Reading Comprehension

PT21 · S4 · P4 · Q22 Tollefson's Immigration Study

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Most studies of recent Southeast Asian immigrants to the United States have focused on their adjustment to life in their adopted country and on the effects of leaving their homelands.

Topic

The impact and shortcomings of educational programs for Southeast Asian immigrants in U.S. processing centers, as critiqued by James Tollefson.

Framework

Challenge Position / Problem–Solution

Main Point

Tollefson critiques immigrant educational programs for prioritizing quick employment and assimilation over the long-term needs and well-being of Southeast Asian immigrants, and although he recommends reforms, he does not provide enough specific strategies for implementing them. (The "Most Valuable Sentence" appears in P2, where Tollefson's main contention is explained: )

P1: Introduction to Tollefson's Focus

Most studies look at Southeast Asian immigrants’ general adjustment to the U.S., but Tollefson’s book takes a different angle by analyzing the educational programs in U.S. processing centers. He uses lots of different sources to back up his points.

P2: Critique of the Current Programs

Tollefson argues that focusing on quick employment and Western values in these programs can actually hurt immigrants by pushing them into low-wage jobs, weakening their community ties, and urging them to leave behind their cultural identities.

P3: Historical Context of Assimilationist Programs

These kinds of assimilation-focused programs have deep roots in U.S. history; they were originally designed to push European immigrants into mainstream American life around the turn of the twentieth century.

22.

Which one of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage?

Tollefson’s focus on the economic
Wrong Emphasis / Distinction
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% picked this
In his analysis of educational
Wrong Complaint / Emphasis
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% picked this
Correct
Tollefson convincingly blames the philosophy
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% picked this
Tollefson’s most significant contribution is
Out of Scope
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% picked this
Tollefson traces a gradual yet
Out of Scope: change in attitudes
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% picked this

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