TIME: During the war on poverty in the last half of the 19th century.

PLACE: A rural high school. (Act One, Scene One. A college classroom)

ACT l. Scene 1. RICHARD NOVAK and JANE BARRETT, education majors, will soon graduate from college. The first musical number, "Blossom and Grow," reveals what they have learned. Supt. JOHN MIDDLEPATH sings "Progress!," then recruits NOVAK and BARRETT to teach in Bumblebee Valley. BARRETT, who seeks a serious relationship with NOVAK, sings "If Only He Were Mine."

Scene 2. Teachers' In service. Veteran teacher MARK TYMONS (a bachelor). BARRETT and NOVAK sing "Destiny," a warning about making waves. In "B-E-A, Song and Dance," SUPT. MIDDLEPATH encourages PTA attendance.

Scene 3. First day of school. NOVAK is unprepared for the antics of RONALD SNOTROT, the class clown. After class, NOVAK sings "School Teacher's Lament." SKIP NELSON, a high school athlete, sings "Stuck-Up!" when ignored by BARRETT.

Scene 4. Faculty room. Small talk, until MARK TYMONS says graduation is really just "Putting out the garbage." At end of "POG" (mainly a dance), RONALD is placed in a trash barrel by the frustrated faculty.

Scene 5. Pep rally. Kick-off for district-wide magazine drive. Grand prize is a new school. Teachers are responsible for room quotas. Teacher with most sales earns Hawaiian vacation, even if Bumblebee Valley doesn't win the new school. After provocative "Cheerleaders' Dance," student body sings the "Alma Mater."

ACT II, Scene 1. NOVAK'S classroom, several months later. SKIP NELSON sings "Basketball Blues." (The team lost a big game.) LINDA BROWN, SKIP's girlfriend, sings "Singing and Dancing." (She failed to make the rally squad.) NOVAK sings "The Day the Football Team 'Let Down."' (Song describes an event from NOVAK'S college days.) NOVAK'S home room is not meeting its magazine quota. SKIP and LINDA break up. Duet, "What Are You, Some Kind of Nut or Something?" SKIP drops out of school.

Scene 2. Faculty room. MARK TYMONS brags he's winning the Hawaiian trip, and might propose to BARRETT. In the duet, "Look At Me!," MARK TYMONS lists his many virtues. A despondent NOVAK ponders a teachers' strike.

Scene 3. PTA meeting. SUPT. MIDDLEPATH'S wife, MARTHA, sings "Unsung Heroes" to improve teacher morale. Teachers' strike is squelched by threatening to replace teachers with teaching machines. Possible student strike is squelched by threatening to replace students with student machines! Bumblebee Valley loses magazine contest, but NOVAK wins Hawaiian trip with covert help from LINDA. In the heat of victory, they become engaged. BARRETT latches onto SKIP. She has been tutoring him since he dropped out of school. SKIP receives a large government grant because he is really only a victim of poverty. ENSEMBLE sings "Hail, Poverty!," a take-off on Gilbert & Sullivan's "Hail, Poetry!" (See "Pirates of Penzance") Finale is a reprise of the "Alma Mater."