ACT & College Preparation Course for the Christian Student

I have always loved reading philosophy. I always have. Philosophy to me is what Plato calls “that dear delight.” As Will Durant explains in The Story of Philosophy, I am like the character Mitya in The Brothers Karamazov — “one of those who don’t want millions but an answer to their questions.”1 The English philosopher Francis Bacon says, “Seek ye first the good things of the mind and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt.”2 Indeed.

So I like reading philosophy these days. In a day where there is so much abstract, opinionated news, it is refreshing to read good old philosophy.

Young Christians, you too need to read philosophy. Every educated person does. As Socrates understood, a society must be governed by its wisest men/women or it will fall. Wise people understand how our world views have emerged. They understand what knowledge is and how views of its acquisition emerged.

Of course, the greatest philosopher was Solomon, who fills Scripture with wise aphorisms (e.g., Proverbs).

It feels like I am being governed by people who are not so wise. Socrates warned his followers, “Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.”3 It feels like the guys running the show are learning on the job. Slowly learning on the job. Socrates continues, “Now when a man has taken away the money of the citizens and made slaves of them, then, instead of swindler and thief he is called happy and blessed by all,” Socrates ends, “For injustice is censured because those who censure it are afraid of suffering, and not from any scruple they might have of doing injustice themselves.”4

My heart is breaking for my country. “They enslave the nobler natures, and they praise justice only because they are cowards”5 (Plato, Gorgias). Every form of government tends to perish by excess of its basic principle. Has the American experiment run its course? Or are the dreams of our forefathers being kindled anew?

Most American political leaders, I fear, do not think deeply and do not find any workable answers. We have lost the art of rhetoric; we cannot discuss weighty things. We act out of praxis; we act out of need. There is no nobility left. “The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness”6 (Edward Gibbon).

The good news is that you are graduating in ever-increasing numbers. You, the new generation of spirit-filled, godly young people who honor the inspired, inerrant Word of God but who are not reticent to quote Aristotle. You will be the next governors, senators, CEOs, artists, playwrights. All our prayers are with you! And we stand in awe of what God is doing!

OCABULARY

Up From Slavery7

Booker T. Washington

I was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. I am not quite sure of the exact place or exact date of my birth, but at any rate I suspect I must have been born somewhere and at some time. As nearly as I have been able to learn, I was born near a cross-roads post office called Hale’s Ford, and the year was 1858 or 1859. I do not know the month or the day. The earliest impressions I can now recall are of the plantation and the slave quarters — the latter being the part of the plantation where the slaves had their cabins.

My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings. This was so, however, not because my owners were especially cruel, for they were not, as compared with many others. I was born in a typical log cabin, about fourteen by sixteen feet square. In this cabin I lived with my mother and a brother and sister till after the Civil War, when we were all declared free.8

It could not have been expected that a people who had spent generations in slavery, and before that generations in the darkest heathenism, could at first form any proper conception of what an education meant. In every part of the South, during the Reconstruction period, schools, both day and night, were filled to overflowing with people of all ages and conditions, some being as far along in age as sixty and seventy years. The ambition to secure an education was most praiseworthy and encouraging. The idea, however, was too prevalent that, as soon as one secured a little education, in some unexplainable way he would be free from most of the hardships of the world, and, at any rate, could live without manual labour. There was a further feeling that a knowledge, however little, of the Greek and Latin languages would make one a very superior human being, something bordering almost on the supernatural. I remember that the first coloured man whom I saw who knew something about foreign languages impressed me at the time as being a man of all others to be envied.

Naturally, most of our people who received some little education became teachers or preachers. While among those two classes there were many capable, earnest, godly men and women, still a large proportion took up teaching or preaching as an easy way to make a living. Many became teachers who could do little more than write their names. I remember there came into our neighbourhood one of this class, who was in search of a school to teach, and the question arose while he was there as to the shape of the earth and how he could teach the children concerning the subject. He explained his position in the matter by saying that he was prepared to teach that the earth was either flat or round, according to the preference of a majority of his patrons.

The ministry was the profession that suffered most — and still suffers, though there has been great improvement — on account of not only ignorant but in many cases immoral men who claimed that they were “called to preach.” In the earlier days of freedom almost every coloured man who learned to read would receive “a call to preach” within a few days after he began reading. At my home in West Virginia the process of being called to the ministry was a very interesting one. Usually the “call” came when the individual was sitting in church. Without warning the one called would fall upon the floor as if struck by a bullet, and would lie there for hours, speechless and motionless. Then the news would spread all through the neighborhood that this individual had received a “call.” If he were inclined to resist the summons, he would fall or be made to fall a second or third time. In the end he always yielded to the call. While I wanted an education badly, I confess that in my youth I had a fear that when I had learned to read and write very well I would receive one of these “calls”; but, for some reason, my call never came.9

Define the suggested vocabulary words.

