The “Mexican American Generation”

Answer choices

1. A

   Unsupported Causal Relationship10% picked this

   Their common goal of liberal reform made them less militant than the Mexican American activists of

   This answer sort of puts the opposite of the 3rd idea into a causal connection with the 1st idea - less militant than later activists - foreshadowed / laid groundwork for later reforms - fought a lot with each other - may have been way more committed to achieving full civil rights than were there non-activist contemporaries. We know the author thinks the activists from the 30s/40s were less militant, but she never says it's because of the activists in the 30s/40s (unlike in the 60s/70s?) had the common goal of liberal reform.

   10%
2. B

   Correct60% picked this

   Their common goal of liberal reform did not outweigh their

   Why this is right

   This answer is expressing the author's main point in the 2nd paragraph, the 3rd of our possible answer ideas: - less militant than later activists - foreshadowed / laid groundwork for later reforms - fought a lot with each other - may have been way more committed to achieving full civil rights than were there non-activist contemporaries. The author takes issue with Garcia for "acknowledging these [stark] differences between different activist groups but dismissing them as insignificant, given that the goals of all the groups centered on liberal reform." The following sentence starts with a Pivot, where the author pushes back. "But ... [even though they had a common goal of liberal reform] one need only note the fierce controversies that occurred during X to recognize that Mexican American history since 1930 has been characterized by intense and lively debate".

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

   60%
3. C

   Opposite / Wrong P.O.V.9% picked this

   Their common goal of liberal reform helped them reach a consensus in spite of

   This answer is basically the opposite of (B). This answer would better reflect Garcia's position, that even though these activists had their differences, they were united under the common goal of liberal reform. This answer seems to go against our 3rd idea. - less militant than later activists - foreshadowed / laid groundwork for later reforms - fought a lot with each other - may have been way more committed to achieving full civil rights than were there non-activist contemporaries.

   9%
4. D

   Too Strong: evenly divided12% picked this

   They were more or less evenly divided between those favoring assimilation and those

   Nothing in the passage speaks to a quantified comparison between the activists that favor assimilation and those that favor cultural maintenance. The author seemed more to be suggesting that "although the activists were more in favor of assimilation, the rest of the Mexican American population was more into favoring cultural maintenance."

   12%
5. E

   Unsupported Causal Relationship9% picked this

   They did not succeed in fully achieving their political goals because of their

   This answer sort of puts the 2nd idea into a causal connection with the 3rd idea. - less militant than later activists - foreshadowed / laid groundwork for later reforms - fought a lot with each other - may have been way more committed to achieving full civil rights than were there non-activist contemporaries. We know that the activists had disparate political views. We never hear specifically about whether they fully achieved their goals. We can probably assume that they didn't fully achieve their goals if they anticipated reforms that came later. Plus, who in life ever really fully achieves their goals? That seems like a very safe expression to sign off on. However, there's just no textual support for any causal connection between "disparate views" and "failing to fully achieve goals".

   9%