Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT6 S3 Q26 Explanation

Proposals for extending the United

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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

Method

The Objection

Some people resist a longer U.S. school year on the grounds that three-month summers are an old tradition.

Author's Counter

The author doesn't deny that 19th-century schools closed for three months. The author says: yes, but those schools closed because the kids were needed for the harvest. So the real tradition isn't "three-month summers" — it's "school calendar shaped by what the economy needs."

Evaluate

This is a reinterpretation move. The author takes the same historical fact the critics cite and says: what you're calling "the tradition" is just one surface form of a deeper tradition. The deeper tradition (school calendar = economic needs) would actually support the author's position.

Goal

The right answer will say the author is offering a competing account of what the tradition really is.

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The question
26.

The argument counters the objection

Answer choices

  1. Bad Description5% picked this

    providing evidence to show that the objection relies on a misunderstanding about the amount of time each year United States

    The author doesn't challenge the amount of time schools were closed. The author concedes that 19th-century schools closed for three months — that's explicit in the stimulus. The author's move is to reinterpret why they closed, not to dispute the duration.

  2. Bad Description25% picked this

    calling into question the relevance of information about historical practices to current disputes about

    The author doesn't reject the relevance of historical practice; the author embraces it. The author argues that the right understanding of the historical practice supports extending the school year. That's using tradition, not dismissing it.

  3. Correct62% picked this

    arguing for an alternative understanding of the nature of the United States tradition regarding the length

    Why this is right

    This captures the move precisely. The author concedes the historical fact (three-month summers) but argues the tradition's essence is different from what the objector claims. The objector frames the tradition as "three-month summer vacation"; the author argues the tradition is really "school year length determined by economic needs." That's an alternative understanding of the nature of the tradition.

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

  4. Bad Description2% picked this

    showing that those who oppose extending the school year have no genuine

    The author doesn't accuse the opponents of fake-tradition motives. The author engages the tradition argument on its merits and reinterprets the tradition. There's no claim about the opponents' sincerity.

  5. Too Strong7% picked this

    demonstrating that tradition justifies bringing the United States school year in line with that of the rest

    The author hedges: "If any policy could be justified by those appeals to tradition, it would be the policy of determining the length of the school year according to the needs of the economy." That's conditional, not a demonstration. And the author argues only that economic-needs-based scheduling fits the tradition — not that tradition justifies matching the rest of the industrialized world.

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