PrepTest 135, Section 4, Question 4
Gaby: In school, children should be allowed fully(50 more words not shown)
Gaby's and Logan's comments provide(9 more words not shown)
- Athe way in(6 more words not shown)
- Bthe extent to(6 more words not shown)
- Cthe importance of(7 more words not shown)
- Dthe sort of(7 more words not shown)
- Ethe extent to(8 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if a child wants to study Pokémon all day and has no interest in math? That's a reason to question Gaby's confidence that following children's interests will make them most successful as adults. Gaby gives teachers a supporting role with minimal guidance, leaving the direction largely to the children.
Logan wants teachers to take charge of a disciplined, systematic course of instruction. I might question Logan too: must this be the only way children learn the fundamentals, and must the teachers be accredited? We don't have to settle those questions or pick a side.
What we’re looking for
We need to locate the disagreement. Both speakers care about future success, but they disagree about how much teachers should direct the education that leads there. Gaby says minimal guidance; Logan calls for systematic instruction. That's the contrast to carry into the answers.
Working the answers
- A
Logan explicitly discusses acquiring fundamental knowledge. Gaby discusses following interests and achieving adult success, without saying that this approach is the best way to acquire that particular knowledge. We shouldn't assume the speakers share Logan's stated educational goal just because both want children to succeed.
- BCorrect
Gaby gives children freedom to follow their interests with minimal teacher guidance. Logan says learning the necessary fundamentals requires disciplined, systematic instruction from teachers. Those positions conflict over the extent of teacher direction. Minimal guidance isn't no guidance, but it is different from the directed program Logan requires.
- C
Both include teachers in their preferred arrangements. Gaby calls for experienced teachers; Logan specifies accredited teachers. Those descriptions aren't identical, but neither speaker rejects having qualified teachers. Different descriptions of qualifications don't establish disagreement about their importance.
- D
Neither speaker makes a claim about which environment best develops creativity. An interest-led classroom might sound creative to us, but Gaby's stated claim concerns success in adult life. We cannot supply an additional position and then call it a disagreement.
- E
Gaby says children should follow their interests, without telling us how interested they actually are in fundamental academic subjects. Logan says children should learn those subjects, without describing their interest either. What children should study and what they happen to like studying are separate questions.
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