The rule of the road means that in order that the liberties of all may be preserved, the liberties of everybody must be curtailed. When the policeman, say, at a road-crossing steps into the middle of the road and puts out his hand, he is the symbol not of tyranny but of liberty. You have submitted to a curtailment of private liberty in order that you may enjoy a social order which makes your liberty a reality. We have both liberties to preserve — our individual liberty and our social liberty. That is, we must have a judicious mixture of both. I shall not permit any authority to say that my child must go to this school or that, shall specialize in science or arts. These things are personal. But if I say that my child shall have no education at all, then society will firmly tell me that my child must have education whether I like it or not. The author holds that
- (a)educating or not educating his child is a matter of personal liberty
- (b)educating or not educating his child is also a matter of social liberty
- (c)choosing the school for his child is a matter of social liberty
- (d)choosing the subject of study for his child is a matter of social liberty
Correct — B, educating or not educating his child is also a matter of social liberty. The closing sentence draws the line for you — 'But if I say that my child shall have no education at all, then society will firmly tell me that my child must have education whether I like it or not.' Whether the child is educated at all is therefore society's business, however private the choice of school may be.
- (a)educating or not educating his child is a matter of personal liberty — The final sentence exists to deny exactly this. It begins with 'But', and it hands the decision to society against the parent's own wish.
- (c)choosing the school for his child is a matter of social liberty — The passage says the opposite — 'I shall not permit any authority to say that my child must go to this school or that … These things are personal.' The choice of school is on the private side of the line.
- (d)choosing the subject of study for his child is a matter of social liberty — The same sentence puts the choice of science or arts among the personal things, so the subject of study is not a matter of social liberty either.
A comprehension item that asks which side of a line a particular case falls on, where the passage has drawn the line itself.
The last four sentences do one job: they sort decisions about a child into two boxes. The school and the subject go into the private box, and the bare fact of being educated goes into the social one. Three of the options mix the two up, either by moving the school and the subject across the line or by moving education back to the private side. The word 'But' at the start of the final sentence is the signal that the sorting is about to change direction.
- 'But' marks a turn, so the sentence it opens will qualify or reverse what has just been said.
- The passage places the choice of school and the choice of science or arts on the personal side and calls them so explicitly.
- 'Whether I like it or not' shows that on the question of education itself the parent's wish does not decide the matter.
- Remembering only the earlier half of the passage, where the author defends his private choices, and missing the reversal after 'But'.
- Assuming that anything to do with a child's schooling must be personal.
Asked as a comprehension item in which the wrong options move a case to the wrong side of a line the passage has already drawn.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
According to the passage, which of the following is a personal matter?
- (a)whether a child is educated at all
- (b)which school a child attends
- (c)whether society may make rules
- (d)whether a policeman may stop traffic
Answer(b) which school a child attends — the author calls such things personal.
- practice — not a real PYQ
'But if I say that my child shall have no education at all …' The word 'But' here signals
- (a)an added example
- (b)a turn against what was just said
- (c)a summary
- (d)a repetition
Answer(b) a turn against what was just said.