PrepTest 112, Section 4, Question 15
It is not good for a university to(44 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(14 more words not shown)
- AProfessors who have(12 more words not shown)
- BClasses that have(13 more words not shown)
- CVery small class(11 more words not shown)
- DVery small class(15 more words not shown)
- EProfessors with very(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The university is supposed to avoid both extremes: not too many students or too few, and not too much teaching or too little. I can imagine large and small classes each having advantages, so I want to know what makes these extremes bad.
The reason offered concerns crowded classes and overworked professors. They make it harder to attract and keep qualified students and faculty. I can see why a university would care about that. Still, the argument relies on that goal mattering to our judgment of what is good for the institution. What if someone evaluated the university mainly by cutting costs or maximizing revenue? We'd want to connect educational quality with the goal being pursued.
What we’re looking for
We're asked for a premise that helps justify the conclusion. My first prediction would make attracting and retaining qualified people an important goal.
Working the answers
- A
More time for research could be a benefit of a light teaching load. At a minimum, this doesn't identify a problem caused by giving professors fewer classes. The argument needs support for rejecting very light loads, and A instead describes another use for the time.
- B
More classroom discussion sounds like a possible advantage of a small class. B doesn't explain why having few students is bad. It therefore doesn't supply the additional support the conclusion needs on the small-class side.
- CCorrect
This goes in a different direction from my initial prediction. The original support explains the problem with the large and heavy extremes: crowded classes and overworked faculty hurt recruitment and retention. It hasn't given a reason to reject the small and light extremes.
C supplies one. If very small classes or very light teaching loads indicate incompetent instruction, those arrangements come with an educational problem. We are asked to assume this added premise, not to treat it as a real-world rule about universities. Under that assumption, it fills in support for the part of the conclusion the original reason left unaddressed.
- D
Appearing at both the best and worst universities doesn't tell us whether these arrangements are good or bad. A strong university could have some weaknesses, and a weak university could have some strengths. The comparison gives no specific reason to reject small classes or light teaching loads, which is what would help the argument.
- E
No extra office hours doesn't mean too few office hours. A professor with a light teaching load could offer the same perfectly adequate number as a professor with a normal load. E removes a possible extra benefit without identifying a disadvantage that supports calling the lighter load bad.
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