PrepTest 128, Section 2, Question 8
Candidate: The children in our nation need a(64 more words not shown)
The statement that the school(15 more words not shown)
- AIt is the(16 more words not shown)
- BIt is offered(16 more words not shown)
- CIt is cited(14 more words not shown)
- DIt is used(15 more words not shown)
- EIt is a(18 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Better education sounds like a sensible goal. The question is what stands in the way and who should bear responsibility for improving it.
The opponent identifies the outdated school system as the major obstacle. The candidate agrees with part of that: the schools need reform. But the candidate then pushes back on the amount of blame assigned to schools. Education also happens when parents teach children at home or when children learn through reading outside school. Schooling is part of education, not the whole of it.
The candidate uses that broader responsibility to argue that the opponent blames schools too much. We might still ask whether schools and other parts of society could all deserve substantial blame. Other institutions' responsibilities don't automatically settle how much blame schools deserve.
What we’re looking for
We aren't being asked to fix that argument, though. We are asked what the statement about school reform is doing. It is the point where the candidate says, in effect, 'I agree with you this far,' before challenging the opponent's broader position. That's a concession: accepting part of an opponent's view without accepting the whole view.
Working the answers
- A
The main conclusion is that the opponent places too much blame on schools. The need for school reform is something the candidate grants along the way. It isn't the criticism the rest of the argument is trying to establish.
- B
The candidate isn't offering school reform as one example in a list of social problems or proposing a solution to those problems. An example might describe a particular school's failure to teach its students. This statement instead accepts a general concern shared with the opponent.
- C
The supporting reason for the excessive-blame claim is that other parts of society also bear responsibility for education. Saying schools need reform doesn't establish that they are blamed too much; if anything, it acknowledges that they have a problem. C assigns the role of a different statement to the sentence we're examining.
- D
The argument doesn't trace how school failures produce broader social problems. We could imagine poor reading skills limiting someone's later opportunities, but the candidate doesn't offer that explanation. The sentence acknowledges a need for reform without developing the causal account D describes.
- ECorrect
The candidate concedes that the schools need reform while challenging the opponent's claim that the school system is the major impediment to better education. The agreement is limited, and 'Nonetheless' introduces the broader disagreement. That's exactly the role E describes.
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