Albert Einstein once said, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
Can’t you just see it?
“Now you stop whining and get up that tree! Everyone else in this school is climbing the tree. Some have already reached the top, but you haven’t even gotten off the ground!”
“No, I don’t care who your parents are or that you’ve never seen a tree before. Stop talking gibberish. Everyone else speaks ‘cat,’ so you should, too.”
“This new kid must be mentally challenged. He dresses strangely, can’t speak the language…even walks funny. If he won’t even try to do something as simple as climb the tree like everyone else, he’s going to be in real trouble when we hit the pool next week!”
…. I wonder if Einstein felt like a fish out of water when he was failing algebra…? Maybe “x” isn’t just an unknown number.
My teacher friends recognize this lesson, I’m sure. We don’t want to leave anyone behind.
