Self-study
Editorial: Support The structure of the present school calendar was established to satisfy the requirements of early-twentieth-century agricultural life. ██ █████ █████ ███████ ██████ █████ ████████ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ███ ████████████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ████████████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ████ ██ ██████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██ ███ ███ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████
Summary
The author concludes that long breaks should be removed from the school calendar.
Why?
Because long breaks as part of the school calendar originally developed because of the needs of early 20th century agricultural life. But agricultural life doesn’t occupy most people’s lives anymore. Now we can make changes to the school calendar that serve the interests of children.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that if agricultural life doesn’t occupy most people’s lives anymore, there is no longer any compelling reason to keep long breaks as part of the school calendar. (This overlooks that there may be good reasons to keep the long breaks, even if the original reason they came about is no longer applicable.)
The author assumes that long breaks as part of the school calendar do not serve students’ interests.
1.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ████████
a
During long breaks ████████ ████ █ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ████████
Not necessary, because the author never describes what specific aspects of long breaks are not in childrens’ interest. So even if children don’t tend to forget what they have learned during long breaks, there can still be other reasons a long break is not ideal for children.
b
Children of farmers ████ ██ ████████ █████████ █ ██████ ████████ ████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ████████████ ████ ████ ███████
The argument is based on what’s true about most people, who don’t live an agricultural life. So what’s true about children who do have an agricultural life has no impact on the argument.
c
Long breaks in ███ ██████ ████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██████████
Not necessary, because the author never suggests any specific replacement for a school calendar with long breaks. We have no idea what the author believes is appropriate for the school calendar other than that long breaks should be removed.
d
A change in ███ ███████ ██████ ████████ ████ █████████ ██████ █████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ████████████ █████
The argument is based on what’s good for the interests of children. It’s not based on what’s going to serve the interests of agricultural life.
e
A school calendar ████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ██████ █████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ █ ██████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████
Necessary, because if it were not true — if a school calendar without long breaks would NOT serve the interests of children more than a school calendar with long breaks — then we have no reason to think that long breaks should be removed from the school calendar. Going without long breaks would be EQUAL or WORSE compared to having long breaks when it comes to children’s interests.