He might have been home-schooled; once he and Barney ran away, they'd be lost to the system, so even though home-schooling wasn't nearly as much of a thing then, it could have happened. I could see one person tricking out part of their trailer as a schoolroom; I think mail-order school packets were/are a thing, too. Plus, he would have learned all kinds of things about physics, opposing forces, inertia, parabolas, speed and rate, and so on, just from being a working carnie. They might not use those words, but he'd have the concepts, for sure.

He could GO to libraries and read without a card - you only need one to check stuff out. Also, he may well have stolen books overnight, or for the duration of the time the carnival was in town, and then returned them. (Probably wouldn't have kept them, as that would become a lot of weight to cart around.)

Everything becomes easier to access once the Internet is widespread, though, so I guess it might also depend on what time you tend to set his childhood.

I was kind of thinking this. Although there are so many POSSIBLE backgrounds, I also just like to pick and choose whatever works for whatever reasons for whatever particular scenario I'm picturing.

(Probably wouldn't have kept them, as that would become a lot of weight to cart around.) Also, I kind of see him as too upstanding to want to steal-steal from a library? :)

I like to pick and choose too. Which is why I'm picking everyone's brains on the topic. ;-)

Also, he may well have stolen books overnight, or for the duration of the time the carnival was in town, and then returned them.

I could totally see this happening.

Back when they first thought up Clint's circus background, not graduating from high school wasn't such a big deal. A lot of people didn't--I have older uncles who just lied about their age and joined up without much formal education. It's different now but I just generally assume he's got a GED--if I'm going with a military background then I go with someone (who is not Trickshot) helping him navigate the ins and outs of taking the test. If I'm ignoring the Ultimates & the military, I go with SHIELD providing the necessary push. If I'm *really* kicking it old school, I bring in Edwin Jarvis & a battery of tutors, :).

Something like that! See my theory below ... And YES to SHIELD for helping make up for lost time (in areas of interest to them -- trajectory calculation, languages, weapons mastery, piloting, behavioural theory ...)

A lot of people didn't--I have older uncles who just lied about their age and joined up without much formal education.

Ah, see, I have this vision of mostly decent Clint in my head, I hadn't considered the possibility of lying.... Hmmm, opens up new possibilities.

Well, if you're 16 and starving, the difference between prostitution and lying about how old you are to join the military can be a giant motivator.

Also, there's a large contingent who would feel that lying about something so trivial as your age in order to serve your country isn't anything at all dishonorable.

I don't consider lying about your age to be a big deal. So many people add or subtract years. (My sister moved to California and was suddenly four years younger!) But lying about your education? I've worked with too many incompetent people who have fibbed their ways into jobs they weren't qualified for to not consider lying about credentials to be a problem.

Well, back during the days when the US military was fighting on two major fronts -- Iraq and Afghanistan -- with some 200,000+ troops committed to each (and remember the support chain for each pair of boots on the ground is 3:1) they extended reservists' tours by as much as 3 times. Recruiters were in overdrive, and may not have been too concerned about the basis for making quota. (Remember Bourne Legacy, in which the central premise was that a recruiter bumped Kenneth Kitsom's IQ up by 15 points just to reach the minimum ...?) So, I don't really think a recruiter might have been fussed by an extremely fit 18-year-old, who gave his skills as "sharp shooting", telling him that his high school diploma was lost in a Kansas tornado?

As for the education itself, I would suspect Clint would learn geography on the hoof; basic trajectory math by practice; a smattering of German, Romanian and Russian -- not to mention a spot of Cold War history and political theory -- from the acrobat team, and the former trapeze artist who broke her ankles in a fall and now runs the popcorn stand at Carson's. Yes, he could borrow books wherever he went and read them on the train (he'd give them "back" to the next library he arrives at, paying the returns forward from one place to the other).

And of course, once he joins SHIELD, Maria Hill's eye rolls at the "uneducated carnie" triggered a voracious reading binge, especially on lengthy stakeouts, quietly encouraged by Coulson who found ways to stick him into various classes in between missions.

Edited 2016-05-12 06:36 pm (UTC)

Yes, once in with SHIELD, whatever his background, I always see Coulson in the background managing certificates and training opportunities. And I think Natasha has an automatic always-learning mode that rubs off on Clint, too.

(Remember Bourne Legacy, in which the central premise was that a recruiter bumped Kenneth Kitsom's IQ up by 15 points just to reach the minimum ...?) So, I don't really think a recruiter might have been fussed by an extremely fit 18-year-old, who gave his skills as "sharp shooting", telling him that his high school diploma was lost in a Kansas tornado?

Hmmm, very good point. *nod nod*

from the acrobat team, and the former trapeze artist who broke her ankles in a fall and now runs the popcorn stand at Carson's. Yes, he could borrow books wherever he went and read them on the train (he'd give them "back" to the next library he arrives at, paying the returns forward from one place to the other).

I like this very much. =D

Quite honestly, I tried and failed to make the carny orphan thing work for MCU!Clint, and now I've just resigned myself to Ultimates backstory: no circus, he had parents, olympic archer or something along those lines to explains the skill. Got into some trouble after that career ended, maybe, or not, either way then military -- during which time he met Laura -- and SHIELD. That's my headcanon for purely MCU canon Clint, until canon tells us otherwise, but I don't expect them to bother with backstory for him anymore at this point.

Edited 2016-05-12 07:40 pm (UTC)

I don't expect them to bother with backstory for him anymore at this point.

Honestly, I don't either. Which is why I'm trying to make some up for myself. And having just read the Matt Fraction run of the comic book, I'm taking tidbits from there to mix in with what I learned about the character while I was married (Hawkeye is the Wasband's all time favorite comic book character).

All of the above are interesting, and I'm a fan of Clint being self-educated - early on or later in life - or self-motivated, as taking every opportunity for education in the army, SHIELD etc.

But I'll also throw in here - disclaimer: based on reading about circus life, generally UK based but some USA, and across various time periods - at some point there came into effect laws about education for child performers/children in circus or carnivals/Traveller's children. There was an arrangement where the kids attended whatever school was nearest at the time, work was assigned just followed you around. (I want to say this was really the 30s-60s UK?) There's also kids who were educated on the road, kind of like home schooling, and in some circus or carvials with lots of kids they'd even have their own kind of 'school' set up with an assigned/hired teacher. So it's possible Clint was made to go to various schools as they travelled - maybe not, because he was a runaway, but maybe yes to throw off any suspicion and keep the law away. Or they could have been a kind of Carnival group school, with a hired teacher - again, even if they were an awful pack of people they might do this to keep the outsiders and law folk off their backs - 'yes, all our kids are getting an education, here's the paperwork, 'kay, thanks, bye'.

I'm more of a 'show me all the different ways this could go' than a fanon person - hence, probably, my love for AUs *grins* - so there's a few more suggestions for the ideas pot.