Q11

[skapur777]

Why couldn't the answer be A? If looked through the lens of the majority culture, surely it would be easier to do this and speculate the least since you have a good framework for interpretations, unlike, say, method 2 in paragraph 3. I was decided between A and B and they seem very similar but I thought the fact that they mentioned change in the educational system that this was slightly an enlargement of the scope and thus incorrect.

[giladedelman]

Thanks for posting!

(A) is incorrect because although what you say might theoretically be true, there is no support for it in the passage. The passage does not address the issue of "speculation about non-Western cultures," so we have no basis to say whether a system relies more or less on such speculation.

(B), on the other hand, does have support in the passage. We're told that this proposal is the most modest because it holds that "students should learn about other cultures ... but examination of these cultures should operate with the methods, perspectives, and values of the majority culture." The second proposal, on the other hand, holds that students should take a neutral perspective to cultures, while third goes even further and says students should adopt the methods and values of the culture being studied. So the first proposal involves the smallest shift in the educational system.

(C) is maybe something the proponents of the third proposal would say, but it is not at all supported by the discussion of the "modest" proposal.

(D) is totally unsupported by the passage.

(E) is out of scope; the passage isn't about understanding the values of liberalism, it's about understanding other cultures' values.

Does that help?

[jake.rambeau]

I have a concern about the correct answer B, and also about the reasoning in the post above. Where in the passage is anything about educational system "change" mentioned. What if the educational system was already employing the second method, and not the first? In that case there would be no change at all using the second method.

This is the reasoning for which i crossed out B.

I suppose that because they are "proposals" that they are not currently implemented? Is that a correct assumption?

However, even if so, we are told the second method still uses methods derived from western perspective and heritage. So how can we say for sure that taking into account the "majority culture" is less of a change than then "neutral stance + western style study" method? I dont think we know enough about either methods details compared to the current educational system to say which is more of a change.

Can you help me find where I am going wrong here?

[esnanees]

Hi Jake- B is correct because from the 1st sentence we are told that"many educators in CA & US advocate......." and there have a variety of proposal to that. So we can infer by saying that currently there is a standard for multicultural education and once the 1st proposal does the least change to it.

Let me know if this clarifies it for you.

[gplaya123]

Manhattan, and its gurus,
I really need your help on this question.

It was A vs B.

I chose A because:
first, let me clarify that I believe that this answer choice means "this modest proposal requires the students to rely less facts/observations/values about non-western cultures; because this method requires them to see things through western-lens."
I believe this is supported: compared to the second proposal, which says it should take neutral stance and look at non-western cultures in their own terms, which would definitely require students rely more on non-western facts/observations/values, first one seems more "modest."

I also think B is correct because: as mentioned above, second proposal, if adopted, would require some drastic changes in educational system since it requires students to adopt whole new perspectives whereas the first one says "Just use our current methods to study non-western stuff."

So as shown, I believe both work...
Here are my potential objections:

Either
A) I didn't understand properly what the answer choice A is trying to say (if so, please explain for me!)

or

B) that the word "modest" isn't the most appropriate one to be applied to the answer choice A. Relying less on non-western culture values and whatnot is described as "modest?" It's a definitely stretch...
I believe such word is more appropriate for the answer choice B.

I really want to get to the bottom of this answer choice...

please help!

[einuoa]

When I first approached the question, I crossed out all the answers because none of them seemed particularly strong for me. After looking at the passage again, B is indeed a better choice, (although I still dislike this question). Here was my reasoning for crossing out A:

The passage doesn't say anything about how studying/promoting multicultural understanding by teaching about other cultures relies on the least amount of speculation about non-Western cultures. So, take for example one of the values in the first paragraph, democracy. If we use the lense of democracy to study other cultures, there would still be plenty of speculation when we look at other cultures through that lens, even though we're applying a Western culture perspective.
Also, in contrast to the second&third option, I think the third option actually applies less speculation about that country's cultures. If you're studying that country's culture according to its own set of values, as advocated in the last three lines, then there isn't much to speculate, because you're then not questioning that culture through your own perspective, but understanding that culture through its own.

