For years, studies have found that first-generation college students-those who do not have a parent with a college degree-lag other students on a range of education achievement factors. Their grades are lower and their dropout rates are higher. But since such students are most likely to advance economically if they succeed in higher education, colleges and universities have pushed for decades to recruit more of them. This has created "a paradox" in that recruiting first-generation students, but then watching many of them fail, means that higher education has "continued to reproduce and widen, rather than close" achievement gap based on social class, according to the depressing beginning of a paper forthcoming in the journal Psychological Sciense. But the article is actually quite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem, suggesting that an approach(which involves a one-hour, next-to-no-cost program) can close 63 percent of the achievement gap(measured by such factors as grades)between first-generation and other students. The authors of the paper are from different universities, and their findins are based on a study involving 147 students(who completed the project)at an unnamed private unive rsity．First generation was defined as not having a parent with a four-year college degree Most of the first-generation students(1 percent) were recipients of Pell Grants，a federal g rant for undergraduates with financial need，while this was true only for 8.6 percent of the students wit at least one parent with a four-year degree Their thesis-that a relatively modest inte rvention could have a big impact-was based on the view that first-gene ration students may be most lacking not in potential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that face most college students They cite past resea rch by several authors to show that this is the gap that must be na rrowed to close the achievement gap. Many first-gene ration students"struggle to navigate the middle-class culture of higher education，learn the&39;rules of the game，&39;and take advantage of college resou rces," they write And this becomes more of a problem when collages don&39;t talk about the class advantage and disadvantages of different groups of students Because US colleges and universities seldom acknowledge how social class can affect students&39; educational expe rience，many first-gene ration students lack sight about why they a re struggling and do not unde rstand how students&39; like them can improve . 26. Recruiting more first-generation students has__________________ A.reduced their dropout rates B.narrowed the achievement gao C.missed its original purpose D.depressed college students The author of the research article are optimistic because__________________A.the problem is solvable B.their approach is costless C.the recruiting rate has increased D.their finding appeal to students The author of the paper believe that first-generation students__________________A.a re actually indifferent to the achievement gap B.can have a potential influence on othe r students C.may lack opportunities to apply for resea rch projects D.are inexperienced in handling their issues at college The study suggests that most first-gene ration students__________________A.study at private universities B.are from single-pa rent families C.are in need of financial support D.have failed their collage We mayinfer from the last paragraph that--A.universities often rect the culture of the middle-class B.students are usually to blame for their lack of resources C.social class g reatly helps en rich educational experiences D.colleges are partly responsible for the problem in question