Self-study
Several thousand years ago, people in what is now North America began to grow corn, which grows faster and produces more food per unit of land than do the grains these people had grown previously. ████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████ █████ █████ ███████ ████████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ██████ ███████████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ █████ █████ ████ █████ ██████ █████████████████ ██████ █████████ ███ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ██████ ████████ ████ █████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why did North Americans choose to continue growing corn instead of other grains despite corn being less nutritious?
Objective
The correct answer must explain why North Americans chose to stick with corn rather than returning to the grains they used to grow. It will likely offer a benefit to growing corn, or perhaps a cost to growing the other grains.
11.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ █████ █████
a
The variety of ████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ██ █████ ██████ █████ ████████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ████████
Because this compares the corn the people grew to the ancestors of corn rather than to other grains, it doesn’t explain their decision. The correct answer must explain why the people chose corn over non-corn grains.
b
Modern varieties of ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ███████ ████████ █████ ████
Modern corn is irrelevant. The correct answer must explain why people living in North America thousands of years ago chose corn over other grains.
c
The people did ███ ███████████ █████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ██████ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████
This makes the people's decision even harder to explain, because they didn't have this alternative food source to make up for corn’s lack of nutrients. That doesn't help to explain why they chose corn over other grains.
d
Some of the █████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ █████████
This makes the people's decision even harder to explain. Corn having stricter soil requirements than the other grains implies that corn is harder to grow. That makes it more confusing why they chose corn over the other grains.
e
The people discovered ████ █████ █████ ████████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ █████ ████ █ ████ ████ ████████████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████ █████████ ████████ █████ █████████████ ████████ █████ ███████
This explains the people's decision because it shows how they compensated for corn’s relative lack of nutrition. Corn grew more efficiently than other grains, so if the nutrition problem was solved, it now makes sense why they stuck with corn.