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How come B is wrong? Is a changing attitude not considered a factor? I guess I can see how the answer is A but Kaplan explanations just says that the only factor is legislation. I thought it was B because I was thinking about cause and effect reasoning with a third factor (changing attitude) causing both the legislation and the economic progress?

This is a super early test too so I'm not too concerned but just wanted to clarify. I'm still a little foggy about that last paragraph of the passage. Thanks in advance.

The problem lies with the author's intention. The author's overall point in this passage is that government laws are what aided black economic process, NOT historical forces such as educational improvement (as continuity theorists argue).

In lines 58-60 (which the question asks about), the author concedes a potential point: correlating federal intervention with progress MIGHT be incorrect. That "might" says it all. It's a POSSIBLE objection to the author's point. However, the author goes on to strengthen the importance of his point by arguing against that objection. (As (A) says.)

True, the author does introudce another potential factor (changing attitudes). Nonetheless, once the word "However" is used in line 67, the author pretty much rejects changing attitudes as a legitimate factor, claiming that the law was ultimately the important factor.

So, even though the author does introduce another potential factor, that wasn't the reason he conceded the potential objection. He conceded the objection so that he could show why that objection really doesn't affect his argument.

HTH

- Chris

This really helps a lot and hopefully I'll be more attentive to those keywords in the future.