#147 — ACTing Up

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Getting your child into college is no easy matter. Your offspring’s prospective future alma mater wants to know that your kid is up for the challenge; that they’re ready, willing and able to commit. They want proof. They want to see your credit report.

Not really.

College administrators are certain you’ll pay because without a decent education your children will never achieve that one thing you most desire for them; a place of their own. So you’ll do anything necessary — up to and including grand larceny, wire fraud and participation in risky pharmaceutical experiments — to raise the cash you need to put your kids through school.
These administrators are less certain about your child’s scholastic abilities. To make sure that they’re not admitting chowder-headed Neanderthals, colleges have strict admissions standards which place special emphasis on ACT scores.

The ACT is a standardized test which assesses students’ skills in Mathematics, Reading, English, Science, the Daily Double, the Video Daily Double, and Final Jeopardy. Contestants … I mean, students, who do well can win valuable prizes including admission to Ivy League schools and lucrative scholarship offers.

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Like this excerpt? Want the whole story? Listen to the audio version by clicking the ‘Play’ button at the top of this post. If you’d rather read it, you can find the full text at http://myfavoriteshortcomings.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/acting-up/acting-upacting-up/

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Notes:

• Special thanks go out this week to alert listener Tim who told me that the Keeping Up Appearances episode was broken.  Thanks, Tim!
• Thanks for all the great feedback this week, especially from Twitter pals TonwithE, CoolB, Hade Debaillie and AlanLB, Zak in Alaska, Duane Dutson, PirateScribe (Future Traditions Podcast), LittleRed (Little Red’s Writing Hood), Jeffrey Hite (GreatHites), and P Shane McAfee on Facebook.
• That great BBC podcast that Andy pointed me to can be found at:
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/fricomedy/
• Finally, for those who might be curious, my son really did get into his first choice school and will be attending here next Fall where he’ll major in Engineering.