Educator: Few problems faced in daily life can be solved most effectively, if at all, by applying knowledge from any single academic discipline in isolation. Thus, schools should not require students to take courses in individual academic disciplines but should instead require them to take interdisciplinary courses.
Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the educator's argument?The educator argues that daily-life problems usually cannot be solved well by using only one academic discipline. Therefore, students should take interdisciplinary courses instead of courses in separate disciplines.
The missing support is that students do not naturally combine knowledge from separate courses on their own.
(A) Problems faced in daily life usually can be solved effectively using only common sense.
This weakens the argument. If common sense is usually enough, then interdisciplinary coursework may not be needed.
(B) Most teachers are able to teach courses in a single academic discipline more effectively than they can teach interdisciplinary courses.
This weakens the argument. It suggests single-discipline courses may be taught better than interdisciplinary courses.
(C) Students who take only courses in individual academic disciplines are rarely able to combine knowledge from those disciplines.
This is correct. If students who study separate disciplines rarely combine that knowledge effectively, then simply requiring individual-discipline courses will not prepare them well for real-life problems. That strengthens the case for
interdisciplinary courses.
(D) Most students who are required to take courses that cover only single disciplines can effectively solve many problems faced in daily life.
This weakens the argument. It suggests single-discipline courses may already prepare students well enough.
(E) Most interdisciplinary courses are not designed specifically to teach students how to solve problems faced in daily life.
This weakens the argument. If interdisciplinary courses are not designed for real-life problem-solving, they may not address the educator’s concern.
Answer: (C)