In this section you have two short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. Read the passages and answer the items based on them. You are required to select your answers based on the content of the passage and opinion of the author only.

Passage – I

Conventional education makes independent thinking extremely difficult. Conformity leads to mediocrity. To be different from the group or to resist environment is not easy and is often risky as long as we worship success. The urge to be successful, which is the pursuit of reward whether in the materials or in the so-called spiritual sphere, the search for inward or outward security, the desire for comfort — this whole process smothers discontent, put an end to spontaneity and breed fear; and fear blocks the intelligent understanding of life. With increasing age, dullness of mind and heart sets in.

In seeking comfort, we generally find a quiet corner in life where there is a minimum of conflict, and then we are afraid to step out of that seclusion. This fear of life, this fear of struggle and of a new experience, kills in us the spirit of adventure; our whole upbringing and education have made us afraid to be different from our neighbour, afraid to think contrary to the established pattern of society, falsely respectful of authority and tradition.

Fortunately, there are a few who are in earnest, who are willing to examine our human problems without the prejudice of the right or of the left; but in the vast majority of us, there is no real spirit of discontent, or revolt. When we yield uncomprehendingly to environment, any spirit of revolt that may have had died down, and our responsibilities soon put an end to it.

Why does conventional education make independent thinking extremely difficult?