Animal school

In education, one size does not fit all.
Author-educator Leo Buscaglia often told a story about forest animals — rabbits, robins, squirrels, fish, and moles — getting together and starting a school. The rabbits wanted the curriculum to include running; the robins added flying; the squirrels added perpendicular tree climbing; the fish added swimming; and the moles added burrowing. Everything was gathered into a Curriculum Guide and all the animals had to take all the classes. The rabbits were getting A's in running, but they failed tree climbing and couldn't run well after falling off trees, so their A's in running dropped to C's. The robins were getting A's in flying, but they failed burrowing and injured their wings and beaks in the process, so their A's in flying dropped to C's. So it went with all the animals. The Forest Department of Education was happy because everybody was taking all the subjects and everybody's grade average came out the same. Nobody in the Forest Department of Education could understand why so many teachers were quitting and so many animals were making other arrangements for educating their own offspring. — From Writing With Oomph! and workshops by John Gile

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