American High School: The Experience That’s Always Intrigued Me and How I’ve Come Full Circle

There are some experiences in life that I consider uniquely American. One of them is driving on a highway to the sound of a rock radio station. It can be an epic road trip but it doesn’t have to be. A several-hour drive from one city to another can be an emotionally heightened experience, for me anyway.

Then there is the American high school. There are tens of thousands of high schools in the U.S. across vastly different states and places, and I’m allowing myself a gross generalization by referring to the experience in a collective term. But such is my sentiment: I have always viewed the American high school as a very distinct cultural experience with some characteristics that are common across all schools. For one thing, the majority of schools I’ve seen and experienced are vast in their scale. I guess if you attend one, you take for granted all your classrooms and the multiple athletic facilities. If you come from outside the U.S., you’re stunned by the breadth of the schools’ infrastructure.

Then there is the cultural experience.

I came to the U.S. for the first time in 1994. I was fourteen then. I spent the summer in Wichita, Kansas, attending a language school and was then placed with a host family in Enid, Oklahoma, where I was to attend Enid High.

I remember dreading the start of school. My English had improved during the summer, but it wasn’t fluent, and at fourteen, I…