I'm not sure if I'm being entirely clear, so as an example, say that people in Africa paint their faces, if we study that through democracy, we would say something along the lines of 'Do people in Africa paint their faces because it shows their democratic ideals?' Speculation! But according to the third option, you would say 'According to African tradition, they paint their faces to show respect to past ancestors.' (I made that up) Therefore, less speculation.

And to address your question with the second option, it merely points out the differences between cultures, by not saying one's right. Also, a little bit of outside information, anthropology often observes what other cultures do while maintaining neutrality, so as to not influence the study, so it's more observational than speculative. The passage also describes the second method as more objective, so I think that ties in with being less speculative as well.

Choice B addresses the 'Many educators...' part in the beginning of the paragraph and what multicultural education should consist of. I hope that answered your question.

[maryadkins]

The passage doesn't say anything about how studying/promoting multicultural understanding by teaching about other cultures relies on the least amount of speculation about non-Western cultures. So, take for example one of the values in the first paragraph, democracy. If we use the lense of democracy to study other cultures, there would still be plenty of speculation when we look at other cultures through that lens, even though we're applying a Western culture perspective.

Yes, good explanation, einuoa. Your first sentence is spot on.

And just to weigh in a bit more in regard to the most recent questions about (A) and (B):

Either
A) I didn't understand properly what the answer choice A is trying to say (if so, please explain for me!)

or

B) that the word "modest" isn't the most appropriate one to be applied to the answer choice A.

Both are true. Answer choice A is not "modest" in the sense that it "requires the students to rely less facts/observations/values about non-western cultures; because this method requires them to see things through western-lens," as you say. It's about how much the education system will have to be overhauled.

Hope this helps.

[MayaM405]

I'm having a really difficult time finding support for B. I eliminated this answer straight off the bat - where is there support for an "educational system?"

I read the first few lines to be suggest a change in teaching strategy, and it seems like a sticky jump to get from "multicultural education" to "change in the education system." What directly supports system change in the discussion?

I selected A, and while I see the issues with it and its a dangerous leap from the passage, it still seems more supported by the discussion than B. Can someone help me narrow in and find out what I'm missing?

[ohthatpatrick]

I'm not sure I'll unlock anything new for you, since A vs. B has been pretty thoroughly dissected above.

Just now, when I read this passage and then Q11's question stem, I went back to line 5 and say that "modest" was being used in the context of "the most modest of these proposals".

There were three proposals:
1. Teach about other cultures, but from our normal school perspective ... use our methods, perspectives, and values

2. Teach about other cultures, but don't bring our values into it. (however, still using the methods and perspectives of a science-based epistemology means that we ARE still inserting our values somewhat, critics would say)

3. Teach about other cultures and adopt their nonscientific, mystical, religious insight values and methods.

What does it mean to call the first one the "most modest" of the three?

My prephrase was "the most conservative". If I were pitching these three plans to a school board, they would be most likely to embrace #1, since it doesn't force teachers to do anything new other than cover some new content.

Method 2 involves dropping values we normally have. Method 3 involves dropping our values AND adopting other values.

So (B) seems appealing to me because the first proposal was the version where we need to do the least: we basically just keep teaching and thinking our way.

(A) doesn't seem that appealing to me because the differences among the three proposals was essentially Our Values, No Values, or Their Values.

I don't see how any of those are clearly varying in terms of the amount of speculation we're doing about the other cultures.

I could see someone making a case for the idea that trying to adopt another culture's values is the toughest and maybe the most error-prone, so maybe we'd end up doing more speculating. But that's certainly not something that the author was emphasizing anywhere in the passage.

In context, "the most modest proposal" is essentially "the least shocking". (B) aligns better with that than any other answer does.

Hope this helps.