Making School Work for Mobile Students and Others

As a public school student, I was required to read Ethan Fromefour times. My family moved frequently, and, as we crisscrossed the United States, I was regularly thrown into new public schools midyear. The differences between schools were mind-boggling. There was never a common academic road map, and I often had to make sense of new and disparate rules and expectations. I crammed on local topics, like Texas history, in order to pass high-stakes tests. While I missed some content (American history before 1890), I got others in hysterical quantities (see Ethan Frome, also American history after 1890).

Sound confusing? It was. I crafted complicated narratives to convince adults of my skills. I made liberal use of the optional "Is there anything you would like to add?" boxes on college applications to help admission officers piece together my transcripts.

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