Two recent publications offer different assessments of the career of t

6. Which of the following is an assumption underlying the author's assessment of Nightingale's creativity?
Original:
(A) Educational philosophy in Nightingale's day did not normally emphasize developing children's ability to observe.
(B) Nightingale was the first to notice the poor living conditions in British military barracks in peacetime.
(C) No educator before Nightingale had thought to enlist the help of village schoolmasters in introducing new teaching techniques.
(D) Until Nightingale began her work, there was no concept of organized help for the needy in nineteenth-century Britain.
(E) The British army's medical services had no cost- accounting system until Nightingale devised one in the 1860's.

Hi PR90, there are some good questions in this passage. Since you specifically asked for question 6, let's review how to attack assumption questions. The best strategy is to employ the Assumption Negation Technique, whereby you negate the stated assumptions and discover which cause the entire argument to fall down. If the argument still stands, then the assumption wasn't necessary. This is the best way to evaluate assumptions that all seem reasonable at first glance.

Negated:
A) Educational philosophy in Nightingale's day DID normally emphasize developing children's ability to observe: Negated, this destroys the entire premise that Nightingale had a heightened sense of creativity. In effect, every child already was subjected to what Nightingale proposed, hence her creativity was somewhere between bland and non-existant.
B) Nightingale was NOT the first to notice the poor living conditions in British military barracks in peacetime: Others had noticed before, but no one did anything. Argument still stands.
C) SOME educators before Nightingale had thought to enlist the help of village schoolmasters in introducing new teaching techniques: Some people already had done this, but what techniques? Same as Nightingale? Different techniques? Could easily be true and the argument holds.
D) Until Nightingale began her work, there WAS already the concept of organized help for the needy in ninteenth century Britain: There was a concept but Nightingale expanded upon it, argument still holds.
E) The British army's medical services had AN cost-accounting system until Nightingale designed one in 1860s: They had one, but Nightingale's was better. Same concept as D.

Once you negate all the options, it becomes clear that only A is required for Nightingale's creativity to be praised. The others could be false and her creativity could still be highly lauded. In assumption questions, the wording used can often be more important than how much the assumption strengthens the text. You're looking for the necessary assumption, not the strongest.
Hope this helps!
-Ron