Featured Test Prep Student Alex Vitek (Abington Senior HS)

According to Melissa Vitek, her 17-year-old son Alex isn’t your typical high school student. The junior at Abington Senior High School is involved with his church’s youth group, plays soccer and tennis, and is a member of the school’s chess club—activities many students enjoy. Where he stands out, she says, is his motivation to go above and beyond what is expected. Because of this quality, it wasn’t a huge surprise when Alex approached her about ACT private tutoring. Most parents have to push their children to study, but Alex wanted to do everything he could to improve his ACT score. After talking with friends about tutoring options they recommended, Melissa agreed to take Alex to an initial consultation at A+ Test Prep and Tutoring to learn more about their program. â€Å"I have to admit, I was a bit shocked at the sticker price at first. But Alex seemed so motivated,† she said. â€Å"We told him that as long as he took advantage of the whole program, we’d support him.† According to his tutors, Alex certainly took advantage of the program. He worked with verbal tutor Kathy Astrue on the English, Reading, and Writing sections, and with John Ambrose on Math and Science. â€Å"Alex just walked in and was very open to the process and eager to do well,† Astrue said. â€Å"He was motivated from day one. He also asked very good questions and took feedback exceptionally well.† Ambrose agreed that Alex had the right attitude, especially when it came to tackling challenges. â€Å"The ACT covers material that a lot of juniors haven’t seen yet in school,† he said. â€Å"Instead of being overwhelmed or scared by the new material, he worked through the problems and asked for additional help. We met six times, and he got more committed to succeed each session.† Melissa was thrilled with the quality of the tutors and the materials used by A+. â€Å"They did a nice job of identifying his strengths and weaknesses and showed him where to focus his energy,† she said. â€Å"They were also very responsive. When we had to reschedule a session, they followed up right away.† Melissa always felt informed about Alex’s progress throughout the program. â€Å"A+ has a nice structure in place. Its online resources for parents are very user-friendly and the email updates were very helpful. Logistically, the program is run really well.† Alex was happy that he took the initiative to work with A+ tutors. â€Å"I did a lot of work outside of the tutoring sessions, but they were always there to guide me,† he said. One of the areas Alex was looking to improve was time management on the Reading section. Astrue was able to show him time-saving strategies and ways to cut corners so that he could answer as many questions as possible. Overall, Alex found the greatest benefits from completing practice tests. â€Å"They really helped to prepare me for the timing of the test and took away the stress of it. Each time I did a practice test, I improved my scores and felt more comfortable,† he said. The study habits Alex picked up from tutoring have carried over to his high school classes. â€Å"I would say I’ve always been pretty focused, but working through the practice tests with A+ helped me get used to sitting and focusing for long periods of time,† he said. Alex will continue to work hard in school as he prepares to apply to colleges next year. So far, he is considering applying to Boston College, Fordham University, and Loyola University in Maryland. Ambrose, a former engineer, said Alex expressed interest in possibly studying engineering. â€Å"I can’t think of anyone who would be better in that career because of his determination to solve problems,† he said. Whatever Alex decides to take on in the future, we know he will be motivated to succeed. His hard work in the A+ test prep program certainly paid off—his composite ACT score increased by 5 points! â€Å"A+ Test Prep and Tutoring initially sounds like a big investment,† Melissa said. â€Å"But being on the other side and seeing Alex’s improvement, it was definitely worth the money.†

“Contrary to the custom of his country…” Gender and Values in Oroonoko - Literature Essay Samples

