Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT6 S3 Q25 Explanation

Proposals for extending the United

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsPrinciple-Strengthen

Keep going in LSAT Lab

  • Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Start practicing free

Free to start

Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Stimulus

Proposals for extending the United States school year to bring it more in line with its European and Japanese counterparts are often met with the objection that curtailing the schools’ three-month summer vacation would violate an established United States tradition dating from the nineteenth century. However, this objection misses its mark. True, policy of determining the length of the school year according to the needs of the economy.

What this question is testing

Principle-Strengthen

Argument

The author addresses an objection: people say we should not change the school year because the three-month summer break is an established tradition.

The author replies: yes, schools closed three months in the nineteenth century — but the reason was that kids were needed for farm work. So the actual tradition is not "summer off," it is "school schedule should match economic needs." If we are going to invoke tradition, we should invoke that one — and the modern economy's needs do not include kids on the farm in summer.

Evaluate

The move depends on a specific way of identifying what counts as "the tradition." The surface practice (summer break) is not the real tradition; the underlying reason (matching school to economic needs) is. The author is saying: to know what a tradition really is, look at why it started.

Imagine a family has a "tradition" of eating turkey at Thanksgiving — but originally the family ate turkey because it was the cheapest meat available. By the author's logic, the real tradition is "eat what is cheap at Thanksgiving," not "eat turkey." If chicken is now cheaper, eating chicken is the more authentic continuation of the tradition.

Goal

Find the principle: the actual tradition embodied in a practice is identified by the original reasons that prompted the practice.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
25.

Which one of the following principles, if accepted, would provide the strongest justification

Answer choices

  1. Bad Description8% picked this

    That a given social policy has traditionally been in force justifies maintaining that policy only if doing so does not conflict

    This addresses when traditions can be maintained versus overridden, not how to identify what a tradition really is. The author's argument is not about whether to keep or override tradition — it is about which tradition the appeal actually supports. This principle does not bridge the author's move from surface practice to underlying purpose.

  2. Out of Scope5% picked this

    Appeals to its own traditions cannot excuse a country from the obligation to bring its practices in line with the legitimate expectations

    This says traditions cannot excuse a country from international expectations. The author's argument is not about international comparisons or obligations — it is about correctly identifying the tradition embedded in a domestic practice. This principle is on a different topic.

  3. Bad Description4% picked this

    Because appeals to tradition often serve to mask the real interests at issue, such appeals

    This says appeals to tradition should be disregarded entirely. But the author does not disregard the appeal — the author uses it, just relocated to the underlying principle (matching school to economic needs). The author's conclusion explicitly invokes tradition as a justification, not dismisses it.

  4. Bad Description32% picked this

    Traditional principles should be discarded when they no longer serve the needs

    This says traditions should be discarded when they no longer serve economic needs. The author is not arguing for discarding tradition — the author is arguing the tradition itself, properly understood, supports adjustment to economic needs. This principle would let us throw out tradition, not preserve a deeper version of it.

  5. Correct50% picked this

    The actual tradition embodied in a given practice can be accurately identified only by reference to the reasons

    Why this is right

    This is the principle the author needs. The author argues the actual tradition is not "three months off in summer" but "school year matches economic needs" — a claim made by looking at the original reasons (children's labor for harvests). That move requires the principle that traditions are accurately identified by reference to their original prompting reasons. With this principle in place, the author's reframe of the tradition is justified.

    Skill tested: Principle-Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill
LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free