Question

Dance critic from Europe: The improved quality of ballet in the United States is the result of more Europeans' teaching ballet in the United States than ever before. I know the proportion of teachers who were born and trained in Europe has gone up among ballet teachers in the United States, because last year, on my trip to New York, more of the ballet teachers I met were from Europe-born and trained there -than ever before.
Which of the following identifies a questionable assumption made by the dance critic's reasoning?

• A. The argument overlooks the possibility that some ballet teachers in the United States could have been born in Europe but trained in the United States.
• B. The argument assumes that the ballet teachers whom the critic met last year on the critic's trip to New York were a generally typical group of such teachers
• C. The argument assumes that the teaching of ballet in the United States is superior to the teaching of ballet in Europe
• D. Other possible reasons for the improved mental attitudes of United States dancers are not examined.
• E. The argument assumes that dancers born and trained in Europe are typically more talented than dancers born and trained in the United States.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understanding the Argument.
The critic claims that the improvement in ballet quality in the U.S. is due to more Europeans teaching there. The critic’s evidence: last year in New York, more teachers he personally met were Europe-born and trained than ever before.

Step 2: Identifying the Assumption.
The critic is generalizing from personal observation in one location (New York) to the entire U.S. ballet teaching population. For the reasoning to hold, the group of teachers the critic met must be representative of all ballet teachers in the United States. Otherwise, the conclusion is unreliable.

Step 3: Analyzing Options.
- (A) Talks about birthplace vs. training, but this doesn’t address the core flaw of representativeness.
- (B) This directly points to the critic’s questionable assumption — that the teachers he met in New York are typical of U.S. ballet teachers overall. This is the flaw.
- (C) Incorrect — the critic did not compare ballet teaching in Europe vs. U.S.
- (D) Mentions "mental attitudes," but the critic was not talking about mental attitudes; only teaching origins.
- (E) The critic is not comparing dancers’ talent, only teachers’ backgrounds.

Step 4: Conclusion.
The flaw lies in assuming that a limited observation in New York is representative of all ballet teachers in the United States. Hence, the correct answer is:

\[ \boxed{\text{(B) The argument assumes the teachers met in New York were typical of all U.S. ballet teachers.}} \]