Doctoral programs have low graduation rates, and by some estimates, as many as 50% of entrants fail to complete their doctorates. This is one of the reasons why doctoral programs need to shorten their time to completion. In the humanities, a Ph.D. can take nine or ten years to complete, meaning that students spend a long time earning little money. It is next to impossible for students to focus on their field for ten years on meager salaries when they have financial and familial obligations that can distract them from their ultimate goal. Doctoral programs are only valuable if they can produce future successful academics, and they are currently failing to meet this goal.
The claim that doctoral programs need to shorten their time to completion fulfills which of the following roles of the argument?
A)It is what the argument tries to establish.
B)It provides essential support for the main point.
C)It provides evidence that Ph.D. programs are not valuable.
D)It is background information not relevant to the main point of the passage.
E)It is an example of how humanities Ph.D. programs are failing their students.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The claim that doctoral programs need to shorten their time to completion is what the argument tries to establish. All other aspects of the passage, including that doctoral students earn little money, cannot focus on their field for that long, and that programs fail to produce successful academics half the time, support the idea that the time required to complete a Ph.D. is too long.

Doctoral Programs Have Low Graduation Rates, and by Some Estimates