CR Challenger 26

It is ludicrous to assert that the math department’s new policy, allowing the use of non-programmable calculators during exams, is discriminatory. Though a calculator can be expensive, and some students will not be able to purchase one, the department is not requiring that students use one, it is only allowing them to do so if they desire. Thus, any student who does not purchase a calculator for use on his exams will not be penalized; he or she will be no worse off at exam time than he or she was prior to the policy change.

To which of the following would the opponents of the math department’s new policy be most likely to refer, in an attempt to have the new policy abolished?


a. The difference in speed between a top-of-the-line calculator and a bottom-end one is significant.

b.Each individual student’s performance is evaluated against the performance of his or her fellow students on math department exams.

c.The university student services department will make available to all students calculators that can be borrowed as library books are.

d.Much of the math being tested on most of the exams in question is so complex that it requires a calculator-like mind to do the necessary computations.

e. When calculators were not allowed, more than half of all students failed their math exams.

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ref cr int1 7