On our 1967 furlough, my sisters and I had an interesting experience at Washington Elementary School. The school had a policy of putting international students back one grade until they proved that the training they had received in their respective countries were equivalent to the education in the U.S. So my older sister, a 5th grader, was put in the 4th grade class, I was put back from 3rd grade to 2nd grade, and my younger sister from 2nd into the 1st grade class.
"I'm stupid, aren't I?" I said to my Mom one day. My sisters had made it back to their original classes; but I hadn't. It couldn't be helped. I just didn't have what it took, I thought sadly. Mommy went to the school right away and talked with the principle. She came back with the report that it was just that June was so quiet she had been overlooked; it wasn't that she was scholastically lacking in any way. The next day found me back in the grade 3 class. I was overjoyed.
But there was a little hitch. I had missed the first part of 3rd grade teaching the basics of cursive handwriting (I hear it is no longer taught). "I'm not stupid," I told myself; "I should be able to do this." And not only did I learn cursive for the entire alphabet in one night, but I wrote out a story in cursive to show my teacher I would be able to keep up with class studies.
Later on in the year, for the "Young Authors" Competition, I submitted a short story about a cat that ended up representing the school. District representatives rode a special bus and went to the University of Michigan, where we divided up into rooms of 10 students and a few adult judges to read the compositions. The State winner was an 8th grader. I remember being glad to be chosen to represent the school. I wasn't stupid, after all.
Sometimes we hear of "monster parents" who think their children can do no wrong and are real headaches to schools. But there are cases like this I want to thank God for letting Mommy go that day to talk to the principal.
