This study grew out of a course I teach for undergraduate teacher certification candidates ("Education in the United States") in which the final assignment--"A cultural memoir of schooling"--requires students to study the events, policies and stakeholders in American education through the experiences of their extended families. The article encompasses the structure of the course, student voices and a discussion of why I believe it is important for pre-service teacher interns to research and critically evaluate their backgrounds, cultural assumptions, and experiences of schooling at the beginning of their teacher preparation program. My students' insights on the course and the discoveries of their own cultural stories are interpreted through the research on successful intelligence and through the literature on culturally responsive pedagogy.