Note: The following is adapted from a story that was written by George Reavis, an Assistant Superintendent for Cincinnati Public Schools in the 1940s. It’s interesting to note that educators were recognizing this challenge several generations ago … yet we still struggle to address it effectively. The story is now in the public domain, and so the content is free to copy, duplicate, and distribute. A full-color, illustrated book is also available from Amazon.
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Once upon a time the animals decided they must do something to meet the problems of a “new world” so they organized a school. They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming, and flying. To make administration of the curriculum easier, all the animals took all the subjects.
The duck was excellent in swimming. In fact, she was better than her teacher. But she made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Since she was slow in running, her swimming time was reduced and she had to stay after school to practice running. This continued until her webbed feet were badly worn and she was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school, so nobody worried about that … except the duck.
The squirrel was excellent in climbing at first, but he quickly became frustrated in the flying class because his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of treetop down. He also developed severe cramps from overexertion, resulting in a C in climbing and D in running.
The rabbit started at the top of her class in running, but struggled in swimming. The other animals said she looked like a rat when she came out of the water with all her hair matted down, so she eventually refused to even try.
The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely. In climbing class, he always beat everyone 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 exceeding well, and could also run, climb, and fly just a little achieved the highest average, and thus became the class valedictorian.
Meanwhile, the prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought for a voucher system because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum. They hired a badger as a teacher and later joined the groundhogs and gophers to start a private school.
Does this story have a moral?
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Let the ducks swim, the squirrels climb, the rabbits run, and the eagles fly. Playing to students’ strengths not only motivates them to try harder, but also provides multiple paths to success.