The proposal to introduce foreign language study to students in their first years of school is misguided. Young students should master their own language first and learn basic mathematics before studying a foreign language. No one suggests teaching calculus before arithmetic. It is foolish to require lab workers to wear safety goggles when working with acids and other dangerous liquids. No one suggests that people stop eating or socializing, even though more people become ill due to food poisoning and contagious diseases than are injured in laboratory accidents. The recommendation that this company replace the radio communication system in our fleet of trucks with an entirely new system is unwise. Most of our trucks are scheduled to be replaced by the end of next year, so updating the communication system then would be more cost effective. It is silly to recommend that test pilots give up cigarette smoking. Their risk of death from other causes is so high that it is unlikely they will live long enough to develop lung cancer.
Editorial: Supporters of the proposed law that would require bicyclists to wear helmets are seriously misguided. The number of pedestrians who die yearly as a result of accidents involving automobiles is five times the number of deaths resulting from bicycle accidents, and drunken driving exacts a much higher toll than both combined. Yet there are no calls for a ban on alcohol or walking down the street.
Which one of the following exhibits a pattern of flawed reasoning most similar to that in the argument above?