Scholars studying diversity in students pursuing higher education

Question

Scholars studying diversity in students pursuing higher education stress the need for diversity among the faculty and staff of institutions offering such education. It is seen as a way of creating a more welcoming and supportive environment for minorities and of enhancing education for all students. Accordingly, they argue that hiring more Native American faculty and staff is a potential way to help others in the university to become more aware of and responsive to the challenges faced by some Native American students, thereby leading to more effective and culturally competent programs. However, this argument ignores a crucial ground reality.

Even though many proponents of the idea discuss variations in cultural orientations among indigenous people, there seems to be an assumption that Native American professors and students share common values and hence teachers of Native American ethnicity are thought to have more insight than their counterparts from other ethnicities into Native American students. But the reality is that Native Americans form an extremely heterogeneous population. Students and teachers of Native American origin can differ in a variety of ways, such as tribal background and level of connection to their culture, and therefore  making blanket assumptions about the cultural identity of Native American people who become faculty is just as inappropriate as it is to make stereotypical assumptions about Native American people in general . Accordingly, before any key changes are implemented, it would be reasonable to probe how Native American people who have achieved an extensive background in higher education differ culturally from their tribal communities of origin.   1 
 1. Which of the following statements would the author most likely agree with?

A.Scholars arguing for hiring more Native American staff and faculty underestimate the ways in which diversity can be achieved in institutions offering higher education.
B.Had the Native Americans formed a homogenous population, the suggestion proposed by the scholars would have been successful in achieving its purpose.
C.Because Native American teachers have an extensive background in education, they are not a good fit for teaching Native American students with deep ties to their ethnic origin.
D. The fact that various Native Americans belong to different tribal origins needs to be accounted for while addressing the issue of diversity through hiring more Native American staff and faculty.
E.Hiring more Native American faculty and staff can be a way to eliminate prejudices against Native American students.

2 
 2. The author is primarily concerned with

A.advocating a course of action that is contrary to a proposed argument
B.explaining how an idea, though not fully sound, could lead to unintended consequences
C.explaining why an idea needs to be explored more before it is actually adopted
D.describing the merits and demerits of a proposed argument
E.questioning the underlying thought behind a suggestion while offering a simpler plan to achieve the stated purpose

3 
 3. What can be inferred from the following statement made in the passage? 
…making blanket assumptions about the cultural identity of Native American people who become faculty is just as inappropriate as it is to make stereotypical assumptions about Native American people in general...

A. Finding parallels between the two groups is unwarranted as they differ extensively with respect to their academic accomplishments.
B.The prejudice that Native American faculty face is a result of the stereotypical assumptions made about Native American people in general.
C.Irrespective of their achievements in the field of education, Native American faculty and staff are often mistreated because of their ethnic origin.
D. Drawing opinions based purely on ethnic origins is equally unseemly in both the situations. 
E.Assumptions that are not rooted in ethnic affiliations lead to progressive attitude towards Native Americans.

4 
 4. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

A) The composition of native American faculty is similar to that of the native Americans in general.
B) Diversity among the faculty is being demanded by scholars who are studying diversity in students of America.
C) Many people who advocate the idea of diversity among faculty are aware of the heterogeneity among native Americans, but they tend to ignore it.
D) Faculty having an extensive background in higher education differ culturally from their tribal communities of origin.
E) Diversity in faculty and staff of institutions will create cultural barriers among students and teachers.

DAVEexamPAL · Accepted Answer

Question 1:  
Solution strategy -  A lternative: just review the answers, and check each one

1.Which of the following statements would the author most likely agree with?
A.Scholars arguing for hiring more Native American staff and faculty underestimate the ways in which diversity can be achieved in institutions offering higher education. 
  Since the passage says nothing of additional ways diversity can be achieved (but only criticizes one given way), no reason to think this is true.  
B.Had the Native Americans formed a homogenous population, the suggestion proposed by the scholars would have been successful in achieving its purpose.
 It's possible that the author thinks this, but it's too strong a statement: we know for sure that if they were homogeneous, it would be  more likely   for the plan to work, but what if there are other problems? We just don't know.  
C. Because Native American teachers have an extensive background in education, they are not a good fit for teaching Native American students with deep ties to their ethnic origin.
  Though the passage discusses an issue in hiring Native American teachers, this reason is definitely not given 
D. The fact that various Native Americans belong to different tribal origins needs to be accounted for while addressing the issue of diversity through hiring more Native American staff and faculty.  This is exactly what the argument is stating!  
E.Hiring more Native American faculty and staff can be a way to eliminate prejudices against Native American students."
 No, the argument is actually pointing out the problems with this approach

Question 2:  
This is a classic question for a Precise Approach, since the passage gives us all the information we need. Before looking at the answers, we simply need to think: the passage starts by presenting the position of increasing diversity in teacher staff by hiring more Native Americans, but then points out a potential complication to this seemingly simple solution, namely - that inner-group diversity needs to be accounted for, and concludes that this is a factor that needs to be accounted for.  It seems that his primary concern then, is arguing that the suggestion needs to be further explored (by focusing on this aspect), before rushing to adopt it.   Looking at the answers, this is precisely what (D) states.

