Linda Kerber argued in the mid-1980s that after the American

Timed 06:55 and got all correct!

Feeling really good! What difficulty level are these questions? If all of these are 700+, then woah!

Hello,

Can someone explain the answer to Q5??

Dear Moderators
GMATNinjaTwo, workout, SajjadAhmad, GMATNinja, u1983, Gnpth

Could someone please explain question 2?
I had opted for choice D because the passage mentioned virtue was to be instilled not only by churches and schools, but by families, where the mother’s role was crucial

Linda Kerber argued in the mid-1980’s that after the American Revolution (1775-1783), an ideology of “republican motherhood” resulted in a surge of educational opportunities for women in the United States. Kerber maintained that the leaders of the new nation wanted women to be educated in order to raise politically virtuous sons. A virtuous citizenry was considered essential to the success of the country’s republican form of government; virtue was to be instilled not only by churches and schools, but by families, where the mother’s role was crucial. Thus,according to Kerber, motherhood became pivotal to the fate of the republic, providing justification for an unprecedented attention to female education.Introduction of the republican motherhood thesis dramatically changed historiography. Prior to Kerber’s work, educational historians barely mentioned women and girls; Thomas Woody’s 1929 work is the notable exception. Examining newspaper advertisements for academies, Woody found that educational opportunities increased for both girls and boys around 1750. Pointing to “An Essay on Woman” (1753) as reflecting a shift in view, Woody also claimed that practical education for females had many advocates before the Revolution. Woody’s evidence challenges the notion that the Revolution changed attitudes regarding female education, although it may have accelerated earlier trends. Historians’ reliance on Kerber’s “republican motherhood” thesis may have obscured the presence of these trends, making it difficult to determine to what extent the Revolution really changed women’s lives.

3) The passage suggests that, with regard to the history of women’s education in the United States, Kerber’s work differs from Woody’s primarily concerning which of the following?
A. The extent to which women were interested in pursuing educational opportunities in the eighteenth century
B. The extent of the support for educational opportunities for girls prior to the American Revolution
C. The extent of public resistance to educational opportunities for women after the American Revolution
D. Whether attitudes toward women’s educational opportunities changed during the eighteenth century
E. Whether women needed to be educated in order to contribute to the success of a republican form of government

LINDA )
Linda Kerber argued in the mid-1980’s that after the American Revolution (1775-1783), an ideology of “republican motherhood” resulted in a surge of educational opportunities for women in the United States.

Linda's study concluded that revolution changed the education system for women (revolution happened in 1775-1783)

THOMAS WOODY)
1) Examining newspaper advertisements for academies, Woody found that educational opportunities increased for both girls and boys around 1750. Pointing to “An Essay on Woman” (1753) as reflecting a shift in view
2) Woody’s evidence challenges the notion that the Revolution changed attitudes regarding female education.

Woody's study tells that changed started happening almost 20 years before the revolution and that revolution has not played an important role in more efforts to educate woman.


NOW DEPENDING ON THE LEVEL OF YOUR EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE YOU WOULD EITHER INTERPRET THE QUESTION AS (1) INFERENCE OR (2) MUST BE TRUE
The two most attractive answer in these cases will be

IF YOU THINK THE QUESTION IS ASKING YOU FIND INFERENCE THEN THE ANSWER IS A
REASON :- Education opportunities were equal before and after the revolution. But women only started getting educated after the Revolution. It means earlier woman were not interested in education but after war they become interested in education . Meaning that that women's interest changed in education during the 18th century.
ANSWER IS A:- The extent to which women were interested in pursuing educational opportunities in the eighteenth century


IF YOU THINK THE QUESTION IS MUST BE TRUE THEN THE ANSWER IS B
REASON:- Because based on the information given in the passage it can be safely said that Linda considered [u]revolution to be the main factor of increased woman education, whereas Woody does not consider revolution as the chief cause of woman education but only as an accelerator to the cause.
ANSWR IS B The extent of the support for educational opportunities for girls prior to the American Revolution.


p.s:- The term "Suggests"in the question stem implies that it is an "INFERENCE" question .
THE CORRECT ANSWER IS A

Regarding question 5- From the sentence "Woody found that educational opportunities increased for both girls and boys around 1750", how do we infer that "An essay on woman" expressed attitudes concerning women's education that were reflected in new educational opportunities for women after 1750?

