In the past, students of Renaissance womens education extolled the un

In the past, students of Renaissance women’s
education extolled the unprecedented intellectual
liberty and equality available to these women, but
recently scholars have presented a different view of
(5) Renaissance education and opportunity for women.
Joan Gibson argues that despite more widespread
education for privileged classes of women,
Renaissance educational reforms also increased
restrictions on women. Humanist education in the
(10) Renaissance was based on the classical division of the
liberal arts into seven categories, including the three
language arts: grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric.
Although medieval monastic education, also based on
the classical division, had stressed grammar and
(15) languages in preparation for a life devoted to
meditation on religious literature, humanist education
revived the classical emphasis on rhetoric—the art of
persuasive and declamatory speech—in the context of
training for public service in legal and political debate.
(20) All students began with elementary study of grammar
and progressed to stylistics and literary criticism. But
rhetorical training, which was increasingly undertaken
only at the university level, could lead in different
directions—to study of composition and oral
(25) expression or to study of persuasion, in conjunction
with a dialectic concerned with broad principles of
logic and argumentation. Male students routinely
learned material through rhetorical, argumentative role-
playing, and although many Renaissance authors
(30) expressed horror at their aggressive wrangling, such
combativeness was thought still less appropriate for
women, who were not supposed to need such
preparation for public life.

Thus, humanist education for women encompassed
(35) literary grammatical studies in both classical and
vernacular languages, while dialectic and rhetoric, the
disciplines required for philosophy, politics, and the
professions, were prohibited to women. Even
princesses lacked instruction in political philosophy or
(40) the exercise of such public virtues as philanthropy.
The prevailing attitude was that girls needed only a
generalist education conducted in a family setting and
directed toward private enjoyment and the eventual
teaching of very young children. Unlike either dialectic
(45) or rhetoric, grammar training cast students in the role
of an audience, striving to understand authors and
teachers. Women were to form an audience, not seek
one; for them, instruction in speaking was confined to
books of courtesy.

(50) The coupling of expanded linguistic and literary
education for women with the lack of available social
roles for educated women led to uneasy resolutions:
exceptionally learned women were labelled as
preternatural or essentially masculine, or were praised
(55) as virtuous only if they were too modest to make their
accomplishments public. Some Italian humanist
women gave fashionable oratorical performances, but
these were ceremonial in nature rather than designed to
influence public affairs. Renaissance women educated
(65) along humanist lines did not tend to write works of
philosophy; instead they became most notable for
literary achievements, particularly translations, poetry,
and tales in the vernacular or correspondence and
orations in Latin.

1. Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

(A) Although previous scholarship portrayed the Renaissance as a time of expanded education for women, recent scholarship has shown that fewer women received an education during the Renaissance than in medieval times.
(B) The differences in the Renaissance educational curricula for males and females reflected expectations about how the members of each gender would apply their education.
(C) The education of women during the Renaissance did not prepare them for careers in literature, but many of these women managed to contribute noteworthy literary works.
(D) The division of language arts from other liberal arts in the Renaissance reinforced gender-based differences in terms of curriculum.
(E) Even though their respective curricula eventually diverged, males and females in the Renaissance engaged in the same studies during first stages of their educations.


2. Each of the following aspects of Renaissance humanist education is mentioned in the passage EXCEPT:

(A) a method used for rhetorical training
(B) an educational goal
(C) a sequence of subjects that were studied
(D) types of schools for grammar studies
(E) prerequisites for certain careers


3. Which one of the following statements about women’s roles during the Renaissance can be inferred from information given in the passage?

(A) Women played an important role in providing advanced grammar training despite their lack of access to universities.
(B) Women became increasingly acceptable as orators due to the humanists’ interest in classical rhetoric.
(C) The accepted roles of female students diverged from those of male students at the point when study of stylistics and literary criticism began.
(D) The women who were acclaimed as authors were those who managed to study subjects omitted from the usual curriculum for female students.
(E) Women who demonstrated intellectual attainment tended to be regarded as anomalies rather than as models for other women.


4. Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the distinction between training in grammar and training in dialectic and rhetoric that is drawn in lines 44–47 of the passage?

(A) Grammar students were encouraged to emulate the compositional techniques used by certain authors and to avoid those of other authors.
(B) Students of dialectic and rhetoric were encouraged to debate on set subjects rather than on subjects they themselves proposed.
(C) Grammar training had a different place in the sequence of studies followed by male students than in that followed by female students.
(D) Grammar training included exercises designed to improve a student’s skill at articulating his or her own ideas.
(E) Training in dialectic and rhetoric focused more on oral expression than on written expression.


5. Which one of the following situations is most analogous to the one introduced in the second sentence of the passage?

(A) As a new segment of the population is registered to vote, the entire election process is undermined by a government that manipulates the results.
(B) At the same time that more people become able to afford a certain product, supplies dwindle and the product becomes harder to obtain.
(C) Although additional workers are employed in an industry, they are prevented from rising above a certain level.
(D) When a new group of players joins in a game, the original participants become more aggressive in response to the increased competition.
(E) Even though an increasing number of people are becoming familiar with a new technology, that technology is growing more complicated to master.