PrepTest 146, Section 1, Question 19
Science teacher: An abstract knowledge of science is(62 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- ASecondary schools should(20 more words not shown)
- BTeaching secondary school(22 more words not shown)
- CAdults who have(26 more words not shown)
- DNo secondary school(13 more words not shown)
- EThe ability to(21 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if the proposed new skill isn't useful in daily life either?
The teacher's reason for changing science courses is that what students learn should help with ordinary adult decisions. That gives us a standard for the recommendation. General scientific knowledge can still matter to society—someone needs the expertise to develop the things we use—even if an individual seldom calls on abstract science to make a daily choice.
But the teacher recommends a particular alternative: evaluating science-based arguments about practical issues. Calling the issues 'practical' doesn't automatically establish that adults find this skill useful when making their usual decisions. If they never use it, the same objection made against abstract instruction would apply to the replacement.
What we’re looking for
For the required assumption, I'd look for the new skill to satisfy the teacher's own standard at least sometimes. We need that connection whether the new instruction replaces abstract science or is added alongside it.
Working the answers
- A
'Useful' doesn't mean 'the most useful,' and the teacher doesn't require schools to teach only the very best skills. That stronger restriction could rule out worthwhile instruction simply because some other skill helps more. The argument needs a reason to teach this skill, not a ranking placing it above all the alternatives.
- B
The argument doesn't require abstract science to be at least as important as the proposed practical instruction. It allows abstract material either to be replaced or to remain alongside the new material. Neither version depends on this comparison of importance.
- C
Abstract knowledge could make people somewhat better at evaluating practical arguments while explicit instruction makes them better still. The recommendation can make sense in that situation. The teacher doesn't need to equate people with abstract scientific knowledge to people with no scientific knowledge at all. And C still wouldn't establish that evaluating these arguments helps with ordinary decisions.
- D
A school can have a reason to teach a skill even if some courses already teach it. The recommendation concerns what science courses should do, not a claim that none currently does it. Existing examples of the proposed instruction wouldn't undermine the reasoning.
- ECorrect
The ability must be useful for ordinary adult decisions at least sometimes. If it were never useful for those decisions, it would fail the very standard the teacher uses to support changing the curriculum. E supplies the needed connection between the recommended skill and the reason for teaching it.
This modest assumption doesn't settle every question about a curriculum. It doesn't need to. Without even this connection, the offered justification for the new instruction would fall apart.
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