PrepTest 120

Incorrect. This answer is about developing that character to begin with, not whether it persists through their childhood/life.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Weaken

Stimulus Summary:
Goal - Develop good character in children
Approach - Vote against allowing a racetrack to be built
Why? - Children raised where you can get something for nothing won't develop good character

Answer Anticipation:
This stimulus falls into a common pattern—a conclusion makes a recommendation on how to approach achieving a goal. That goal is to develop children with good character, and the approach is to vote against a racetrack. In general, recommendations will be causal statements—if you recommend an action to achieve a goal, you have to believe that the action will have a desired effect.

So this argument's conclusion assumes that growing up by a racetrack will result in poor character in children. To weaken a causal relationship such as this one, we can:
(1) Identify an alternative cause
(2) Bring up counterexamples (children who grew up by racetracks/gambling and have fine characters; children with bad character who didn't grow up by a racetrack/gambling)
(3) Bring up reverse causality (this answer doesn't make much sense, as the timeline doesn't work out and it's just hard to imagine how children with poor character could cause gambling to crop up)

Answer Explanation:
This answer presents counterexamples—areas where there was the supposed cause (gambling) but not the supposed effect (children failing to grow up with good character). It therefore weakens the argument.

Key Takeaway:
Recommendations are almost always assuming a causal relationship, with the recommended action serving as the cause and the effect being the achievement of a goal.

Incorrect. This doesn't connect gambling to character, and it also deals with adults instead of children.

Incorrect. The argument is over whether being around gambling results in people developing bad character (or, at least, failing to develop good character), not whether it results in people eventually gambling. Someone of low character can not be a gambler!

Incorrect. A policy being popular doesn't mean that it's a good policy, or one that helps children develop character. This answer is out of scope.