Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.
The most exciting kind of education is also the most personal. Nothing can exceed the joy of discovering for yourself something that is important to you？ It may be an idea or a bit of information you come across accidentally—or a sudden insight, fitting together pieces of information or working through a problem. A teacher may direct you to learning and even encourage you in it, but no teacher can make the excitement or the joy happen. That's up to you.
A research paper, assigned in a course and perhaps checked at various stages by an instructor, leads you beyond classrooms, beyond the texts for classes and into a process where the joy of discovery and learning can come to you many times. Preparing the research paper is an active and individual process, and ideal learning process. It provides a structure within which you can make exciting discoveries, of knowledge and of self, that are basic to education. But the research paper also gives you a chance to individualize a school assignment, to suit a piece of work to your own interests and abilities, to show others what you can do. Writing a research paper is more than just a classroom exercise. It is an experience in searching out, understanding and synthesizing, which forms the basis of many skills applicable to both academic and nonacademic tasks. It is, in the fullest sense, a discovering and an education. So, to produce a good research paper is both a useful and a thoroughly satisfying experience.
To some, the thought of having to write an assigned number of pages, often more than ever produced before, is disconcerting. To others, the very idea of having to work independently is threatening. But there is no need to approach the research paper assignment with anxiety, and nobody should view the research paper as an obstacle to overcome. Instead, consider it a goal to accomplish, a goal within reach if you use the help this book can give you.
Which of the following is the most fundamental part of education according to the author？

A. Producing a good research paper.
B. Individualizing a school assignment.
C. A teacher's direction to and encouragement in learning.
D. Making personal discoveries of knowledge and of self.