Reading Comprehension_passage On Brain Drain
10 Questions
| Total Attempts: 151
Questions and Answers
- 1.Directions (Q. 1 –10): The passage given below is followed by a set of ten questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question. A recent report in News Week says that in American colleges, students of Asian origin outperform not only the minority group students but the majority whites as well. Many of these students must be of Indian origin, and their achievement is something we can be proud of. It is unlikely that these talented youngsters will come back to India, and that is the familiar brain drain problem. However recent statements by the nation's policy-makers indicate that the perception of this issue is changing. 'Brain bank' and not 'brain drain' is the more appropriate idea, they suggest since the expertise of Indians abroad is only deposited in other places and not lost. This may be so, but this brain bank, like most other banks, is one that primarily serves customers in its neighbourhood.The skills of the Asians now excelling in America's colleges will mainly help the U.S.A.. No matter how significant, what non-resident Indians do for India and what their counterparts do for other Asian lands is only a by-product. But it is also necessary to ask, or be reminded, why Indians study fruitfully when abroad. The Asians whose accomplishments News Week records would have probably had a very different tale if they had studied in India. In America they found elbow room, books and facilities not available and not likely to be available here. The need to prove themselves in their new country and the competition of an international standard they faced there must have cured mental and physical laziness. But other things helping them in America can be obtained here if we achieve a change in social attitudes, especially towards youth. We need to learn to value individuals and their unique qualities more than conformity and respectability. We need to learn the language of encouragement to add to our skill in flattery. We might also learn to be less liberal with blame and less tight-fisted with appreciation, especially. Question: Among the many groups of students in American colleges, Asian students:
- A.
Are often written about in magazines like News Week
- B.
Are most successful academically
- C.
Have proved that they are as good as the whites
- D.
Have only a minority status like the blacks
- 2.Passage: A recent report in News Week says that in American colleges, students of Asian origin outperform not only the minority group students but the majority whites as well. Many of these students must be of Indian origin, and their achievement is something we can be proud of. It is unlikely that these talented youngsters will come back to India, and that is the familiar brain drain problem. However recent statements by the nation's policy-makers indicate that the perception of this issue is changing. 'Brain bank' and not 'brain drain' is the more appropriate idea, they suggest since the expertise of Indians abroad is only deposited in other places and not lost. This may be so, but this brain bank, like most other banks, is one that primarily serves customers in its neighbourhood.The skills of the Asians now excelling in America's colleges will mainly help the U.S.A.. No matter how significant, what non-resident Indians do for India and what their counterparts do for other Asian lands is only a by-product. But it is also necessary to ask, or be reminded, why Indians study fruitfully when abroad. The Asians whose accomplishments News Week records would have probably had a very different tale if they had studied in India. In America they found elbow room, books and facilities not available and not likely to be available here. The need to prove themselves in their new country and the competition of an international standard they faced there must have cured mental and physical laziness. But other things helping them in America can be obtained here if we achieve a change in social attitudes, especially towards youth. We need to learn to value individuals and their unique qualities more than conformity and respectability. We need to learn the language of encouragement to add to our skill in flattery. We might also learn to be less liberal with blame and less tight-fisted with appreciation, especially. Question: The student of Asian origin in America include:
- A.
A fair number from India
- B.
A small group from India
- C.
Persons from India who are very proud
- D.
Indians who are the most hard working of all
- 3.Passage: A recent report in News Week says that in American colleges, students of Asian origin outperform not only the minority group students but the majority whites as well. Many of these students must be of Indian origin, and their achievement is something we can be proud of. It is unlikely that these talented youngsters will come back to India, and that is the familiar brain drain problem. However recent statements by the nation's policy-makers indicate that the perception of this issue is changing. 'Brain bank' and not 'brain drain' is the more appropriate idea, they suggest since the expertise of Indians abroad is only deposited in other places and not lost. This may be so, but this brain bank, like most other banks, is one that primarily serves customers in its neighbourhood.The skills of the Asians now excelling in America's colleges will mainly help the U.S.A.. No matter how significant, what non-resident Indians do for India and what their counterparts do for other Asian lands is only a by-product. But it is also necessary to ask, or be reminded, why Indians study fruitfully when abroad. The Asians whose accomplishments News Week records would have probably had a very different tale if they had studied in India. In America they found elbow room, books and facilities not available and not likely to be available here. The need to prove themselves in their new country and the competition of an international standard they faced there must have cured mental and physical laziness. But other things helping them in America can be obtained here if we achieve a change in social attitudes, especially towards youth. We need to learn to value individuals and their unique qualities more than conformity and respectability. We need to learn the language of encouragement to add to our skill in flattery. We might also learn to be less liberal with blame and less tight-fisted with appreciation, especially. Question: In general, the talented young Indians studying in America:
- A.
