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By Lillian Mongeau

What if you were told that your child didn’t qualify for a spot in second grade because he didn’t have freckles? Ridiculous, right? But there’s a law on the books in California that is exactly this arbitrary.

Aspen Erickson, 5, is a kindergartener at Lakewood Elementary School in Sunnyvale, California, one of the southernmost cities in Silicon Valley and home to Internet search giant Yahoo. On a recent fall day, Aspen wore a bright yellow barrette to hold back her curls and a pair of hot pink leggings, the better for running in her school’s second annual Walkathon. This is Aspen’s first year attending public school and her first Walkathon.

But several of Aspen’s classmates, busy ignoring the “walk” part of the event’s title and full-out running their laps around the school’s play yard, already have one Walkathon and a full year of public school under their belts.

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