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.
Looking around, confused, they asked, ‘Ms. Cothren, where’re our desks?’
She replied, ‘You can’t have a desk until you tell me what you have done to
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 deskless 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 alongside 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.’
[story verified as true. If you can read this, thank a teacher. Since you
read it in English, thank a soldier.]
~~
Dr Bob Griffin, www.grif.net
“Jesus knows me, this I love”