My Fulbright Year in Taiwan

It turns out that although Evan is officially enrolled in school, Ian isn’t yet. Because the pubic schools system in Taiwan runs only through 9th grade, a different set of rules governs middle school and high school. When we enrolled Evan in middle school, we had a very clear set of regulations from the central government that we followed. A few official letters from the Fulbright Foundation and the Yilan County government, and he was enrolled.

The head of the Foundation in Taiwan recommended that we put Ian into Yilan High School. It’s a very good school, and the principal is very impressive. However, although the high school is a public school, it doesn’t fall under the clear regulations that governs the middle school. Without any transcript from a Taiwan middle school, the school’s registrar didn’t know what to do with Ian. Through a set of long conversations between our local Foundation coordinator, the school’s registrar, and me, we had to decide whether Ian is a transfer student or an exchange student. We finally decided that he should be an exchange student, even though he didn’t come to Taiwan through the Rotary Club, which usually does exchange programs.

We hope to be able to settle everything this week, because school starts on Monday. Stacy can only help from a distance, because she is down in Tainan getting her new national identification card.

We thought we were all set for school to start, but this sprung up on us at the last minute. It reminds me of the times when students send me copies of their dissertations named, optimistically but incorrectly, “final draft.” Nothing is final until it’s final. Before that, it’s just the latest draft…