Bronson Alcott is perhaps best known not for who he was, but for whom he knew. Indeed, Alcott’s connections were impressive by any standards. He was a close confidante of such luminaries as Margarret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau. Yet, to remember the man solely by his associations is to miss his importance to nineteenth century American Philosophy as a whole and to the transcendental Movement in particular. Admittedly, Alcott’s gift was not a writer. His philosophical treatises have rightly been criticized by many as ponderous, esoteric, and laking focus.
However, Alcott was an erudite orator, and it is one the text of his orations that one begins to appreciate him as a visionary. Most notably Alcott advocated what were at the time polemical ideas on education. He believed that good teaching should be Socratic in nature and that a student’s intellectual growth was concomitant with his or her spiritual growth.
It can be inferred that the author would agree with all of the following statements EXCEPT
(A) Alcott should be remembered for his contributions to transcendentalism.
(B) Alcott’s ideas were ahead of those of many of his contemporaries.
(C) Alcott believed that learning should not neglect a student’s spiritual education.
(D) Alcott’s ideas about education were not always accepted compatriots.
(E) Alcott should not be regarded as a particularly gifted orator.
It can be inferred that the author would be agree with which of the following statements?
(A) Transcendentalism was an esoteric field of inquiry promulgated by a select group of visionaries
(B) Alcott’s prose styles is not always easily understood
(C) A Socratic pedagogical style is difficult to align with spiritual teaching.
(D) Alcott should be chiefly appreciated for the strengths of his association.
(E) The text of Alcott’s orations were widely accepted by his peers.