Effective and Ineffective Paraphrasing Directions: Read Each Passage

question 4

Multiple Choice

Effective and Ineffective Paraphrasing Directions: Read each passage.Then select the letter of the best paraphrase.
University of Memphis professor David Hildebrand says that the current furor over Harvard University's tendency to inflate students' grades reveals the educational community's unhealthy preoccupation with carrot-and-stick motivators.According to Hildebrand, true excellence is never the result of competition for high grades.Therefore, colleges and universities should abandon their debate about grade inflation and figure out how to inspire students to achieve for achievement's sake.
(Adapted from Hildebrand's letter to The New York Times, December 7, 2001.)
Paraphrase

• A) David Hildebrand, a professor at the University of Memphis, is fed up with schools who insist on giving grades.He argues that teachers and students can't learn by being threatened with poor grades since most young people cannot handle high-stakes compe-tition for grades.He recommends that schools abandon grading systems and let everyone achieve according to his or her abilities.
• B) University of Memphis professor David Hildebrand has joined the debate over grade inflation at Harvard University by declaring that Harvard crushes true competition by tempting students with high grades.Hildebrand believes that grades don't accurately reflect students' performance because faulty grade distributions reduce the desire to achieve.
• C) University of Memphis professor David Hildebrand believes that students and teachers place too much emphasis on grades as motivators.He thinks that people who strive for excellence do not do so for the sake of earning high grades, so arguing about grade inflation is wasted effort.Instead, Hildebrand says, schools should figure out how to motivate students to achieve without the use of grades.

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Principal

The balance, or amount of money, in an account, or amount borrowed.

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The cost of borrowing money or the payment received for lending money, usually expressed as a percentage of the principal.

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An accounting of the credits and debits in the form of a monthly report sent to a credit card holder.

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A mathematical expression used in spreadsheet software to perform calculations, analyze data, and automate tasks within cells of a spreadsheet.