Aphra Behn’s genre-blending tale Oroonoko melds travel narrative with fictional biography to tell the story of Prince Oroonoko, â€Å"the royal slave.† Although Behn writes of Oroonoko’s honor as unique among men, her admiration for him seems to derive directly from how closely he mirrors the prime model of a nobly descended, Christian Englander. Indeed, Behn measures and praises Oroonoko’s masculinity only in terms of these parallels. Other males, such as Oroonoko’s grandfather, are emasculated through their failure to conform to these standards. The femininity of Oroonoko’s bride, Imoinda, is also a subject of praise in that it embodies the normative values of beauty and modesty of the time. This essay argues that Behn’s juxtaposition of native qualities with values of the period constructs the gender of her characters in such a way that they function only as dark-skinned representatives of white virtue. Furthermore, this paper will analyze the texts of Oroonoko and Addison and Steele’s The Spectator to demonstrate how certain writers of the time dealt with â€Å"the other† via subjective cultural standards. Behn introduces us to Oroonoko as an African warrior-prince in possession of unusually Caucasian physical traits. She writes, â€Å"His nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat. His mouth the finest shaped that could be seen; far from those great turned lips which are so natural to the rest of the negroes† (8). Under the tutelage of a Frenchman, he acquired a knowledge of language, science and morality. Behn partially attributes Oroonoko’s â€Å"humanity† to this tutelage. Not only is he an impressive speaker of English, but is also able to carry on a conversation in English with as much wit and charm as a native speaker. From her alleged personal interactions with Oroonoko, Behn claims, â€Å"He had nothing of barbarity in his nature, but in all points add ressed himself as if his education had been in some European court† (7). From these details it becomes apparent that Behn’s delight in Oroonoko stems from his European trappings. In many ways, Oroonoko becomes the â€Å"noble anti-savage† (although a solid definition of the â€Å"noble savage† has not yet emerged at this time). As opposed to his nobility coming through minimal contact with civilization, he is instead commended for his ability to learn from the white men he encounters. Much more attention is devoted to his ability for English mimicry than his African qualities. Behn states his skin color to be of â€Å"perfect ebony,† unlike the common â€Å"rusty black† of his nation, but still regards it as an obstacle to the consummation of his beauty (8).Oroonoko’s sexual behavior also is set apart from that of his fellow countrymen because it follows a code of monogamy. He promises his new wife, Imoinda, that â€Å"contrary to the custom of his country, he made her vows she should be the only woman he would possess while he lived† (10). This is yet another instance in which Behn projects Christian values onto Oroonoko in order to set him apart from his race. Thus, few of his admirable traits lie in his separation from English culture. As Behn creates less shining examples of Oroonoko’s countrymen, it seems that Oroonoko has overcome his race and that therein lies his value. Oroonoko’s grandfather, the King of Cormantien, is portrayed as a man of excess. His palace teems with women whose sole function is to please him. Despite his innumerable women, the king desires Imoinda. In an act of duplicity, he orders his servants to bring her the royal veil (a symbol that she must come to the king’s bed or be punished by death) while his grandson is out hunting. Yet the king exemplifies the emasculatory qualities of sin, for his repeated lasciviousness has robbed him of his sexual virility. Once Oroonoko and Imoinda finally reunite, Imoinda claims â€Å"†¦that she remained a spotless maid till that night, and that what she did with his grandfather had robbed him of no part of her virgin-honor†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (19). Because Oroonoko is pure for Imoinda, he â€Å"ravished in a moment what his old grandfather had been endeavoring for so many months† (19). Despite her libertine practices, Behn condemns the polyamorous practices of Oroonoko’s people and praises, instead, marriage and monogamy.Although many of Oroonoko’s qualities reflect Behn’s religious values, she does not choose to depict Oroonoko as a Christian. This choice seems to stem from Behn’s desire to condemn those who identify with Christianity, but do not follow its teachings. For example, Oroonoko’s first encounter with Christianity occurs after his capture, when a sea captain deceives him into enslavement by swearing upon the Christian god that he will release hi m once the ship reaches shore (27). In reaction to this deceit, Oroonoko says, â€Å"Farewell, Sir, ‘tis worth my suffering to gain so true a knowledge both of you and of your gods by whom you swear† (29). Behn’s later attempts to engage him in discourse of the Trinity fall are ignored. Oroonoko’s resentment of Christian religion is portrayed as unfortunate, but justified. Even so, his values mirror the religion so closely that his official rejection of it becomes