Reading Comprehension

PT120 · S2 · P3 · Q16 Family Dispute Resolution

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Individual family members have been assisted in resolving disputes arising from divorce or separation, property division, or financial arrangements, through court-connected family mediation programs, which differ significantly from court adjudication.

Topic

Family mediation vs. court adjudication for resolving family disputes

Framework

Present Debate

Main Point

While there are valid arguments in favor of court adjudication in family disputes, family mediation, in the end, is better suited to the unique needs of family law because it promotes cooperation, efficiency, personal autonomy, and emotional healing. (Most Valuable Sentence: P3, first sentence: )

P1: Differences Between Mediation and Court Adjudication

This paragraph introduces the two main ways families can resolve disputes: traditional court litigation and family mediation. It contrasts them: courts are formal, public, and binding, while mediation is more private, informal, and the mediator simply helps the parties reach their own agreement.

P2: Arguments for Court Adjudication

Here, the supporters of court adjudication get their say. They argue that the court process upholds social values, protects people with less power, ensures legal rights, creates a public/legal record, and helps to refine the law. The paragraph lists a bunch of drawbacks of mediation compared to the court process.

P3: Arguments for and Endorsement of Family Mediation

This paragraph pivots to the author's own take: mediation is ultimately a better fit for family law issues. The author (and mediation proponents) point out mediation is more efficient, less stressful, encourages cooperation, helps people learn skills for future disagreements, and gets better compliance. Plus, real-world studies say people find mediation more rational and humane than court.

16.

It can most reasonably be inferred from the passage that the author would agree with which one of the following statements regarding the differences between court adjudication and family mediation?

  1. The differences are minimal and

    Too Strong: minimal

    The author wouldn't bother writing this passage if she thought that court adjudication and family mediation are essentially the same thing (minimal differences that rarely lead to different outcomes). She takes the difference between them seriously enough that she wrote a passage to recommend that we go in the direction of family mediation, not court adjudication.

    1% picked this

  2. Correct

    The two processes are so

    Why this is right

    This isn't super appealing on a first pass because "so different that vary significantly" sounds strong, but there is plenty of discussion of how the attitudes of participants at the end of the 3rd paragraph, so it's worth considering. Also, it's only saying that attitudes can vary significantly depending on whether you use court adjudication or family mediation (it would be an extreme claim to say that attitudes never vary significantly). The last few sentences of the passage are attesting to the happier, more satisfied feeling of people who go through mediation. They "perceive it to be more rational and humane than the court system". There's also a common sense element to this answer: in a trial, there is usually a winner and a loser, so someone is likely to have a bad attitude towards the outcome. And that person may have also been at a disadvantage because of imbalances in bargaining power. So it's very likely that a peaceful agreement from mediation could yield attitudes very different from what would be felt by someone who loses a case through court adjudication.

    Skill tested: Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    81% picked this

  3. The main difference between family

    Contradicted

    The second sentence of the final paragraph says that "family mediation is a more efficient and less damaging process than litigation". This answer says that court adjudication (i.e. litigation) is more efficient.

    13% picked this

  4. Family mediation led by expert

    Unsupported Comparison: expert vs. novice

    The author never made a point of distinguishing expert mediators from novice mediators. And thus we have no grounds for thinking she believes that "expert mediators make it feel more like a courtroom trial, whereas less experienced ones make it feel more different from a courtroom trial".

    2% picked this

  5. While family mediation differs significantly

    Contradicted: neither is better

    The thesis of the passage, the first sentence of the final paragraph, says that, "In the final analysis, family mediation is better suited to the unique needs of family law".

    4% picked this

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