In high school I tutored a couple of Korean brothers who'd moved to the States months before. The district had recently downsized much of the ESL program; the boys' excellent grades to date plunked them in advanced classes in everything but English. I visited twice a week to simply walk through their schoolwork.

Once the nine-year-old pulled a sketch out of his folder. A hunched figure in fine mechanical pencil had a large sac slung over his shoulder. I could make out the neat details of a clock, some books, an airplane among its parcels.

"Let's see what you did in class today. Presents?" I glibly suggested. "Santa Claus?"

"No, those are my troubles."

I saw that the schoolbooks were covered with the latin alphabet, the airplane was leaving an land spotted with waving friends; he explained to me that the gap-toothed kid in the corner represented stress.