The Classroom...... A lesson that should be taught in all schools . .
and colleges
Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a
social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock ,
did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the
permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building
supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom. When the
first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no
desks.
'Ms. Cothren, where're our desks?'
She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn the
right to sit at a desk.'
They thought, 'Well, maybe it's our grades.'
'No,' she said.
'Maybe it's our behavior.'
She told them, 'No, it's not even your behavior..'
And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third
period.
Still no desks in the classroom.
By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in
Ms.Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken
all the desks out of her room.
The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats
on the floor of the desk less classroom, Martha Cothren said,
'Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has
done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in
this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.'
At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and
opened it.
Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that
classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the
school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand along side
the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place
those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their
lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.
Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These
heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up
to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good
students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could
have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.'
By the way, this is a true story.
Please consider passing this along so others won't forget that the
freedoms we have in this great country were earned by U. S. Veterans.