Can't "around" mean both, before and after?

For instance, what if the essay explained attitude concerning women in 1749?

Thanks!

Hi,
GMATNinja VeritasKarishma @MikeMcgary GMATNinjaTwo
Kerber maintained that the leaders of the new nation wanted women to be educated in order to raise politically virtuous sons.
what does maintained refers to OR what kerbar maintained refers to.

Looks like question #5 is causing lots of pain. Here it is again:
Remember that in this passage, the author is analyzing the views of two different writers. In paragraph 1, the author tells us about Kerber's work in order to explain the "republican motherhood" thesis. In paragraph 2, the author tells us about Woody's work in order to question historians' reliance on that thesis.

This question is asking us which of the following five claims Woody (not Kerber, not the author) would have agreed with, regarding "An Essay on Woman" (not the thesis of republican motherhood in general). We'll eliminate any choice that doesn't specifically line up with Woody's view regarding this specific essay.

And what was Woody's view?

"Examining newspaper advertisements for academies, Woody found that educational opportunities increased for both girls and boys around 1750. Pointing to “An Essay on Woman” (1753) as reflecting a shift in view, Woody also claimed that practical education for females had many advocates before the Revolution."

OK, Woody! Time for POE.

(A) seems to match Woody's view in a very straightforward way. After all, Woody found that educational opportunities did increase for both genders around 1750. Woody also pointed to the essay (which was published in 1753) as reflecting a shift in view (i.e, a change in attitude) with regards to practical education for females. We'll keep this around until we find a better choice or eliminate everything else.

There's nothing to support the claim that Woody saw the essay this way. When describing Woody's claims, the author doesn't suggest any persuasive impact of the essay on educators and what those educators offered during the 1750s. Sure, Woody points to many advocates for practical education, but this is quite different from describing literal educators. Eliminate (B).

(C) sounds good, but what exactly is it saying?

• The essay articulated ideas about women's education. Fair enough.
• These ideas would not be realized until after the American Revolution. Wait, what?

This totally clashes with what Woody claimed: That educational opportunities began increasing around 1750, that this shift in view was reflected by the essay in 1753, and that practical education had many advocates before the Revolution. Choice (C) paints a different picture, where no concrete change took place until at least 1783. That might have been in line with Kerber's thesis, but it's not what Woody believed.

That's why we eliminate (C).

Nope. Nothing in the passage tells us that Woody viewed the essay as "one of the most original arguments in favor of women's education." Eliminate (D).

This very well could be true, but there's absolutely nothing in the passage that gives us a clue to how controversial Woody's ideas were. We only know that Woody's ideas were a notable exception among educational historians. Eliminate (E).

(A) is a boring choice, but it's the best one available. Every other choice either contradicts the passage, focuses on the wrong point of view, or makes a statement that drifts so far form the passage that it can't be supported.

I hope this helps!

Could someone please explain Q3 answers B and D? I'm not quite sure why B is better over D? Wouldn't the 18th century include all of the American Revolution? How could it be right if we just change the part within D from 18th century to American Revolution? GMATNinja

My explanations were the following:
(B) The extent of the support for educational opportunities for girls prior to the American Revolution
Out of scope: the ???extent of the support for educational opps for girls??? isn???t necessarily discussed. Kerber says there was a surge of educational opps for women after the American Revolution. Woody says educational opps increased for girls (and boys) around 1750 (AKA before the American Revolution). The EXTENT of support for the educational opps isn???t discussed, just that there was an increase in the educational opps themselves (not the extent).

(D) Whether attitudes toward women???s educational opportunities changed during the eighteenth century
Almost verbatim ??? Woody???s evidence challenges the notion that the Revolution changed attitudes regarding female education

4) According to the passage, Kerber maintained that which of the following led to an increase in educational opportunities for women in the United States after the American Revolution?

(A) An unprecedented demand by women for greater educational opportunities in the decades following the Revolution
(B) A new political ideology calling for equality of opportunity between women and men in all aspects of life
(C) A belief that the American educational system could be reformed only if women participated more fully in that system
(D) A belief that women needed to be educated if they were to contribute to the success of the nation’s new form of government
(E) A recognition that women needed to be educated if they were to take an active role in the nation’s schools and churches