PrepTest 156 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 8

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Passage A.

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Question · What public interest do tax-funded art subsidies serve?

If nothing, then art should be exclusively funded through the private sector.

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Conclusion · Public art subsidy is justified

Premise 1 · To ensure equitable access to arts

Private funding will not ensure equitable access

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Premise 2 · To build social capital

By creating opportunities for citizens to come together and thereby increase civic involvement

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Concession · Public art subsidy has incidental benefits

Premise · Justification requires showing direct benefit to taxpayers

Requires more people having more enjoyment

Premise · Unlikely to meet that requirement

Because the general public's taste in art won't be the same as the selection committees that distribute the funding.

Premise · Public good argument doesn't apply

Culture is not a public good

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Premise · Income argument fails

If the concern is income inequality, then fix that.

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Conclusion · Public art subsidies are unjustified

Passage Style

Both passages are concerned with █████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████

Question Type

Stated

We’re looking for a question that both authors want to answer.

Split Approach: After passage A, eliminate any answer choices that contain a question that author A isn’t concerned with answering. Then, after passage B, eliminate any remaining answer choices that contain a question that author B isn’t concerned with answering. There will only be one answer choice that contains a question that both authors want to answer.

Sequential Approach: We know that both authors are concerned with answering questions about public funding for the arts— is such funding justifiable? But we’ll have to use POE on the answer choices to choose the one question that both authors are concerned with answering.

Does public funding ███ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███ █████████

Author A never addresses this question, nor does she say anything at all about the quality of publicly funded art. This is enough reason to eliminate (A). Also, while author B does address this question, he doesn’t seem concerned with answering it. He thinks that public funding for the arts isn’t justifiable, even if it does guarantee better art.

Does broader access ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ██████████

Author A thinks that public funding for the arts will result in broader access to the arts. She never addresses the question of whether broader access will result in more diverse audiences. She just notes that attracting diverse audiences wouldn’t sufficiently justify public funding. This is enough reason to eliminate (B). Also, author B doesn’t say anything at all about audience diversity.

Is public funding ███ ███ ████ █ ███████████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██████

Both authors are concerned with answering this question. Author A concludes that public funding is a justifiable use of taxpayers’ money, since it serves the public interest by providing more equitable access to the arts and by building social capital. Author B concludes that it’s not a justifiable use of taxpayers’ money, since it won’t directly benefit the taxpayers or increase their enjoyment. He argues that this is because subsidized art “will not be the art that most taxpayers would have chosen for themselves.”

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Is access to ███ ████ ███████████ ████████

Author A seems to suggest that, when funded by the private sector alone, access to the arts isn’t distributed broadly enough. She thinks this justifies public funding for the arts. But it’s unclear whether she’s really “concerned with answering” the question of how broadly arts access is currently distributed. Also, author B isn’t concerned with the distribution of arts access; he thinks that income inequality doesn’t justify public arts subsidies.

Is there a ██████ ████████████ ███████ █████████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ █████ ████████████

Author A does address this question. She argues here that participation in the arts increases civic engagement. But author B doesn’t say anything about civic involvement at all, nor does he consider its relationship to arts participation.

PrepTest 156 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 8

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