negligible. Behn also measures femininity by the standards of European Christendom. Oroonoko’s bride, Imoinda, is repeatedly described as possessing â€Å"modesty and extraordinary prettiness† (34). She is the constant object of white desire, and is often claimed to elicit more sighs than many â€Å"white beauties† (34). Much of the text is devoted to praising a beauty so great that it becomes a burden. The preservation of the virtue of her body becomes the focal point of Imo inda’s fate. Her purity is constantly threatened and/or put into question, and her agency dwindles as her circumstances give her decreasingly less control over her body. When captured by the king, he obligates her to â€Å"swear thyself a maid† (11). Once she and Oroonoko are reunited, she is compelled to swear that the king had not deprived him of her maidenhood. Upon the king’s discovery that Imoinda and Oroonoko have copulated, he sells Imoinda into slavery, for after being possessed by a family member, to touch her would be â€Å"the greatest crime in nature amongst ‘em,† she was now â€Å"a polluted thing, wholly unfit for his embrace† (21). This action hinges completely on the state of Imoinda’s body, for before, the king found no fault in usurping her from her husband as long as she had remained pure. There is no detailed account of Imoinda’s time in slavery before Oroonoko finds her once again. However, from Trefry†™s account we can derive that she spent the majority of her time warding off admirers (including Trefry) and retaining the purity of her body. Trefry recounts of his attempts that â€Å"she disarms me with that modesty and weeping, so tender and so moving that I retire, and thank my stars she overcame me† (33). Finally, Imoinda’s heartrending death is enacted by her husband as part of his plan to take revenge on the white men who betrayed him. He fears that if he dies in his attempts, Imoinda would be left behind and â€Å"ravaged by every brute, exposed first to their nasty lusts, and then a shameful death† (53). As a â€Å"heroic wife,† she wholeheartedly obeys her husband, â€Å"for wives have a respect for their husbands equal to what any other people pay a deity† (54). In this act, therefore, Imoinda embodies the ideal wife and the pinnacle of feminity—more willing to die by the hand of her husband than to have her virtue threatened b y strangers. Addison and Steele’s The Spectator introduces a narrative with similar Eurocentric tactics. The frame story of Inkle and Yarico is told by a woman of high stature who is challenging the assertion that women are ruthless and fickle in matters of romantic love. Yarico, an Indian princess, provides food and shelter to a stranded Englishman named Inkle. The reader becomes aware that Yarico is of nobility in that her style of dress is vaguely European: â€Å"She was, it seems, a person of distinction, for she every day came to him in a different dress, of the most beautiful shells, bugles and bredes† (2481). The two become enamored with one another and Yarico tells Inkle that she is pregnant with his child, but upon his rescue, Inkle sells Yarico into the slave trade. In the majority of the narrative, Yarico is portrayed as the provider while Inkle passively waits in his shelter. At night, â€Å"Her part was to watch and hold him in her arms, for fear of her countrymen, and wake him on occasions to consult his safety† (2481). Much like Oroonoko, Inkle is set apart from her countrymen in her European resonances and her insistence on protecting an Englishman. She is portrayed as an exception to the rule, not as a positive representative of Native Americans. In her beauty, compassion and morality, she is the model of femininity. Yaricos sale into slavery, as a virtuous woman of distinction, pulls the readers heartstrings. There is no such compassion for Inkle, who has forfeited his masculinity both by lacking Christ-like compassion and by being willing to be provided for by a woman. This conflation of gender, virtue and status, seen both in Oroonoko and the Spectator, renders characters flat. Their lack of dimensionality and interiority cripple any representation of difference. They become a blank canvas for European traits, and their skin color or bodily carvings (which mark their distinction) become secondary to their succ essful mirroring of English virtue, nobility, purity and beauty. They are endowed, instead, with a sense of â€Å"true† manhood and womanhood. In the case of Oroonoko’s grandfather, his practices are distinctly â€Å"othered,† and this disparity posits him as an inadequate man. Oddly enough, in the case of Oroonoko, Imoinda and Yarico, their success in emulation does not save them from a fate of slavery or death.