Have a reputation for being hard working
- B.
Have the opportunity to contribute to India's development
- C.
Can solve the brain drain problem because of recent changes in policy
- D.
Will not return to pursue their careers in India
- 4.Passage: A recent report in News Week says that in American colleges, students of Asian origin outperform not only the minority group students but the majority whites as well. Many of these students must be of Indian origin, and their achievement is something we can be proud of. It is unlikely that these talented youngsters will come back to India, and that is the familiar brain drain problem. However recent statements by the nation's policy-makers indicate that the perception of this issue is changing. 'Brain bank' and not 'brain drain' is the more appropriate idea, they suggest since the expertise of Indians abroad is only deposited in other places and not lost. This may be so, but this brain bank, like most other banks, is one that primarily serves customers in its neighbourhood.The skills of the Asians now excelling in America's colleges will mainly help the U.S.A.. No matter how significant, what non-resident Indians do for India and what their counterparts do for other Asian lands is only a by-product. But it is also necessary to ask, or be reminded, why Indians study fruitfully when abroad. The Asians whose accomplishments News Week records would have probably had a very different tale if they had studied in India. In America they found elbow room, books and facilities not available and not likely to be available here. The need to prove themselves in their new country and the competition of an international standard they faced there must have cured mental and physical laziness. But other things helping them in America can be obtained here if we achieve a change in social attitudes, especially towards youth. We need to learn to value individuals and their unique qualities more than conformity and respectability. We need to learn the language of encouragement to add to our skill in flattery. We might also learn to be less liberal with blame and less tight-fisted with appreciation, especially. Question: There is talk now of the 'brain bank'. This idea:
- A.
Is a solution to the brain drain problem
- B.
Is a new problem caused partly by the brain drain
- C.
Is a new way of looking at the role of qualified Indians living abroad
- D.
Is based on a plan to utilize foreign exchange remittances to stimulate research and development
- 5.Passage: A recent report in News Week says that in American colleges, students of Asian origin outperform not only the minority group students but the majority whites as well. Many of these students must be of Indian origin, and their achievement is something we can be proud of. It is unlikely that these talented youngsters will come back to India, and that is the familiar brain drain problem. However recent statements by the nation's policy-makers indicate that the perception of this issue is changing. 'Brain bank' and not 'brain drain' is the more appropriate idea, they suggest since the expertise of Indians abroad is only deposited in other places and not lost. This may be so, but this brain bank, like most other banks, is one that primarily serves customers in its neighbourhood.The skills of the Asians now excelling in America's colleges will mainly help the U.S.A.. No matter how significant, what non-resident Indians do for India and what their counterparts do for other Asian lands is only a by-product. But it is also necessary to ask, or be reminded, why Indians study fruitfully when abroad. The Asians whose accomplishments News Week records would have probably had a very different tale if they had studied in India. In America they found elbow room, books and facilities not available and not likely to be available here. The need to prove themselves in their new country and the competition of an international standard they faced there must have cured mental and physical laziness. But other things helping them in America can be obtained here if we achieve a change in social attitudes, especially towards youth. We need to learn to value individuals and their unique qualities more than conformity and respectability. We need to learn the language of encouragement to add to our skill in flattery. We might also learn to be less liberal with blame and less tight-fisted with appreciation, especially. Question: The brain bank has limitations like all banks in the sense that
- A.
A bank's services go mainly to those near it
- B.
Small neighbourhood banks are not visible in this age of multinationals
- C.
Only what is deposited can be withdrawn and utilized
- D.
