PrepTest 122, Section 4, Question 3
Educator: If there is a crisis in education(44 more words not shown)
If the educator's statements are(10 more words not shown)
- AIncreasingly, institutions are(5 more words not shown)
- BIt has become(12 more words not shown)
- CEducational institutions should(6 more words not shown)
- DDegrees and certificates(11 more words not shown)
- EA person benefits(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Getting the diploma and getting the education aren't necessarily the same thing.
The educator says someone can finish the courses and earn the credential without learning much of value. I might initially wonder whether quality is education's only problem—access could matter too. But that isn't the point we need to settle here. The important distinction is between collecting the certificate and acquiring worthwhile knowledge.
What we’re looking for
Imagine going through the required steps just well enough to finish without absorbing much. If that is possible, the piece of paper doesn't settle how much the graduate learned. For the must-be-true question, I'd expect an answer about that limit on what a credential tells us. We should follow the educator's stated possibility, rather than add our own view about how schools ought to work.
Working the answers
- A
“Increasingly” adds a trend. The educator says credentials can be obtained without much valuable learning. We aren't told that institutions are granting more such credentials over time. The same possibility could exist at a constant or decreasing rate.
- B
This also compares now with the past. Perhaps completing courses without much learning has always been just as easy, or has become harder. The passage doesn't tell us. Knowing that something is possible doesn't tell us that it has become easier.
- C
A degree might be an imperfect sign of learning and still serve useful purposes. The educator criticizes treating credentials as equivalent to serious learning, not the very existence of credentials. Eliminating them altogether is a recommendation the passage never makes.
- DCorrect
The educator allows someone to obtain a degree or certificate without learning much of value. That possibility is enough to show that possessing the credential doesn't guarantee worthwhile knowledge. We don't need to know how common the problem is to reject a guarantee.
- E
Effort might affect the benefit someone gets from education, but this specific rule isn't established. The passage doesn't say that effort is the only source of benefit or describe how benefits vary with effort. It is about the gap between receiving credentials and learning, not a general law that people get out exactly what they put in.
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