PrepTest 110, Section 2, Question 20
Professor Chan: The literature department's undergraduate courses should(71 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(7 more words not shown)
- AAdvertisements ought to(13 more words not shown)
- BAny text that(19 more words not shown)
- CAll undergraduate students(15 more words not shown)
- DThe literature department's(19 more words not shown)
- EAny professor teaching(21 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Being able to help doesn't automatically make something your responsibility. Wigmore has explained why studying advertisements could be useful: people often miss their real messages, that misunderstanding makes advertisements harmful, and literature courses develop the skills needed to analyze texts. But why does the literature department therefore have to include advertisements in its courses?
Notice that we don't have to settle Chan's complaint about whether advertisements count as literature. Wigmore leaves that question open. The argument is that studying them serves a useful purpose, whether or not they belong in the category Chan prefers.
What we’re looking for
To strengthen Wigmore's argument, I'd want a rule that turns the department's ability to help into a duty to help. That would give us a reason to move from useful skills to a required part of the curriculum.
Working the answers
- A
This tells advertisers what their advertisements ought to do: make their real messages clear. It doesn't tell the literature department what to teach. We could agree that advertisers should be more transparent while still asking why fixing the current problem is this department's responsibility.
- B
This tries to resolve the dispute over what counts as literature. Wigmore deliberately allows that advertisements might or might not qualify. The reason for teaching them is their harmful social effect and students' need for analytical skills. Also, even if advertisements were classified as literature, we'd still need a reason the department must include them. A department doesn't necessarily teach every kind of literary text.
- C
Requiring students to take a course that develops critical skills doesn't establish what that course must cover. Students could fulfill this rule by studying novels or poems. We need a reason advertisements in particular belong in the department's curriculum.
- DCorrect
This gives the department the responsibility the conclusion needs. Its courses ought to enable students to analyze and understand any text that has a harmful effect on society. Wigmore says advertisements have that harmful effect, largely because people fail to grasp their messages. Advertisements therefore fall within the rule.
Now the argument has more than a useful skill the department happens to teach. It has a reason the department ought to apply that teaching to these harmful texts, which supports including the study of advertisements.
- E
Freedom to choose teaching materials is different from a responsibility to include advertisements. A professor could have complete freedom and choose only poems. This rule would allow the study of advertisements, but it wouldn't support the claim that the department has a duty to include it.
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