No one can be forced to put his assets in a bank
- 6.Passage: A recent report in News Week says that in American colleges, students of Asian origin outperform not only the minority group students but the majority whites as well. Many of these students must be of Indian origin, and their achievement is something we can be proud of. It is unlikely that these talented youngsters will come back to India, and that is the familiar brain drain problem. However recent statements by the nation's policy-makers indicate that the perception of this issue is changing. 'Brain bank' and not 'brain drain' is the more appropriate idea, they suggest since the expertise of Indians abroad is only deposited in other places and not lost. This may be so, but this brain bank, like most other banks, is one that primarily serves customers in its neighbourhood.The skills of the Asians now excelling in America's colleges will mainly help the U.S.A.. No matter how significant, what non-resident Indians do for India and what their counterparts do for other Asian lands is only a by-product. But it is also necessary to ask, or be reminded, why Indians study fruitfully when abroad. The Asians whose accomplishments News Week records would have probably had a very different tale if they had studied in India. In America they found elbow room, books and facilities not available and not likely to be available here. The need to prove themselves in their new country and the competition of an international standard they faced there must have cured mental and physical laziness. But other things helping them in America can be obtained here if we achieve a change in social attitudes, especially towards youth. We need to learn to value individuals and their unique qualities more than conformity and respectability. We need to learn the language of encouragement to add to our skill in flattery. We might also learn to be less liberal with blame and less tight-fisted with appreciation, especially. Question: The author feels that what non-resident Indians do for India
- A.
Will have many useful side effects
- B.
Will not be their main interest and concern
- C.
Can benefit other Asian countries, as a by-product
- D.
Can American colleges be of service to the world community
- 7.Passage: A recent report in News Week says that in American colleges, students of Asian origin outperform not only the minority group students but the majority whites as well. Many of these students must be of Indian origin, and their achievement is something we can be proud of. It is unlikely that these talented youngsters will come back to India, and that is the familiar brain drain problem. However recent statements by the nation's policy-makers indicate that the perception of this issue is changing. 'Brain bank' and not 'brain drain' is the more appropriate idea, they suggest since the expertise of Indians abroad is only deposited in other places and not lost. This may be so, but this brain bank, like most other banks, is one that primarily serves customers in its neighbourhood.The skills of the Asians now excelling in America's colleges will mainly help the U.S.A.. No matter how significant, what non-resident Indians do for India and what their counterparts do for other Asian lands is only a by-product. But it is also necessary to ask, or be reminded, why Indians study fruitfully when abroad. The Asians whose accomplishments News Week records would have probably had a very different tale if they had studied in India. In America they found elbow room, books and facilities not available and not likely to be available here. The need to prove themselves in their new country and the competition of an international standard they faced there must have cured mental and physical laziness. But other things helping them in America can be obtained here if we achieve a change in social attitudes, especially towards youth. We need to learn to value individuals and their unique qualities more than conformity and respectability. We need to learn the language of encouragement to add to our skill in flattery. We might also learn to be less liberal with blame and less tight-fisted with appreciation, especially. Question: The performance of Indians when they go to study in the West
- A.
Shows the fruits of hard work done by school teachers in India
- B.
Should remind us that knowledge and wisdom are not limited by the boundaries of race and nation
- C.
Is better than people in the West expect of non-whites
- D.
Is better than what it would have been if they had studied in India
- 8.Passage: A recent report in News Week says that in American colleges, students of Asian origin outperform not only the minority group students but the majority whites as well. Many of these students must be of Indian origin, and their achievement is something we can be proud of. It is unlikely that these talented youngsters will come back to India, and that is the familiar brain drain problem. However recent statements by the nation's policy-makers indicate that the perception of this issue is changing. 'Brain bank' and not 'brain drain' is the more appropriate idea, they suggest since the expertise of Indians abroad is only deposited in other places and not lost. This may be so, but this brain bank, like most other banks, is one that primarily serves customers in its neighbourhood.The skills of the Asians now excelling in America's colleges will mainly help the U.S.A.. No matter how significant, what non-resident Indians do for India and what their counterparts do for other Asian lands is only a by-product. But it is also necessary to ask, or be reminded, why Indians study fruitfully when abroad. The Asians whose accomplishments News Week records would have probably had a very different tale if they had studied in India. In America they found elbow room, books and facilities not available and not likely to be available here. The need to prove themselves in their new country and the competition of an international standard they faced there must have cured mental and physical laziness. But other things helping them in America can be obtained here if we achieve a change in social attitudes, especially towards youth. We need to learn to value individuals and their unique qualities more than conformity and respectability. We need to learn the language of encouragement to add to our skill in flattery. We might also learn to be less liberal with blame and less tight-fisted with appreciation, especially. Question: The high level of competition faced by Asian students in America
- A.
Helps them overcome their lazy habits
- B.
Makes them lazy since the facilities there are good
- C.
Makes them worried about failing
- D.