A different possible solution tool is the  Alternative tool  of simply checking the answers, though I think this is less recommended, as it will take more time.

2. The author is primarily concerned with
A.advocating a course of action that is contrary to a proposed argument  this may sound right, as he is criticizing a certain course of action, but consider: what he is advocating is not a separate course of action, but rather a development of the existing one.  
B.explaining how an idea, though not fully sound, could lead to unintended consequences  
consequences aren't really discussed. Plus, the "though" in this sentence implies they are good consequences - if anything, the author thinks that  because  the idea is not fully sound, unintended consequences are possible  
C.explaining why an idea needs to be explored more before it is actually adopted  this is precisely what he's arguing: the need to check the relation between the teachers' tribe and their students'  
D.describing the merits and demerits of a proposed argument  merits aren't really discussed, he just focuses on one demerit 
E.questioning the underlying thought behind a suggestion while offering a simpler plan to achieve the stated purpose  no simpler plan is suggested - if anything, he suggests a complication of the existing plan

Question 3:

3.What can be inferred from the following statement made in the passage?
…making blanket assumptions about the cultural identity of Native American people who become faculty is just as inappropriate as it is to make stereotypical assumptions 
about Native American people in general...

Here we'd best take the Logical approach, by focusing on the sentence's logical structure.  The author is comparing two things )assuming things about the identity of Native American teachers, and using stereotypes with regards to Native American people in general) and saying that the first is "just as inappropriate" as the second.  The assumption in this sentence is that it is the clear to the reader that the second is bad, and that the first is bad for the same reason.   Looking at the answers, this is precisely what (D) tells us.

Another way to solve is comparing the answers, though again, this will probably take longer and the answers may confuse us as well:

A. Finding parallels between the two groups is unwarranted as they differ extensively with respect to their academic accomplishments.   no mention was made of finding parallels between teachers and non-teachers!  
B.The prejudice that Native American faculty face is a result of the stereotypical assumptions made about Native American people in general.  Maybe, maybe not - the argument says both of these phenomenons are equally bad, but doesn't posit any causal connection between them 
C.Irrespective of their achievements in the field of education, Native American faculty and staff are often mistreated because of their ethnic origin. Not what the argument says - the issue being raised is the teachers and students having trouble relating, not the teachers being discriminated against 
D. Drawing opinions based purely on ethnic origins is equally unseemly in both the situations.  Exactly the point the setnence is trying to make - one is "just as inappropriate" as the other  
E.Assumptions that are not rooted in ethnic affiliations lead to progressive attitude towards Native Americans. Maybe, but this is not stated

ShankSouljaBoi · Answer

DAVEexamPAL  in question 2 . The option C has partial scope as in, the said explanation just comes in the end of passage. How can this cover the entire scope of passage.?

David nguyen · Answer

Why is C correct? There is nowhere in the argument stating that the people who advocate the idea of diversity among faculty are aware of the heterogeneity among native Americans. The author says that the argument of those people ignoring that, not the other way around. Please advise.

Gmattired · Answer

SajjadAhmad  can you explain question 4 IMO option D is correct? also share the level of question please?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

I don't have the official source of this passage so i cannot confirm the OA of question 4. I think there is some issue with the OA as it looks D should be the answer instead of C. I hope the poster of this question will solve the riddle.

Thank you.

Nups1324 · Answer

Hi Skywalker18 , Waiting for the same. Thank you

Posted from my mobile device

Nups1324 · Answer

I agree. yashikaaggarwal GMATNinja VeritasKarishma what are your thoughts? Thank you

Posted from my mobile device

KarishmaB · Answer

Answer is (C) only.

4. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

A) The composition of native American faculty is similar to that of the native Americans in general.
B) Diversity among the faculty is being demanded by scholars who are studying diversity in students of America.
C) Many people who advocate the idea of diversity among faculty are aware of the heterogeneity among native Americans, but they tend to ignore it.
D) Faculty having an extensive background in higher education differ culturally from their tribal communities of origin.
E) Diversity in faculty and staff of institutions will create cultural barriers among students and teachers.

First line second paragraph:

Even though many proponents of the idea discuss variations in cultural orientations among indigenous people, there seems to be an assumption that Native American professors and students share common values...

C) Many people who advocate the idea of diversity among faculty are aware of the heterogeneity among native Americans, but they tend to ignore it.
Correct.

D) Faculty having an extensive background in higher education differ culturally from their tribal communities of origin.
Not known. The passage says:
 Accordingly, before any key changes are implemented, it would be reasonable to probe how Native American people who have achieved an extensive background in higher education differ culturally from their tribal communities of origin. 
Find out how Native Americans with higher edu differ from their tribes (presumably, Native American children)

Rickooreo · Answer

KarishmaB

Is Q4 option B wrong because of the usage of word "demanded" in the option? or because the passage mentions for students in higher educational studies and that is not reflected in option B? Or there is some altogether different error

For your reference - Option B is stated in the first line of the passage
Option C is derived from the second paragraph initial two sentences

Answer is (C) only.

KarishmaB · Answer

I would think it is because the passage mentions 'for students in higher educational studies' and that is not reflected in option B.

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Scholars studying diversity in students pursuing higher education

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Scholars studying diversity in students pursuing higher education

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