ACT & College Preparation Course for the Christian Student

Young people, as you have heard me say many times, you are replacing the old guard in our society. Many of you, partly because of this book, no doubt (to God be the glory!), will do well on the ACT, will be admitted to prestigious colleges, and will become the next leadership group in this country. In short, you will become the new “elite” or the new “culture creators.”

Since the 1920s (when the Scopes Trial successfully drove most evangelical intellectuals from the university and active culture creating), a singularly secular elite group, mostly anti-Christian, has governed America and created much of its culture.

French social theorist Bertrand de Jouvenel 1 tried to explain the anti-Christian bias of many in the intellectual community. He suggested the following reasons for this tendency.

First, intellectuals — particularly those in academic life — devote a good part of their time building analytical models of the world — models in which the intellectual creates conceptions of hypothetically orderly and ideal conditions for man in society. Never mind what the Word of God says. They try to rearrange the human condition to match their more perfect model. There is, then, among reigning intellectuals, a penchant toward utopia and to a certain degree toward excellence. But overall, the people making decisions in the United States today have nothing but disdain for objective truth.

Second, the intellectual is often deeply disturbed by the fact that the world seems to be governed and guided by what seems to them to be irrational hierarchies of value. The intellectual, with his conception of the well-ordered and designed society, is revolted by the fact that objective truth, morality, and virtue do not advance their understanding of justice. To tag truth with authorship by an unseen deity is insane.

Christian sociologist and social critic Thomas Sowell’s newest book The Vision of the Anointed takes this reigning elite to the shed. Sowell has abandoned the notion of a human-centered utopia for the biblical notion of the Kingdom of God. Sowell calls this “a tragic view of man.”2 By the constrained or tragic view of man, Sowell means the acceptance that there are natural and inherent limitations upon man — physical, mental, social — that will always prevent the possibility of creating a utopia on earth. Life is a never-ending struggle of using limited means to satisfy our numerous ends, with the necessity of having to accept tradeoffs that we hope will make us better off but never fully satisfied. And among those limited means are our own imperfections of knowledge that make it impossible for us to have either the ability or the wisdom to make a perfect world. Sowell, like yours truly, understands that we need God’s help.

The emerging evangelical elite must be entirely different. You must humble yourself before the Lord and see His guidance and His favor. The unconstrained vision of the present, secular anointed is the view that there are some who have been able to rise above the limitations of the existing social order and who are able to design plans for the ameliorating of man and the human condition. They see themselves as superior in wisdom and understanding in comparison to the ordinary, average man. They want power to remold the world to fit their model of how they think the rest of us should live and act and what we should believe in and value.

So strongly do these “anointed” feel about their visions, they are willing to do everything to shield themselves from any evidence that might contradict and undermine their utopian fantasies.

“Without a sense of the tragedy of the human condition, and of the painful tradeoffs implied by inherent constraints,” Sowell argues, “the anointed are free to believe that the unhappiness they observe and the anomalies they encounter are due to the public’s not being as wise or virtuous as themselves. . . . It is a world of victims, villains, and rescuers, with the anointed cast in the last and most heroic of these roles.”3 This is why political correctness in politics, education, culture, history, and literature is so important to these anointed social engineers. Through this means, they hope, the human mind can be wiped clean and filled with the preconceived ideas and myths that will enable them to control those whom they desire to have mastery over. If they succeed, our world as we know it will cease to exist. But they shall not succeed.

But you his son, O Belshazzar . . . have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

This is the inscription that was written:

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN

This is what these words mean:

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

. . . That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain (Daniel 5:22–30).

Test-Taking

Insight

The English Test Skills

Let’s begin by being aware of the obvious. In the English test, you are asked to read five passages in 45 minutes, answering a total of 75 questions. If you take 1 to 1.5 minutes to read a passage you’ll have approximately 30 seconds to answer each question. Practice reading these passages at this speed.

You will read an individual passage with portions underlined. The questions will ask you to choose the best corresponding alternative. The question is, what does best mean? In these passages, most of the time, best will mean which answer complements the passage in the most concise manner according to standard written English. There are, of course, various ways to arrive at the best alternative. You could substitute each answer offered in place of the underlined portion to see which one fits the best. But another, oftentimes faster, method is to think how the underlined portion would best be phrased in standard written English, and then look for it among the answers offered. If you would not change anything, then choose “No change.” You will notice that “No change” is always the first answer offered. Always read the entire paragraph again with your chosen answer in place before you move on to the next question. This will ensure that it fits the context of the passage and will keep you from making any hasty decisions. (From the TCA website; if you want to see more visit http://forsuchatimeasthis.com.)

RITING

Three Essentials

The three essentials of the English language are: purity, perspicuity and precision.

By purity is signified the use of good English. It precludes the use of all slang words, vulgar phrases, obsolete terms, foreign idioms, ambiguous expressions or any ungrammatical language whatsoever. Neither does it sanction the use of any newly coined word until such word is adopted by the best writers and speakers. Remember: your graders are English teachers with attitude! They do not want to be “entertained’ by your idioms. Keep your English clean and clear.

Perspicuity demands the clearest expression of thought conveyed in unequivocal language, so that there may be no misunderstanding whatever of the thought or idea the speaker or writer wishes to convey. All ambiguous words, words of double meaning, and words that might possibly be construed in a sense different from that intended, are strictly forbidden. Perspicuity requires a style at once clear and comprehensive and entirely free from pomp and pedantry and affectation or any straining after effect.