Helps them prove that they are as good as whites
- 9.Passage: A recent report in News Week says that in American colleges, students of Asian origin outperform not only the minority group students but the majority whites as well. Many of these students must be of Indian origin, and their achievement is something we can be proud of. It is unlikely that these talented youngsters will come back to India, and that is the familiar brain drain problem. However recent statements by the nation's policy-makers indicate that the perception of this issue is changing. 'Brain bank' and not 'brain drain' is the more appropriate idea, they suggest since the expertise of Indians abroad is only deposited in other places and not lost. This may be so, but this brain bank, like most other banks, is one that primarily serves customers in its neighbourhood.The skills of the Asians now excelling in America's colleges will mainly help the U.S.A.. No matter how significant, what non-resident Indians do for India and what their counterparts do for other Asian lands is only a by-product. But it is also necessary to ask, or be reminded, why Indians study fruitfully when abroad. The Asians whose accomplishments News Week records would have probably had a very different tale if they had studied in India. In America they found elbow room, books and facilities not available and not likely to be available here. The need to prove themselves in their new country and the competition of an international standard they faced there must have cured mental and physical laziness. But other things helping them in America can be obtained here if we achieve a change in social attitudes, especially towards youth. We need to learn to value individuals and their unique qualities more than conformity and respectability. We need to learn the language of encouragement to add to our skill in flattery. We might also learn to be less liberal with blame and less tight-fisted with appreciation, especially. Question: The author feels that some of the conditions other than the level of facilities that make the West attractive
- A.
Are available in India but young people do not appreciate them
- B.
Can never be found here because we believe in conformity
- C.
Can be created if our attitudes and values change
- D.
Can also give respectability to our traditions and customs
- 10.Passage: A recent report in News Week says that in American colleges, students of Asian origin outperform not only the minority group students but the majority whites as well. Many of these students must be of Indian origin, and their achievement is something we can be proud of. It is unlikely that these talented youngsters will come back to India, and that is the familiar brain drain problem. However recent statements by the nation's policy-makers indicate that the perception of this issue is changing. 'Brain bank' and not 'brain drain' is the more appropriate idea, they suggest since the expertise of Indians abroad is only deposited in other places and not lost. This may be so, but this brain bank, like most other banks, is one that primarily serves customers in its neighbourhood.The skills of the Asians now excelling in America's colleges will mainly help the U.S.A.. No matter how significant, what non-resident Indians do for India and what their counterparts do for other Asian lands is only a by-product. But it is also necessary to ask, or be reminded, why Indians study fruitfully when abroad. The Asians whose accomplishments News Week records would have probably had a very different tale if they had studied in India. In America they found elbow room, books and facilities not available and not likely to be available here. The need to prove themselves in their new country and the competition of an international standard they faced there must have cured mental and physical laziness. But other things helping them in America can be obtained here if we achieve a change in social attitudes, especially towards youth. We need to learn to value individuals and their unique qualities more than conformity and respectability. We need to learn the language of encouragement to add to our skill in flattery. We might also learn to be less liberal with blame and less tight-fisted with appreciation, especially. Question: One of the ways of making the situation in India better would be:
- A.
To eliminate flattery from public life
- B.
To distinguish between conformity and respectability
- C.
To give appreciation and not be tightfisted
- D.
