Q22

[llulucluci]

I was just wondering how we can infer that the 1880 legislators were concerned with improving educational equality across economic strata. I originally chose D, but I didn't think any of the answers were particularly appropriate. Thanks!

[cyruswhittaker]

I think the best support comes from lines 48-53, "Nearly a ..."

Underlying their justification (and hence their underlying beliefs/values) for reforms were the egalitarian visions of the past, leading them to bring such changes to fruition. This matches up with choice C.

D is unsupported because comparison of the level of political compromise between the legislators was not discussed explicitly, and it also wasn't referenced to in the passage as being a part of their beliefs.

[bbirdwell]

I agree with Cyrus. And in lines 20-26 we have support for how the earlier proposals regarded economic concerns: They wanted instruction to be available for everyone, and they wanted to the schools to be public.

The way to get a question like this right, as is the case for much of the reading comp, is to eliminate, eliminate, eliminate. Your dream answer just isn't going to be there much of the time. You know, essentially, that the legislators in question wanted an "egalitarian education," so eliminate all of the choices that don't come close to that, choose what's left over.

[zainrizvi]

I don't understand how (A) is unsupported. Lines 49-53 say how they wanted to establish compulsory attendance for all students in secondary schools. This goes against the faults of the first proposal, which is stated in line 27-30 as being girls were required to leave at age eight in order to be educated at home in skills necessary for domestic life.

By extending secondary education, aren't they effectively going agaisnt skills necessary for domestic life?


Or is the error here "public school curriculum"? Because those domestic skills previously mentioned had nothing to do with the public school curriculum. Hence even if you remove those domestic life environment, you can't really make the inference that it has an impact on the public school curriculum. Maybe they had some other programs in the public school curriculum that they are maintaining.

[bbirdwell]

Or is the error here "public school curriculum"?

Yes. We have no idea whether the public school curriculum even included domestic skills, much less whether 1880s legislators were committed to removing them.