PrepTest 107, Section 4, Question 3
Physical education should teach people to pursue healthy,(43 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(12 more words not shown)
- APhysical education should(3 more words not shown)
- BCompetition causes most(6 more words not shown)
- CPeople who are(7 more words not shown)
- DThe mental aspects(9 more words not shown)
- EChildren should be(7 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Disliking dodgeball doesn't mean disliking exercise. But I can see how a child might learn to treat the two as the same thing.
Imagine physical education repeatedly associating activity with losing a game or getting hit by a dodgeball. A less competitive student might conclude, “I'm not athletic,” and give up on exercise altogether. The passage says that this happens to most of the less competitive students: they turn away from sports and don't exercise enough to stay healthy.
That works against the stated goal of teaching an active lifestyle. Why not offer something else? Going for a run or doing yoga doesn't have to involve defeating another person. Students could discover ways to move that they enjoy without enjoying competitive games.
What we’re looking for
We're asked what the statements most strongly support. Accept the account they've given us and look for a conclusion that responds to the problem. I'd expect a way to avoid teaching these students that all exercise is something they are bad at. We don't need to reject competition for everyone to recognize the value of other options.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Include noncompetitive activities. That gives less competitive students another route to the healthy, active lifestyle physical education is supposed to encourage. The recommendation addresses the described problem without assuming competitive sports must disappear or that every student dislikes them.
- B
Most of the less competitive students is not the same as most students. Suppose less competitive students make up only ten percent of the school. Even if nearly all of that group turn away from sports, most of the entire school could still enjoy them. B drops the restriction that keeps the passage's claim tied to a particular group.
- C
We haven't been told what talented competitors do over time. They might enjoy exercise, but talent alone doesn't guarantee that they exercise regularly. Someone could have been excellent at a sport and later stop participating. This claim about talented people isn't established by the account of less competitive students.
- D
The passage does describe a mental effect: students come to think of themselves as unathletic. But showing that a mental effect matters doesn't establish that mental and physical aspects of exercise are equally important. No comparison of their importance is supplied.
- E
Teaching the risks of inactivity might be useful. Still, the particular obstacle described here isn't that children don't know those risks. It's that their experience of competitive sports turns them away from exercise. A directly addresses that obstacle by broadening what physical education includes; E proposes a different lesson without establishing that a lack of such knowledge caused the problem.
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