Question

Read the excerpt.

Students (and teachers for that matter) should be able to enjoy summer vacation! Year-round school is a bad idea for that reason. But even if students don’t go on vacation, many get summer jobs or go to summer camp, which are important parts of the childhood experience. The proposals we’ve seen in this school district call for more frequent breaks to make up for the lost summer, but these would only serve to interrupt learning. Changing the school-year schedule would help students about as much as painting all classrooms blue.

Why does the author compare changing the school schedule to painting classrooms blue?

to list the other cosmetic changes made at school
to describe the useless changes applied to make up for lost learning
to prove that the change to year-round school is harmful to students
to show how ineffective changing the schedule is

Answer 1

to show how ineffective changing the schedule is

The simile argues that changing the schedule is merely cosmetic and won't produce meaningful benefit—like painting classrooms blue, it won't help students.