Precision requires concise and exact expression, free from redundancy and tautology, a style terse and clear and simple enough to enable the hearer or reader to comprehend immediately the meaning of the speaker or writer. It forbids, on the one hand, all long and involved sentences, and, on the other, those that are too short and abrupt. Its object is to strike the golden mean in such a way as to rivet the attention of the hearer or reader on the words uttered or written.4 (Abbott, How to Write Clearly)

Rewrite these sentences giving attention to purity, perspicuity, and precision.

I am no sure why you’all folks ain’t paying attention to “moi.”
Well, yeah — I guess so — what else could that mean?!?
You really mean that? Whatever!

EADING

Argument

The French and Indian War was part of a world war called the “seven years’ war.” France, England, and Spain were all belligerents. However, for our purposes, we will concentrate on the North American phase.

The French and Indian War took more lives than the American Revolution. In fact, this war was the bloodiest 18th-century war on North American soil. “It erased France’s political influence from the continent and established English dominance east of the Mississippi and in Canada. And it set the stage for the American Revolution and the establishment of the United States of America.”5

The conflict between England and France in North America centered on the fur trade and control of inland waterways.

When European people began settling on the coast of North America in the early 17th century, the French occupied the most convenient route to the interior — the St. Lawrence River. From their posts at Quebec and Montreal they rapidly moved up the St. Lawrence River to explore the continent and trade for furs with the Native peoples. But this movement westward was blocked by the pro-British Iroquois.

The Iroquois, perhaps the most politically powerful group of Native people in the history of North America, had early confrontations with the French. Their hostility lasted until the French had been driven from North America.

To restore the balance of power in favor of their allies, the French began selling firearms and ammunition in limited numbers to the Huron and Algonquin. These weapons, as well as steel hatchets and knives, soon spread to other tribes, and the British responded by providing guns to the Iroquois. An arms race developed, in which tribes providing the most fur had a military advantage over those which did not.6

Two other minor wars occurred before the decisive conflict opened in 1754. General Braddock led an army of British regulars and colonial irregulars (including George Washington) to attack Fort Duquesne. Braddock was annihilated.

It took the English several years, but eventually they won this war. In 1758, British General Forbes captured Fort Duquesne and renamed it Fort Pitt. In 1759, General James Wolfe took Quebec but he lost his own life. Finally, General William Johnson captured Montreal and New France fell.7

The main argument of this passage is:

The French caused the French and Indian War by attacking English colonial posts.
The English caused the French and Indian War by inciting the Native Americans to violence.
The American colonists caused the French and Indian War by refusing to accept British rule.
1. I
2. II
3. III
4. None
5. All

The results of the French and Indian War include:

It erased France’s political influence from the continent and established English dominance east of the Mississippi and in Canada. It also set the stage for the American Revolution and the establishment of the United States of America.
It made Spanish domination of South America possible.

I
II
None
All
I and II

OCABULARY

The Last of the Mohicans8

James Fenimore Cooper

The setting is the 18th century French and Indian War, one of the first world wars in history. As the English and French soldiers battle for control of the North American colonies in the 18th century, the settlers and Native Americans are forced to take sides. Cora and her sister Alice unwittingly walk into trouble but are saved by Hawkeye, a colonial settler adopted by the last of the Mohicans. Cora and Alice are two daughters of a British colonel, who have been targeted by Magua, one of the most infamous villains in American literature, a sadistic and vengeful Native American who has dedicated his life to destroying the girls’ father for a past injustice.

Suggested Vocabulary Words

A. The officer proceeded, without affecting to hear the words which escaped the sentinel in his surprise; nor did he again pause until he had reached the low strand, and in a somewhat dangerous vicinity to the western water bastion of the fort. The light of an obscure moon was just sufficient to render objects, though dim, perceptible in their outlines. He, therefore, took the precaution to place himself against the trunk of a tree, where he leaned for many minutes, and seemed to contemplate the dark and silent mounds of the English works in profound attention. His gaze at the ramparts was not that of a curious or idle spectator; but his looks wandered from point to point, denoting his knowledge of military usages, and betraying that his search was not unaccompanied by distrust.

B. Just then a figure was seen to approach the edge of the rampart, where it stood, apparently contemplating in its turn the distant tents of the French encampment. Its head was then turned toward the east, as though equally anxious for the appearance of light, when the form leaned against the mound, and seemed to gaze upon the glassy expanse of the waters, which, like a submarine firmament, glittered with its thousand mimic stars. The melancholy air, the hour, together with the vast frame of the man who thus leaned, musing, against the English ramparts, left no doubt as to his person in the mind of the observant spectator. Delicacy, no less than prudence, now urged him to retire; and he had moved cautiously round the body of the tree for that purpose, when another sound drew his attention, and once more arrested his footsteps. It was a low and almost inaudible movement of the water, and was succeeded by a grating of pebbles one against the other.

ATH

Algebra Word Problems

1. A man sold a lot of wood for B dollars, and received in payment a barrel of ﬂour worth E dollars. How many dollars remain due?

2. A man sold a cow for l dollar, a calf for 4 dollars, and a sheep for M dollars, and in payment received a wagon worth X dollars. How much remains due?

3. A box of raisins was bought for A dollars, and a ﬁrkin of butter for B dollars. If both were sold for C dollars, how much was gained?

4. At a certain election, 1,065 ballots were cast for two candidates, and the winning candidate had a majority of 207. How many votes did each receive?

5. A merchant started the year with M dollars; the ﬁrst month he gained X dollars, the next month he lost Y dollars, the third month he gained B dollars, and the fourth month lost Z dollars. How much had he at the end of that month?