Tollefson's Immigration Study

Answer choices

1. A

   Wrong Emphasis / Distinction23% picked this

   Tollefson’s focus on the economic and cultural factors involved in adjusting to a new country offers a significant departure from most

   The main clause here is, "Tollefson's focus on [certain] factors offers a significant departure from most studies". While the author did open the passage by saying that Tollefson's focus was distinctive from most studies, that claim itself wouldn't be the main point. The main point would be the takeaway Tollefson had from his distinctive study or our author's evaluation of Tollefson's study overall. More importantly, Tollefson was a significant departure from most other studies because he focused on educational programs, not because he focused on "economic and cultural factors".

   23%
2. B

   Wrong Complaint / Emphasis0% picked this

   In his analysis of educational programs for Southeast Asian immigrants, Tollefson fails to acknowledge many of the positive effects the programs

   The main clause here is a criticism: "Tollefson fails to acknowledge the positive effects of the educational programs". We don't want the main emphasis to be a criticism; that was just the final sentence. The author overall seems glad that Tollefson is looking into these educational programs (when others haven't) and seems to agree with Tollefson's assessments that these programs are problematic. Finally, the author's criticism was not "Tollefson failed to recognize the beneficial effects of the programs", it was, "Tollefson failed to lay out concrete solutions to fix the programs".

   0%
3. C

   Correct72% picked this

   Tollefson convincingly blames the philosophy underlying immigrant educational programs for some of the adjustment problems

   Why this is right

   This is not very appealing on a first pass to many of us. The start of this answer, "Tollefson convincingly blames", sounds too severe in tone. And this answer makes it sound like Tollefson set out to answer the question of, "Who is to blame for the some of the adjustment problems afflicting Southeast Asian immigrants?" However, this does capture the central topic (problems with educational programs at immigrant processing centers for Southeast Asian immigrants). And this answer lines up well with the author's main evaluation sentence in the final paragraph: Tollefson ably shows that the issues demanding real attention include the assumptions underpinning the educational values in the programs. There's a pretty good match between saying he "ably shows that the assumptions underpinning the values in the program are the problem " and saying he, "convincingly blames the philosophy underlying the educational programs". So, although this answer seems to land a little funky in terms of tone and emphasis, it's still the best available choice.

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

   72%
4. D

   Out of Scope3% picked this

   Tollefson’s most significant contribution is his analysis of how Southeast Asian immigrants overcome the obstacles they encounter

   Out of Scope: overcome obstacles Too Strong: most The author never singles out Tollefson's most significant contribution. If anything, the author would probably say that Tollefson's biggest claim to fame is that he chose to look into the educational programs at immigrant processing centers, when no one else seemed to be doing so. The passage only discusses ways in which the educational programs could create obstacles for Southeast Asian immigrants. It never discusses or analyzes how they overcome such obstacles.

   3%
5. E

   Out of Scope: change in attitudes2% picked this

   Tollefson traces a gradual yet significant change in the attitudes held by processing center educators

   At no point in the passage do we speak specifically about the attitudes of the educators themselves (we might speculate things about those who designed the educational programs, based on what we read, but we didn't hear anything about the people who teach the programs). And whether it's the people who design or who teach these programs, there is no "significant change in attitude" ever discussed. To the contrary, many of the problems Tollefson cites seem to be a result of the continuation of the assimilationist attitudes of turn-of-the-century educational programs.

   2%