PrepTest 154, Section 4, Question 17
Advice columnist: Parents should not encourage their children(34 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(14 more words not shown)
- AParents should encourage(12 more words not shown)
- BParents should try(15 more words not shown)
- COne should never(17 more words not shown)
- DParents should do(11 more words not shown)
- EHow much one(18 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Doing your best sounds like a healthier focus than constantly trying to beat everyone else. Someone can work hard and still find another person who does better. If every success matters only until someone tops it, satisfaction becomes hard to hold onto.
That helps me understand the columnist's concerns about resentment and unhappiness. A child might resent the person who performs better, even though that person has done nothing wrong. The argument says parents therefore shouldn't encourage children to put great value on outdoing others.
But what makes happiness the deciding consideration? Imagine a parent saying, “I care more about achievement. Even if comparison makes my child less happy, perhaps it pushes the child to accomplish more.” We don't have to endorse that attitude to see the missing connection. The evidence describes an effect on happiness; the conclusion tells parents what not to encourage.
What we’re looking for
For a principle that supports the advice, connect those two ideas. We want a rule making the loss of happiness a reason not to encourage the trait. Just agreeing that achievement or happiness is nice won't necessarily establish the recommendation.
Working the answers
- A
Encouraging children to appreciate what they do well doesn't rule out encouraging them to compete with others too. A parent could praise a child's piano playing and still urge the child to beat a classmate. A gives positive advice about celebrating strengths without establishing the prohibition the columnist argues for.
- B
A child could have some easily satisfied desires and also a difficult-to-satisfy desire to outdo other people. Ensuring the first doesn't tell parents to avoid encouraging the second. We need support for not promoting this particular motivation, not merely for making sure the child has something easier to achieve.
- CCorrect
The trait is placing great value on outdoing others, and the passage says having that motivation makes a person less happy. C says not to encourage a trait with that effect. Applied to parents and children, it supports exactly the advice in the conclusion.
The rule is more general than the specific parenting case, which is fine: a general principle can cover this case. It supplies the missing reason that reduced happiness should govern what the parents encourage.
- D
Prioritizing significant achievements could support the hypothetical parent's objection instead. The passage hasn't established that encouraging competition prevents achievement; its complaint concerns resentment and unhappiness. D doesn't connect those effects with a reason to avoid the motivation.
- E
Comparing achievements with one's own potential may sound like appealing advice. But saying that comparison is just as important as comparison with others doesn't tell us to avoid encouraging the latter. The columnist needs a reason not to encourage this trait, and E doesn't make its effect on happiness that reason.
More Strengthen questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Strengthen questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.