Editor: When asked to name a poet contemporaneous with Shakespeare, 60 percent of high school students picked a twent...

Skylar on June 3, 2020

@samlopez1097, happy to help!

We are told that "the majority of students picked a twentieth-century poet" when asked to name a poet contemporaneous with Shakespeare. We are then told that this could indicate either that most high school students don't know poets who lived in Shakespeare's era or that they don't know what the word "contemporaneous" means. Either way, this information allows the passage to reach its main conclusion- that "there is clearly something deeply wrong with the educational system."

So, we see the statement that "the majority of students picked a twentieth-century poet" is ultimately used as a premise that supports the passage's main conclusion, which is that "there is clearly something deeply wrong with the educational system." Therefore, (E) is our best answer.

Answer choice (B) references the "ambiguity of some questions." This is incorrect because the question asked of students in the passage (to name a poet contemporaneous with Shakespeare) is not ambiguous. This is different from the ambiguity of what the result indicates (as it could either indicate that most high school students don't know poets who lived in Shakespeare's era or don't know what the word "contemporaneous" means). Either way, the statement that "the majority of students picked a twentieth-century poet" is ultimately used to support the passage's conclusion that there is something deeply wrong with the educational system.

Does that make sense? Please let us know if you have any other questions.

samlopez1097 on June 14, 2020

Thank you so much!