C'est vs Il (Elle) est

Question

One of the Kwizes has the question: "Tu aimes l'école? Oui, ______ est très bien." Both "c'est" and "elle est" are among the choices to choose from, from "c'est" alone is listed as the correct answer.Shouldn't both "c'est" and, "elle est" be correct answers, since the question is ambiguous about whether it's asking, "do you like school [in general]" or, "do you like _the_ school [which you attend]?"

Accepted Answer

Hi Isaac,
I think you have answered your own question -
Tu aimes l'école ? ---> oui, c'est très bien 
talking about liking school in général.
But,
Tu aimes ton/cette école ?---> Oui, elle est très bien 
liking a specific school

Answer

I agree with Isaac here.  The lack of context makes it impossible to know if the question is about school in general or if the person's school has been previously referred to in the conversation.  I keep getting these wrong, and I do understand the lesson.  It just looks specific to me to say "the school" which can be replaced with "elle" but then have the answer say no, it was meant generally.  The only way to know that would be to have more of a dialogue given than one question.

Answer

Hi Lisa,
I understand your frustration but if we were talking about coffee or chocolate for instance?
Tu aimes le café/ le chocolat ? -----> oui, c'est bon
as opposed to -
Tu aimes le chocolat Lindt? ----> oui il est très bon 
aimer l'école is the same, you either like going to school or you don't so very general and non specific of a particular school so it can only be -
c'est bien, c'est cool, c'est génial etc.
Does this helps?

Answer

Could someone explain why the soup example in the lesson (copied and pasted below) is different than the chocolate/coffee (or the school) example? In other words, why isn't the chocolate, coffee, or school considered an ambiguous case, when the soup is?

It is because of the soup example that I agree with Lisa, when she said: "The only way to know [if one should use c'est or il/elle est] that would be to have more of a dialogue given than one question."

Ambiguous cases in French

Look at these two examples talking about soup:

Tu aimes la soupe? - Oui, elle est délicieuse!Do you like the soup? - Yes, it's delicious!Tu aimes la soupe? - Oui, c'est réconfortant!Do you like soup? -Yes, it's comforting!

Note that in French, both statements look identical (Tu aimes la soupe ?) when in English they mean two distinct things:
Do you like soup? is a question on soup in general, whereas
Do you like the soup? is asking about a specific soup, i.e. the one they're eating at that moment.

Answer

Hi Emmanuel,
Hard to explain but i will try -
It is because 'soup' is something you have made or bought and when you ask someone -
Tu aimes la soupe?
It could be a general question about liking soups in general
----> Oui, c'est bon !
or talking about the one in your plate that someone has served you, for instance .
----> Oui, elle est bonne !
You could say that of 'le bœuf bourguignon' for instance or 'la mousse au chocolat' but you wouldn't serve chocolate on its own. So if someone asks if you like chocolate, they will mean in general.
If you wanted to be more precise you could say -
Tu aimes ta/cette soupe ( que tu as dans ton assiette) = Do you like your soup?  ----> oui, elle est bonne !
Tu aimes ton école ? = Do you like your school? ----> Oui, elle est bien !
Hope this helps!