AP English Language : Inference About the Subject
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Example Question #21 : Inference About The Subject
Passage adapted from “The Place of Science in a Liberal Education” (1913) by Bertrand Russell
In the broader sense, education will include not only what we learn through instruction, but all that we learn through personal experience—the formation of character through the education of life. Of this aspect of education, vitally important as it is, I will say nothing, since its consideration would introduce topics quite foreign to the question with which we are concerned.
In the narrower sense, education may be confined to instruction, the imparting of definite information on various subjects, because such information, in and for itself, is useful in daily life. Elementary education—reading, writing, and arithmetic—is almost wholly of this kind. But instruction, necessary as it is, does not per se constitute education in the sense in which I wish to consider it.
Education, in the sense in which I mean it, may be defined as “the formation, by means of instruction, of certain mental habits and a certain outlook on life and the world.” It remains to ask ourselves, what mental habits, and what sort of outlook, can be hoped for as the result of instruction? When we have answered this question we can attempt to decide what science has to contribute to the formation of the habits and outlook which we desire.
What might be expected later in the essay from which this selection is taken?
A critique of knowledge by mere memorization
A discussion of the mental habits of those who study biology
None of the others
An argument supporting free schools for the poor
A history of the curriculum in the author's home country
A discussion of the mental habits of those who study biology
Note the last sentence in this selection: "When we have answered this question we can attempt to decide what science has to contribute to the formation of the habits and outlook which we desire."
Although we can't be certain of it, it might be the case that Russell discusses biologists' mental habits. If he were to do this, it would likely occur as part of a discussion of how the sciences help to form desirable habits of mind according to his views on education.
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