Some animals in a forest decided to start a school. The students included a bird, a squirrel, a fish, a dog, a rabbit and a mentally retarded eel. A board was formed to determine the curriculum and it was decided that flying, tree climbing, swimming, and burrowing would give a broad-based education. All animals were required to take all subjects.

The bird was excellent at flying and was getting A’s but when it came to burrowing, it kept breaking its beak and wings and started failing. Pretty soon, it started making C’s in flying and, of course, in tree climbing and swimming it was getting F’s. The squirrel was great at tree climbing, but was failing in swimming. The fish was the best swimmer but couldn’t get out of the water and thus got F’s in everything else. They didn’t join the school, stopped paying taxes, and kept fighting with the administration to include barking as part of the curriculum.

The rabbit got A’s in burrowing but tree climbing was a real problem. It kept failing and landing on its head. Suffered brain damage, and soon couldn’t even burrow properly and got C’s in that too. 

The mentally retarded eel, who did everything half as well, became the valedictorian of the class. The broad-based education.

A true broad-based education prepares students for life, without losing their areas of specialization and competence.