Everybody's a Genius, but We Get Treated Like Morons

Make no mistake, people: the school that insists upon making eagles run and fish climb trees is intended to create workers for the company that hires a fish to be a swimmer, for swimmers' wages, but expects the fish to climb and run whenever they demand it.. sometimes because they failed to hire any runners, sometimes just to make sure this fish is earning his pay. If the fish feels bad that he can't climb the tree that he has to climb every friday, all the better as the Managers see it. They want the fish to 'know his place' and not try for anything better or ask for anything more. If the budget doesn't allow for enough flyers, they can always try picking up the fish and throwing it, telling it how grateful they are that it's a team player. (Their gratitude has no monetary value, but they use it sparingly anyway, just in case.)
I work for a company that would rather everyone do any given procedure the same way, even if the method was chosen arbitrarily and without any real-world testing and doesn't actually work, rather than letting people do things their own way and possibly thereby figure out a better way. (I'm amazed we haven't been displaced yet by a up-from-the-roots crowdsourcing does-everything-the-opposite competitor, but efficiency and actually treating people right doesn't have a level playing field against already-successful-and-pushy. not on this playing field, anyway.)
I work as hard as I can at my job, and it is only-to-be-expected. When I find a way to work a little faster, push a littler harder, they just ask for more, and more after that. I always meet expectations but I never exceed expectations, because they don't really have expectations, they just want every drop of blood and sweat they can get from me.