Greta: We should stop funding the museum, not the television programming, because, as the mayor has also pointed out, the museum reaches a much smaller audience.
Speaker 1 Summary
Alissa argues that if the city has to cut funding for either the children’s museum or local children’s television, it should cut the television funding. The support offered is that the museum offers a richer educational experience, compared to passive television-watching.
Speaker 2 Summary
Greta counters that the city should actually cut funding to the museum first. In support, Greta points out that many more children watch the television programming, whereas the museum has a more limited number of visitors.
Objective
We need to find a point of disagreement. The speakers disagree about, if the city has to cut funding to something, whether it should be television programming or the museum.
A
whether the city will need to cease funding local children’s television programming if it continues funding the children’s museum
Like (B), neither speaker makes this claim. Alissa and Greta are discussing the hypothetical case that the city might need to choose between these two services. Neither directly expresses an opinion about whether that choice is actually necessary.
B
whether the mayor has spoken truthfully about what will need to happen if the city does not cease funding local children’s television programming
Like (A), this is not a topic in discussion. Alissa and Greta are concerned with what the city should do if the mayor’s claim is true, but they never discuss whether the mayor’s claim is actually true.
C
whether the city should cease funding local children’s television programming if continuing to fund it would mean that the city would have to cease funding the children’s museum
Alissa agrees that this should happen but Greta disagrees, so this is the point of disagreement. If the city has to choose between television and the museum, Alissa argues that it should save the museum, but Greta says it should save the television programming.
D
whether local children’s television programming provides a beneficial educational experience to a greater number of children in the city than does the children’s museum
Greta agrees that the television programming reaches more children than the museum, but Alissa doesn’t disagree. Alissa says nothing about how many children interact with each service, and just focuses on the quality of each one.
E
whether the children’s museum provides a rich educational experience for those children who visit it
Alissa agrees that this is true, but Greta doesn’t disagree. Greta isn’t saying that the museum has no educational value, she just thinks it’s more important to reach a greater number of children.