Once upon a time the animals had a school. They had four subjects ~ running, climbing, flying, and swimming. They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming, and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, ALL the animals took ALL subjects.
 
The duck was excellent in swimming -- in fact, better than his instructor; but he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming in order to practice running. This was kept up until his web feet were badly worn, so then he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school, so nobody worried about that except the duck.
 
The eagle was considered a troublemaker. In his climbing class he beat everybody to the top of the tree, but he had his own way of getting there, which was against the rules. He always had to stay after school and write "Cheating is wrong" five hundred times. This kept him from soaring, which he loved. But schoolwork comes first.

The rabbit started at the top of the class in running, but he had a nervous breakdown because of so much make-up work in swimming.    
 

The bear flunked because they said he was lazy, especially in winter. His best time was summer, but school wasn't open then.
   
The penguin never went to school because he couldn't leave home, and they wouldn't start a school out where he lived. 
   
The zebra played hooky ~ a lot, because the ponies made fun of his stripes, and this made him very sad.
 
The kangaroo started out at the top of the running class, but got discouraged trying to run on all fours like the other kids.
 
The fish quit school because he was bored. To him all four subjects were the same, but nobody understood that. They had never been a fish.
 
The squirrel got A's in climbing, but his flying teacher made him start from the ground up instead of the treetop down. His legs got so sore practicing take-offs that he began getting C's and D's in running.

The prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum. They apprenticed their child to a badger and later joined the ground hogs and the gophers in order to start a successful private school.
  
But the bee was the biggest problem of all, so the teacher sent  him to Dr. Owl for testing. Dr. Owl said that the bee's wings were just too small for  flying and besides they were in the wrong place. But the bee never saw Dr. Owl's report, so he just went ahead and flew anyway.

P.S.  From Barb: 

There is much truth in this piece.  I hope that not only those who currently think that the traditional school system is the best place to get an education will really hear the point of this article, but also homeschooling parents who are bound to "school at home."

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The photo for the Title Graphic

is courtesy of Pixabay