Q8

[swwestley]

This one drove me nuts!

After initially marking the correct answer, (B) I later changed it to (C) my reasoning was as follows:

Passage A is about Historians. Passage B is about Lawyers.

The writer of passage A is a History teacher. College history teachers are generally historians, and since the author mentions attending conferences of historians, we can presume he is an active member of the profession.

The writer of passage B is a Law Professor. Are Law Professors active members of the Lawyering profession? I'm really not sure, but I don't think so.

I also considered whether passage B might be more accurately be described as being about Law Professors than about Lawyers, but ultimately rejected this idea.

Actually given, my own reasoning, I probably should have left my answer as B, (there were two ways for B to be true but only one way for C to be true) but I guess I was biased in favor of doubting myself. Is there something I missed that would have made the choice more clear?

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

I'm glad you brought this question to the forum, thanks! This is one that students typically raise in class.

I think the test writer wasn't thinking that lawyers belong to the "lawyering profession" but rather that they belonged to the "legal profession."

And I think that it's reasonable to assume that law professors belong to the legal profession. Let me know if you see it differently...

[swwestley]

Thank you - that does make sense!

Law professors are certainly part of the legal profession.

What made this question difficult is that the phrase "legal profession" never appears in the text itself. Still, it is a common enough phrase that it should have popped into my mind - and phrases like "legal writing" "legal analysis" and "legal education" should have helped lead me there - all of these are things that both Law professors and Lawyers are involved in.

[alinanny]

Just to add a little something. One the frist paragraph of Passage B the author writes "we who teach the law....." This makes him part of the same group.
I might be totally off here but isn't a law professor a lawyer? Maybe not a practicing lawyer but a lawyer nonetheless.
Correct me if I'm wrong here please!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

I might be totally off here but isn't a law professor a lawyer? Maybe not a practicing lawyer but a lawyer nonetheless.
Correct me if I'm wrong here please!

Your line reference is exactly right. And while I think we're on the same page here, I might adjust the way you said it slightly. I think I would say that a law professor - while he/she might not be a lawyer - is definitely part of the legal profession. Just a thought!

And please let me know if you see it differently!

[mornincounselor]

Passage A mentions "When I started teaching" and "at meeting of historians we still…" The author of A is an academic historian.

Passage B mentions "we who teach the law inevitably teach lawyers how lawyers write", "Laywers write as they see other lawyers write", I took this to mean that the author of passage B would be both a lawyer and a teacher.

This might lead one to choose (E) as one could think passage A describes teaching. However, I think that there's a distinction between historian and teacher where although many historians are teachers (even the author of passage A) the words are not interchangeable.

Is this why (B) is a superior choice to (E)?

[christine.defenbaugh]

Interesting question, mornincounselor!

You point out that Author B is both a lawyer and a teacher, and I think that's valid. But by the same token, Author A is both a historian and a teacher (line 5 "when I started teaching").

Similarly, if you argue that Passage A discusses teaching, you'd have to also argue that Passage B discusses teaching as well. A fair bit of Passage A's paragraph one describes history education, but Passage B does the same throughout the passage. (Lines 30-31 "teach aspiring lawyers how lawyers write", line 32 "stand-alone courses", lines 33-34 "throughout the curriculum", line 43 "legal education", line 50 "law students", line 55 "law curriculum", lines 56-57 "how legal writing is taught".)

In fact, based on the dispersal of the quotes, Author B seems to discuss teaching a wee bit more than Author A does!

But that is not the entirety of either passage. Passage A's entire second paragraph is dedicated to historians, without any specific reference to "teaching" (the fact that they are 'academics' does not necessarily imply the act of actually 'teaching'). And Passage B is focused on legal writing as a general matter, not limited to legal education.

Regardless, if you make the argument that "teaching" is one of professions discussed, then you must necessarily have THREE professions in play: history, education, legal.

Looking at it from this perspective, you'd have to say that each of the authors is a member of two of the three professions discussed in the passages! None of the answer choices give us that as an option. You might also say that each author is an active member of both of the two professions that he or she discusses. But that's also not an answer choice!

(E) could only be correct if you ignore the profession of historian entirely, and argue that Passage A is solely about the profession of teaching, and not really about being a historian at all.

But that's not really what's happening here. Instead, the two authors are discussing history and law, respectively - they are each simply doing so by discussing the education aspects of each profession as a foundation point. Each uses the "teaching" issue as a vehicle for the discussion about the issues of narrative in the specific professions of history and law.

What do you think?

[mornincounselor]

Yes, thank you very much for the detailed response, Christine.