle diner: [4] Either Wexford protects the businesses on Main Street, or it lets trucks take away their customers. [5] The Corner Kettle has served this town for thirty years, and a truck near the park could take some of our weekend lunch customers. [6] Letting food trucks into a park is like letting cars drive on the walking paths, because parks are meant for walking, not for traffic. [7] A friend of mine once bought a sandwich from a truck and it was stale, so food from trucks cannot be trusted.
Mr. Lambert: [8] Each truck would have to pass the same county health inspection that the Corner Kettle passes every year. [9] The permit could also bar trucks on days when Main Street holds its sidewalk sales, so that the shops get the crowds.
Ms. Quill: [10] Anyone who has seen how Mr. Lambert parks his own car knows that he has no idea how traffic works.
Mr. Lambert: [11] The trucks would stay in the north lot, so they would never mix with people on the paths.
Ms. Quill: [12] I would be willing to try one summer if the committee counts lunch sales on Main Street before and after.
Ren wants to keep Ms. Quill's worry about the park in sentence 6 but remove the false analogy. Which rewrite does that?
- If trucks come this summer, carts and stands will follow next summer, and soon the park will be one big market.
- Letting food trucks into a park is like turning a quiet library into a busy food court.
- The north lot is large enough for three trucks, and the paths would stay open to walkers.
- Trucks by the north gate could bring noise and lines near the paths, so the committee should plan for that.