Reading Comprehension Passage 16 MCQ Test With Answers - DISCUSSING THE HARVARD CORE CURRICULUM

Questions must be answered on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage itself, and not on the basis of what you may know independently about the subject matter.

Reading Comprehension Passage 16 MCQ Test

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Question 1

(Please note: The following questions are related to a specific reading passage, which is available solely before the first question. Remember, it may be helpful to refer back to the reading text while answering the questions to ensure accuracy.)

DISCUSSING THE HARVARD CORE CURRICULUM

Part of the public pleasure in the Harvard report seems to arise from the expectation that a core curriculum will supply the undergraduates with the basic requirements of common learning. Like the popular support for some kind of minimal competency standards in secondary schools, the notion that the educated share a single set of facts and ideas is satisfyingly simple. There can be no doubt that it gratifies our need to perceive our society as a unified and consensual whole despite ample evidence to the contrary.

Yet, The Report on the Core Curriculum expressly denies that it intends to supply us with any such common core: "We are definitely not proposing an identical set of courses viable for all students," they say: '"We do not think, anyway, that there is a single set of Great Books that every educated person must sooner or later read and master." Therefore, it must be stressed at the outset that those who would look to Harvard to define a body of knowledge common to all educated people are likely to be rather disappointed with the contents of this report.

Adele SIMMONS, 'A Timid Reform, A Modest Advance", Harper's Magazine

The Harvard Report On The Core Curriculum received a favourable response from the public, because

A	there is widespread mistrust in the idea of a core curriculum.
B	it solves, for once and all, the problem of basic requirements for undergraduate reading
C	of the minimal competency standards in secondary schools.
D	they think this will mean a list of basic reading, proving that the society in which they live is a unified and consensual whole.
E	the public believes in the high standards of the Harvard University.

Question 2

The notion of a core curriculum is interpreted by the ordinary citizen to mean

A	a list of basic reading viable for all undergraduates.
B	greater numbers of undergraduates being admitted to universities despite less public expenditure.
C	an attempt to enlist popular support for minimal competency standards.
D	basic minimal incompetency standards as in the secondary schools.
E	that all undergraduates will be equally successful in developing their reading skills.

Question 3

The author claims that people need to perceive society as

A	having very high standards of learning.
B	representing many conflicting views.
C	satisfyingly simple.
D	an integrated and unified whole.
E	having ample evidence of instability.

Question 4

The Report On The Core Curriculum

A	has come up with a basic program of learning for all undergraduate students of Harvard University.
B	advocates an identical set of courses for all students.
C	defends that there is a set of great books that all educated persons must read.
D	relies on the fact that everybody shares a common body of knowledge.
E	is not proposing any one list of basic reading for all undergraduates to study and grasp sooner or later.

Question 5

The Harvard Report

A	will disappoint everyone.
B	looks to Harvard to define a body of common knowledge.
C	must be appreciated by all educated people.
D	is unduly ambitious in its professed aims.
E	claims to be a modest effort toward improving teaching standards.