Proposals for extending the United States school year to bring it more in line with its European and Japanese counter...

Julie-V August 15, 2019

Expanding (E)'s Explanation

Hi LSAT Max, After reading the previous thread that explains why (D) is wrong and (E) is correct, I'm still unsure as to why the focus is more on tradition and not the statement about the relationship between the school break and the harvest during the 19th century. The last sentence sounds like it's what the author is trying to hone in on. Is it shifting the focus away from the main conclusion, which is "this objection misses the mark"? Thanks!

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Ravi August 15, 2019

@Julie-V,

Let's look at (D) and (E) in greater detail.

(D) says, "Traditional principles should be discarded when they no
longer serve the needs of the economy."

(D) is tempting, but the author never states that traditional
principles should get discarded. The principle in the stimulus is
adjusting the school year to the economy, and the author believes that
we should keep on doing that. The argument takes aim at the
traditional practice, but it also suggests that we keep the principle
behind the original practice. Thus, (D) is out.

(E) says, "The actual tradition embodied in a given practice can be
accurately identified only by reference to the reasons that originally
prompted that practice."

(E) looks great. The author believes that it's not about summer
vacation but about the reasons that we have summer vacation in the
first place. The tradition is not the summer break; the tradition is
setting the school schedule around societal needs. Thus, (E) is the
correct answer choice.

Does this help? Let us know if you have any other questions!