by Dr.
George Reavis, Assistant
Superintendent, Cincinnati
Public Schools, 1939-1948
Once upon a time, the animals decided the must do something
heroic to meet the problems of a "
new world." As a result, they organized a school.
They adopted an activity
curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming, and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculim all the
animals took all the 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 kept up until his
webbed feet were badly worn and he was only
average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school so nobody worried about that except the duck.
The rabbit started at the top of the
class in running, but had a
nervous breakdown because of so much make-up work in swimming.
The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed
frustration in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of the tree top down. He also developed a "
charlie horse" from over-exertion and then got a C in climbing and a D in running.
The
eagle was a
problem child and was disciplined severely. In the climbing class he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way to get there.
At the end of the year, an
abnormal eel that could swim exceedingly well, and also run, climb, and fly a little had the highest average and was
valedictorian.
The
prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy because the
administration would not add digging and burrowing to their curriculum. They apprenticed their children to a badger and later joined the groundhogs and gophers to start a successful
private school.
Does this fable have a
moral?