Reading comp PrepTest 127 · Section 4 · Question 23

Topic: Social Science

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • Background on women's education 1800s, observer's view (failure to create co-ed education after the French Revolution a "missed opportunity"), and author's rebuttal (two failed egalitarian proposals)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Observer's view:
    • The failure to create a real and lasting system of nondiscriminatory education after the French Revolution in 1789 was a missed opportunity (second sentence)
  • Comparison, according to observer:
    • The French Revolution had egalitarian and secular aims, but women's education continued to be based on custom and religious tradition (first and second sentences)
  • Author's view:
    • Legislators proposed education reform many times, and two proposals were quite egalitarian (last sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "many proposals" (last sentence); "were, to a great extent, egalitarian" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • Details of the two failed proposals (first proposed education to everyone, but girls left at age 8; second proposed co-ed schools)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • List of the two failed proposals:
    • The first proposal: Education established as a common good; would replace religious education; would be public schools offered to men and women; teachers would be men and women; women would end their education at age 8 so they could learn domestic skills (first through fifth sentences)
    • The second proposal: Education based on equal rights, co-ed schools with equal education for men and women; bulwark against religious education; continued to define women in terms of domestic roles (sixth through last sentences)
  • Comparisons, according to the author:
    • The second proposal was more comprehensive than the first, as it was based on the notion that men and women enjoy equal rights and called for co-educational schools (sixth and seventh sentences)
    • Both proposals defined women in terms of domestic roles (last sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "More importantly" (second sentence); "tangible sign of the state's interest in all of its citizens" (fourth sentence); "limitation" (fifth sentence); "more comprehensive" (sixth sentence)

Paragraph 3

• Paragraph note
  • Author on proposals legacy (large hurdles at the time, but eventually used to establish historical continuity when similar proposals adopted in 1880s)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Author's view:
    • The fact that neither proposal was adopted shows the cultural and political obstacles to egalitarian education at the time (first sentence)
    • But 100 years later, the proposals were used to justify new proposals that also had egalitarian goals since legislators needed to show tradition and historical continuity (third through last sentences)
  • Author's attitude: "bespeaks the immensity of the cultural and political obstacles to egalitarian education for women at the time" (first sentence); "not entirely lost" (second sentence)

Main Point: Although proposals to reform women's education following the French Revolution failed to gain traction and weren't fully egalitarian, they established a philosophical and historical tradition that helped justify similar reforms passed a century later.

Importance of [Subject]: This passage doesn't neatly fit into any our major Meta-Structures, but it most closely resembles an Importance of [Subject] passage.* In such a passage, the author describes why a particular person, artistic work, law or legal accomplishment, scientific breakthrough, etc. was historically significant. In this Meta-Structure, "[Subject]" is a placeholder for whatever the subject of the passage happens to be. The subject of this passage is educational reform proposals, so we can think of this as an Importance of Proposals passage.

In an Importance of [Subject] passage, the main point is generally the author's opinions on why the subject was important. To articulate that main point, we can look for whether the author provides a conclusion that summarizes their opinion. In this passage, no conclusion is offered, so we had to summarize the author's opinions ourselves.

*Some of us might want to put this into the Critical Meta-Structure family — by calling this a Criticizing a Viewpoint, Correcting the Record, or Rebutting Critics passage — as the author responds a recent observer's view that the failure to institute educational reforms after the French Revolution was a missed opportunity. However, the author doesn't really criticize, disagree, or defend. The author actually seems like they agree with that observer, even if the author is perhaps more sympathetic to the legislators who tried and failed to pass reforms. This passage might better fit with the Old Approach/New Approach Meta-Structure from the Critical Meta-Structure family, but the author doesn't spend much time describing the old approach to women's education or contrasting it with the new approach.

List: The author lists the two particularly egalitarian proposals in the second paragraph, making the list the most prominent minor Meta-Structure in this passage. We should have the part of the passage where the author begins discussing each proposal highlighted, as we'll probably have to review that part of the passage to answer a few questions. If we want to save some time by avoiding a few fact-finding missions (and we don't find memorizing a few details too onerous), we can try to keep in mind a few facts about each proposal:

• First: Education as a "common good"; public schools offered to and taught by men and women; women would end their education at age 8 to learn domestic skills
• Second: Education based on equal rights; co-ed schools; continued to define women in terms of domestic roles

This passage doesn't have the most obvious major Meta-Structure in the world and doesn't include a Main Point question, which can lead some test-takers to conclude that the main point won't be relevant to the questions. That would be a big mistake — four of the six questions will be much easier if we understand the passage's main point. Moreover, main points that reflect an author's ambivalence — like this one — are often the hardest to articulate and hold onto. So, let's remember that the author appreciates what the proposals attempted, recognizes their limitations, is sympathetic to the obstacles that prevented their passage, and values their historical legacy.