The current proposal to give college students a broader choice in planning their own courses of study should be abandoned. The students who are supporting the proposal will never be satisfied, no matter what requirements are established. Some of these students have reached their third year without declaring a major. One first-year student has failed to complete four required courses. Several others have indicated a serious indifference to grades and intellectual achievement. A flaw in the argument is that it does which one of the following?(A) avoids the issue by focusing on supporters of the proposal(B) argues circularly by assuming the conclusion is true in stating the premises.(C) fails to define the critical term "satisfied"(D) distorts the proposal advocated by opponents(E) users the term "student" equivocally

A flaw in the argument is that it:

A. avoids the issue by focusing on supporters of the proposal.

Explanation:

The writer of the passage makes his opinion clear: a certain proposal must be abandoned. We would expect him to provide strong, solid reasons for such an opinion, but he fails to do so when he says, "The students . . . will never be satisfied, no matter what requirements are established." This statement is more of a biased assumption than it is a reason. As a matter of fact, the writer's focus on supporters almost sounds as an attack. He tries to back the statement up with a couple of weak pieces of evidence, mentioning "some" students, "one" student, "several others". But that is far from enough, and it does not even constitute statistical evidence. Simply put, he does not have enough facts, enough evidence to make his opinion and his focus on supporters a solid one.

the earth’s crust is broken into separate pieces called tectonic plates (fig. 7.14). recall that the crust is the solid, rocky, outer shell of the planet. it is composed of two distinctly different types of material: the less-dense continental crust and the more-dense oceanic crust. both types of crust rest atop solid, upper mantle material. the upper mantle, in turn, floats on a denser layer of lower mantle that is much like thick molten tar.

each tectonic plate is free-floating and can move independently. earthquakes and volcanoes are the direct result of the movement of tectonic plates at fault lines. the term fault is used to describe the boundary between tectonic plates. most of the earthquakes and volcanoes around the pacific ocean basin—a pattern known as the “ring of fire”—are due to the movement of tectonic plates in this region. other observable results of short-term plate movement include the gradual widening of the great rift lakes in eastern africa and the rising of the himalayan mountain range. the motion of plates can be described in four general patterns:

collision: when two continental plates are shoved together

subduction: when one plate plunges beneath another (fig. 7.15)

spreading: when two plates are pushed apart (fig. 7.15)

transform faulting: when two plates slide past each other (fig. 7.15)