To encourage people and not merely flatter them
Questions: 8 | Attempts: 167 | Last updated: Mar 16, 2022
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Sample QuestionDirections (Q. 1 – 8): The passage given below is followed by a set of eight questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question. The importance of a decline in productivity growth of both labor and capital derives from the fact that they are practically the only sources of growth in a country’s material well-being. Without growth in productivity, money income may increase but real income will not. The growth of labor productivity is critically dependent on technology, and the same is true for capital productivity. At least conceptually, the only time capital productivity can grow is when the efficiency of new capital goods (plant and equipment) grows faster than the prices of these goods, and this can happen only when the economic value of resource-saving technological innovations embodied in new capital goods exceeds the cost of innovations. For 20 years following the Second World War the United States maintained about the same rate of labor productivity growth as the average of the preceding 80 years: 2.4 to 2.5 percent per year. Between 1965 and 1971, however, the growth rate slipped to about one-half of this long term average. From 1965 through 1973, the growth rate averaged 1.7 percent per year, or 30 percent less then the preceding long term average. The decline in the growth of labor productivity was paralleled by a dramatic decline in the growth of capital productivity. Most economists argue that the decline is strictly cyclical. They assert that the long-term rate will resume once the growth in total output resumes its “normal” path. The slowdown, however, contains a substantial long-term element, one that is not automatically reversible. The most persuasive prima facie observation favouring such irreversibility is the fact that no previous slowdown in the growth of labour productivity in United States history has been greater than 20 percent of the long-term average. Further, the United States gained economic pre-eminence around 1950 largely because its labour productivity growth in the preceding 80 years was 0.09 percent higher than the average- a broad continuation of essentially the same rate between 1950 and 1965, however, produced a decline in the position of the United States in relation to other countries because the other countries more than tripled their rates of productivity growth. These trends have tremendous implications for the country’s future growth its relative economic and political position in the world, and its reaction to future inflationary pressures. The decline in capital productivity implies that the growing shortages of investable funds and the continuing rise in interest rates are not short-term phenomena. Rather, they are the result of long-term forces at work in the economy, the principal one of which is the decline in technological advance relative to both past performance in the United States and current performance in other countries. The only way to reverse these trends is to reverse the decline in the rate of technological advance. Question: When the author uses the phrase “At least conceptually” (line 8-9), he implies that
Questions: 9 | Attempts: 32 | Last updated: Feb 18, 2013
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Sample QuestionDirections (Q. 1 – 9) : The passage given below is followed by a set of nine questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question. The distinctive quality of arguing can be seen in the following passage from Margaret Mead’s “Warfare: An Invention- Not a Biological Necessity”. This passage comes from the opening of a piece in which Mead attempts to prove that warfare is an invention and that as such it can be overcome by the development of new and better inventions which will render it obsolete. In taking this view of warfare,Mead realizes that she is at odds with many others "who think seriously about the problems of war and its possible prevention."Given the significant disagreements that exist between her view and the views of others, she is not free just to make a straightforward case for her own position on the matter. She must instead contend with her opponents, refuting their positions while also providing evidence in support of her own. She is, in short engaged in arguing. And the argumentative situation is immediately reflected in the title of her piece, in its opening question, and in the debate like structure of the paragraphs that follow. Accordingly, Mead begins by identifying the views of her opponents ("those who argue for the first view," "those who take the second view," and those who take "a compromise position between these two extremes"). Then she moves to counter statements intended to refute the opposition ("but I wish to urge another point of view"). This debate continues throughout the piece, as Mead acknowledges the most important counterattacks of her opponents and answers them with her own. So it is that argument puts ideas to the test by forcing them to stand up against opposing beliefs or theories. As this passage also reveals, argument naturally arises over significant issues or questions that are open to sharply differing points of view. Questions about the origin of war, for example, are of crucial interest to persons in a wide range of fields- not only to anthropologists such as Mead, but also to historians, philosophers, political scientists, psychologists, and sociologists, as well as to diplomats, politicians, and military leaders. And persons from these fields might well be inclined to approach the question from markedly different points of view that involve different assumptions as well as different bodies of knowledge and experience. Many psychologists, for example, do regard war as an inescapable consequence of man's “pugnacious instincts” while many political scientists, given their specialized pontiff` view, look upon war as "the inevitable concomitant of the development of the state." Mead, by contrast, given her anthropological orientation believes that the problem can be illuminated by examining a wide variety of cultures, especially those: in which warfare does not exist. Each point of view necessarily leads to substantially different claims about the origin of war, and none of the claims can be conclusively proven to be true. Indeed, if conclusive evidence had existed for one view or another, the argument would never have arisen, or it would have been resolved as quickly as the evidence had been discovered. So, like all controversial issues, the question remains open to debate, and anyone involved in such an argument can at best hope to make a persuasive case for a particular viewpoint –a case that will move thoughtful readers to consider that position seriously and possibly even convince them to accept it. As readers of argumentative writing, we in turn should try to be as impartial as the members of a jury. We should try to