CIENCE

Conclusions

Catalogue of Earthquakes in the Philippines, 1599–1608

No. Date

Y. M. d. h. m. Intensity

1. 1599 VI 25 3 20 IX

Manila and neighboring provinces. Damaged many private buildings in Manila; cracked the vault of the Jesuit Church so badly that it had to be demolished and replaced by a ceiling; fissured the walls and ruined the roof of Santo Domingo Church.

2. 1601 I 16 0 – VIII

Manila and adjacent provinces. Did considerable damage to some churches and many private houses in Manila. Its duration was unusually great, it being said that during 7 minutes the shocks were almost continuous. There were several dead and a great number of injured. The repetitions were frequent throughout the year.

3. 1608 XII 3 – – VI–VII

Leyte Island. Violent chiefly in the country around Dulag and Palo (E coast of northern Leyte). It does not appear to have been destructive. The historians mention it as one of the earthquakes which caused the greatest convulsions in northern Luzon, especially in Ilocos Norte and Cagayan, but above all in the region of the Central Central Cordillera, Lepanto, and Bontoc. The data are somewhat vague. It is said that part of the northern Caraballo Mountains subsided.

The following conclusions are correct:

I. Earthquakes in the Philippines, 1599–1608, are relatively mild.

II. Earthquakes in the Philippines, 1599–1608, occur throughout the year.

I
II
Both
Neither

NGLISH

General Review

1. Let you and I look at these, for it says there are none such in the world.

2. “Nonsense!” said Amyas, “we could kill every soul of them in half an hour, and they know that as well as me.”

3. They are coming for a visit to she and I.

This is really terrific writing. Notice the precise verbs.

Less than a mile from the entrance I saw a bear beside the road, and it ambled out as though to flag me down. Instantly a change came over Charley. He shrieked with rage. His lips flared, showing wicked teeth that have some trouble with a dog biscuit. He screeched insults at the bear, which hearing, the bear reared up and seemed to me to overtop the car. Frantically I rolled the windows shut and, swinging quickly to the left, grazed the animal, then scuttled on while Charley raved and ranted beside me, describing in detail what he would do to that bear if he could get at him. I was never so astonished in my life.10 (John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley)

Remember: write with specificity, cogency, and vigor!

ATH

Word Problems

1. Mr. Ames builds three houses. The ﬁrst cost $2,000 more than the second, and the third twice as much as the ﬁrst. If they all together cost $18,000, what was the cost of each house?

2. An artist who had painted three pictures charged $18 more for the second than the ﬁrst, and three times as much for the third as the second. If he received $322 for the three, what was the price of each picture?

3. Three men, A, B, and C, invest $47,000 in business. B puts in $500 more than twice as much as A, and C puts in three times as much as B. How many dollars does each put into the business?

4. In three lots of land there are 80,750 feet. The second lot contains 250 feet more than three times as much as the ﬁrst lot, and the third lot contains twice as much as the second. What is the size of each lot?

5. A man leaves by his will $225,000 to be divided as follows: his son to receive $10,000 less than twice as much as the daughter, and the widow four times as much as the son. What was the share of each?

Test-Taking Insight

Reading Test Preparation Summary

From the beginning I have told you that reading is the single most important skill that you bring to the ACT. To that end I want to include one last summary of reading test questions and offer some insightful, test-taking strategies. Oh, and by the way, as an added bonus, these type questions will also be on the science test section!

Vocabulary in context questions ask you to determine the meanings of words from their context in the reading passage. I told you during the first week you began this course that learning vocabulary roots (Latin and Greek) are especially helpful in this section.

Literal comprehension questions appraise your understanding of significant information explicitly stated in the passage.

Extended reasoning questions measure your ability to synthesize and analyze information, as well as to evaluate the assumptions made and the techniques used by the author. Most of the reading questions fall into this category. You may be asked to identify cause and effect, make inferences, recognize a main idea or an author’s tone, and follow the logic of an analogy or an argument. You will not be asked to draw a picture of your pet! But that is about all the certainty I can offer. Be prepared for anything!

Primary purpose questions ask about the main idea of a passage or about the author’s primary purpose.

Rhetorical strategies questions usually focus on a specific part of a passage. They ask why this particular element is present. It is teasing out your reading comprehension.

Implication and evaluation (tone and attitude) questions ask about the author’s tone or attitude in a specific part of a passage. It is a mood thing!

Application and analogy questions address a specific idea or relationship in a passage.