Critical Reasoning

The local education authorities in England have recently issued a "prescribed" list of books that are approved for reading in schools by children aged between 5 and 11.

A furor has arisen among many parents because an author by the name of Enid Blyton, very popular with children, has been omitted from the said list. When asked to comment on the omission, the head of the committee that was responsible for preparing the list of books said that the books of Ms. Blyton have been omitted because "we thought they are of inferior quality and do not sufficiently stimulate the children's intellectual ability and not because they contain characters that are stereotypes or may show racial prejudice."

Which one of the following statements can be inferred from the above paragraph?

A) Children are very angry that they will not be reading Enid Blyton in school once this decision is implemented.

B) The parents' view is that Mrs. Blyton's books have been left off the list because some of her characters were racist.

C) If the parents had been consulted, Enid Blyton's books would have been prescribed.

D) The head of the deciding committee implied that Mrs. Blyton was not the only author whose books were banned.

E) Mrs. Blyton was popular with children and parents because she included stereotype (sic) characters in her books.

The last line on the second paragraph states that the character in Ms. Blyton's books did contain stereotypes or demonstrate racial prejudice, so (B) and (E) can be eliminated.

The furor comes from the adults, not the children. How the children feel, whether it be sad, ambivalent, or mad is not stated explicitly in this page. As a result, (A) can be eliminated.

Answer (C) makes reference to "the" parents, which I will assume refers to all parents. If this is the case, we cannot infer that all parents of children would agree to "prescribe" this book.

I do not see any reference to other books that were banned. The reason that the books were banned because they were "thought to be of an inferior quality" is comparing Ms. Blyton's books to the books that were "prescribed". Does the comment regarding how Ms. Blyton's books do not "contain characters that are stereotypes or show racial prejudice" mean that the reader should infer that other books were omitted for this reason?



Thank you very much if you are able to respond to my message. The book I am using lacks in quality.

[spoiler]OA: B[/spoiler]

wht does ur book say?

btw why read frm a book which you say is not of good quality - food for thought

BarryLi wrote:The last line on the second paragraph states that the character in Ms. Blyton's books did contain stereotypes or demonstrate racial prejudice, so (B) and (E) can be eliminated.

The furor comes from the adults, not the children. How the children feel, whether it be sad, ambivalent, or mad is not stated explicitly in this page. As a result, (A) can be eliminated.

Answer (C) makes reference to "the" parents, which I will assume refers to all parents. If this is the case, we cannot infer that all parents of children would agree to "prescribe" this book.

I do not see any reference to other books that were banned. The reason that the books were banned because they were "thought to be of an inferior quality" is comparing Ms. Blyton's books to the books that were "prescribed". Does the comment regarding how Ms. Blyton's books do not "contain characters that are stereotypes or show racial prejudice" mean that the reader should infer that other books were omitted for this reason?



Thank you very much if you are able to respond to my message. The book I am using lacks in quality.

Is the answer: B

I borrowed the book from a library so there was no harm done.

The book says that the answer is D because of the statement that the author's books were of inferior quality. However, I believe this is a reference to books that were "prescribed" and not other books that were not "prescribed".

A) Children are very angry that they will not be reading Enid Blyton in school once this decision is implemented.
The passage doesnot consider childern's reactions or views on the ban. Out of scope

B) The parents' view is that Mrs. Blyton's books have been left off the list because some of her characters were racist.
Since the head of the committe which shortlisted the authors tried to answer the rejection by considering the racist remarks, I presume that parents have a view that most pf Mrs. Blyton's books have racist characters in it. Correct

C) If the parents had been consulted, Enid Blyton's books would have been prescribed.
Misnomer, since how can parents select books which are followed at state level.

D) The head of the deciding committee implied that Mrs. Blyton was not the only author whose books were banned.
Out of scope

E) Mrs. Blyton was popular with children and parents because she included stereotype (sic) characters in her books.
This is state in passage and could be a misleading choice. This choice gives a reasoning as to why Mrs. Blynton's books are popular among parents but doesnot match with the reason why they were rejected by the committee.

Hope it helps!

BarryLi -

This is a very strange question. I am not convinced that it has a correct answer.

I would disagree that because you checked this book out from the library (rather than purchase it) that no harm was done.

This could harm your ability to develop a consistent strategy for critical reasoning (or it could just help you to recognize bad questions)

I would say return this with to the library with a small note, written in pencil, warning future would-be GMATers about what you have found!