set aside any biases or prejudices that we might have about one view or another. Then we should weigh all the evidence, logic, claims, and appeals for each viewpoint before arriving at a conclusion about which one we find most convincing. By the same token, as writers of argument we should assume that readers are not likely to be persuaded by a one-sided view of a complex situation. Thus we should be ready to present a case that not only will support our position but will respond to the crucial challenges of views that differ from our own. Both as readers and writers, then, we should strive to understand the balanced methods of persuasion that can be found throughout the broad range of argumentative writing. Argumentative writing so pervades our lives that we may not even recognize it as such in the many brochure and leaflets that come our way, urging us to vote for one candidate rather than another or to support one cause rather than another. Argumentative writing also figures heavily in newspaper editorials, syndicated columns and letters to the editor, which are typically given over to debating the pros and cons of one public issue or another, from local taxes to national defence policies. Argument, of course, is fundamental in the judicial process, providing as it does the basic procedure for conducting all courtroom trials. And it is crucial in the legislative process, for it offers a systematic means of exploring the strengths and weaknesses of different proposed policies, and programs. In a similar way, argument serves the basic aims of the academic world enabling different ideas and theories to be tested by putting them against each other. Whatever the field or profession, argument is an important activity in the advancement of knowledge and society. The broad range of argumentative writing may conveniently be understood by considering the kinds of issues and questions that typically give rise to disagreement and debate. Surely, the most basic sources of controversy and questions of fact- the who, what, when, and where of things, as well as how much. Questions such as these are most commonly at issue in criminal trials. But intense arguments over questions of fact can also develop in an academic or professional field, especially when the facts in question have a significant bearing on the explanation or judgment of a particular subject, body of material, or type of investigation. In "The Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon," for example Ron Amundson vigorously challenges the "remarkable and paranormal claims "of several authors who have written about the development of a "group consciousness', among disparate groups of monkeys living on various islands in Japan. Amundson systematically refutes the factual accuracy of their claims, not only because he is interested in getting at the truth about these particular monkeys, but more importantly because as a philosopher of science he is committed todefining, documenting and exposing the flawed "methodology of pseudoscience." So, in a very real sense, the argument in this piece arises over questions of fact as well as questions of how to interpret the facts. Even when there is no question about the facts themselves, there are likely to be arguments about how to explain the facts.Disagreements of this kind abound across the full range of academic and professional fields. And the arguments inevitably arise out of sharply differing points of view on the facts as we have already seen in the case of Mead's piece about the origin of war. As her piece makes clear, everyone appears to agree that war has existed throughout much of human history, and everyone appears to agree that the causes must in some sense be attributable to human beings. But the exact senses in which human beings are responsible remain open to debate. So, Mead and her opponents approach the facts from sharply differing explanatory viewpoints and anargument naturally ensues. Differing viewpoints, of course, ultimately reflect differing beliefs and values. The way we view any particular subject is after all, a matter of personal choice, an outgrowth of what our experience and knowledge have led us to hold as being self-evident. In this sense, beliefs and values are always to some extent at issue in any argumentative situation, even when they remain more or less in the background. But in some cases the conflicting values themselves are so clearly at the heart of the argument that they become the direct focus of the debate. For example in “Why Are Americans Afraid of Dragons?” Ursula Le Guin opposes what she calls the "antifantasy” views of Americans with a sustained argument on behalf of fantastic literature. In order to do so she is compelled to make a case for the value of the imagination itself and for the qualities she attributes to it, such as “the free play of the mind.” In order to support her position here, Le Guin directly challenges one of the major assumptions of the opposing value structure- namely, a belief that the freedom of imaginative activity is at odds with the virtue of discipline. And she challenges this belief in a highly imaginative series of intellectual manoeuvres - first by conceiving of the imagination itself as a "discipline," then by claiming this discipline to be "essential" to 'both art and science" then by defining discipline as a form of training rather than repression, and finally by embodying this idea of discipline in the form of a highly appealing metaphor that links the fruitfulness of a trained peach tree with that of a carefully trained human mind. Thus in the imaginative way that she makes her case, Le Guin enables us to witness the rigorous discipline of the imagination.Le Guin's argument also enables us to see that conflicts over beliefs and values can have an important bearing on questions of policy and planning. Imagine, for example, how our educational system might be designed and operated if it were based on her belief "that the discipline of the imagination may in fact be the essential method or technique of both art and science." Though Le Guin does not map a new education system in her piece, she evidently conceives of fantastic literature and other works of the imagination as being fundamental to the development of healthy human minds. For a clear-cut example of how conflicts over belief lead to debates over policy, you need only look at Lewis Thomas's "The Art of Teaching Science." In the early section of his piece, Thomas challenges conventional beliefs about the certitude of scientific knowledge with his claim that "The conclusions reached in science are always, when looked at closely, far more provisional and tentative than are most of the assumptions arrived at by our colleagues in the humanities." Based on this and related claims, Thomas then proceeds in the later portions of his piece to outline a completely new method of teaching science. Question: The author is most likely to disagree with the following except that:
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