Q21 - George: Throughout the 1980s

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Let's start with the conversation between George and Boris. George poses a question, and Boris offers an answer in the form of an explanation.

George wants to know why a large number of people now take ballroom dancing lessons. Boris offers as an explanation that Merengue became popular beginning in 1995 which led folks to an interest in other ballroom dances.

The question stem asks us to point out the reasoning error within Boris' explanation. And it's quite simple. Boris never explains how Merengue became popular. The question isn't, "which ballroom dance became popular first?" But rather, "how did ballroom dancing become popular at all?"

Boris' explanation never accounts for the rise in popularity of Merengue in the first place, which is itself a ballroom dance. Answer choice (D) points out this issue.

Incorrect Answers
(A) is out of scope. The argument doesn't rely on the assumption that the same people who learned the Merengue then continued on to learn other ballroom dances.
(B) is out of scope. The question is why did ballroom dancing become popular after 1995, not why was it unpopular before.
(C) is too strong. While we need to know how Merengue became popular after 1995, we do not need to know how the Merengue relates to ballroom dancing popular before 1995.
(E) is too strong. We don't need to know that all types of ballroom dancing are popular today.


#officialexplanation

[RebekahD410]

I dont understand how Boris never justified how merengue became popular. He explicitly says "many people learned the merengue and several other related ballroom dances" Is it because he never explain WHY they learned them? And also why are we asking how ballroom became popular after 1995? George states it was unpopular throughout the 80s and 90s and ask why its popular now. I dont see how E is the right answer. Boris states because these other dances are popular, other (all?) dances are popular too. This one is confusing me a lot

[ohthatpatrick]

The correct answer is (D), not (E).

If I said,
"Joey used to never be into cooking, but now he's obsessed with it. Why?"

and someone said
"It's because about a year ago he got obsessed with cooking pasta, and now he's obsessed with cooking other types of stuff"

I would still be like
"Okay ... well why did he get obsessed with cooking pasta a year ago?"

Similarly, the fact that ballroom dancing started its resurgent popularity with merengue and related forms doesn't do much to answer the original question.

George is still left wondering, "WHY did ballroom dancing (in the form of merengue) suddenly become popular in 1995?"

Ballroom was unpopular from the 80s' through the EARLY 90's. So 1995 represents the change from unpopular to popular.

Why did ballroom dancing change from unpopular to popular in 1995?
because ballroom dancing (in the form of merengue) became popular in 1995.

Kinda sounds like a circular answer. "Why do I love you? Because I love you."

[mswang7]

I don't understand this question. George never explicitly stated all forms of ballroom have gained popularity. I originally missed the "other" in Boris' statement and assumed merenge was a dance that was not ballroom so A made sense to me that Boris reply would hold a lot more water if it was established merenge & ballroom have trends that go in the same direction.

[Laura Damone]

What George says is that ballroom dancing is popular now. Since he doesn't specify which dances in particular, we should interpret that statement as a generality. When Boris responds, he says that ballroom is now popular because people started learning the merengue and the fad blossomed from there. But what caused people to start learning the merengue? We don't know! That's the problem with Boris's argument, and that's why D is the correct answer.

Now, you're right that A would strengthen Boris's argument. But I wouldn't say his argument is flawed because it lacks that info. I can imagine a world in which the merengue lovers aren't into the other dances but still propelled those dances to popularity. Maybe the merengue lovers had popular tv shows, movies, etc. Other folks saw the merengue and thought "well, that one's not for me, but maybe a good ol' fashioned waltz will do the trick."

In order for an argument to be flawed because it fails to establish something, that thing must be necessary for the argument to work. That's why "fails to show" or "fails to establish" flaw answers can be considered through the same lens as a necessary assumption answer. If the negation doesn't break the argument, the argument isn't flawed for failing to establish that fact.

Hope this helps!