LSAT Question Explanation
PT 158, Section 2, Question 7
WeakenArgument structure
Elementary school computers put children at the same risk of repetitive stress injuries as office workers.
A study found that elementary school computers and monitors were positioned in ways that encouraged unhealthy postures.
Explanation
This seems like quite a bad argument. For one, it compares repetitive stress injuries between children and adults, and they may not experience those types of injuries in the same ways or at the same rates. I believe adults tend to experience tightness, aches and pains much more than children.
Also, office workers may spend way more time at their computers than elementary students.
Lastly, this is a weaken question based on a study. One way to weaken this conclusion could be to show that the study was not conducted properly.
Answer choices
This is probably true in real life but it wouldn't affect the conclusion here. We already know the study found that the positioning of the computers in elementary schools tends to lead to unhealthy postures.
This doesn't tell us anything about if children will be as susceptible to the injuries as adults are. Some comparison of the time that children spend in elementary school computer labs vs the time that office workers spend at computers might affect the conclusion, but this answer choice doesn't indicate anything that would tell us who's more susceptible.
This seriously weakens that the computer positioning would make children as susceptible to repetitive stress injuries as adults, because children just don't get those injuries as easily in the first place.
This just indicates that adults face the same unhealthy postures as children. It doesn't tell us adults would be at a higher risk of injury.
How often people report injuries has nothing to do with the conclusion, because the conclusion is about how high the risk of injury is/how often injuries happen. An injury happens whether or not it's reported.