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A Social Studies Teacher Teaches a Valuable Lesson
....one we should all remember.
My mother-in-law sent this to me in the mail and I have checked it out on Snopes. It is a true and inspiring story.
Back in September 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, s social studies teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, 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:
"Mrs. Cothern, where are our desks?"
She replied, "You can't have a desk until you tell me what you have done to earn the right to sit in a desk."
They thought. "Well, maybe it is our grades."
"No," she said.
"Maybe it is our behavior."
She told them "No, it isn't even your behavior."
And so, they came and went, the first period, the second period, thrid period. Still no desks in the calssroom. By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Mrs. 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 fround seats ont he floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said "Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what she/he 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 U.S. military veterans, all in uniform, walked into the calssroom, each carrying a school desk. The veterans began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand along the wall. By the time the last veteran had set the final desk in place those kids had started to understnad, 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. The heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it is up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. These veterans paid the price so that you would have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it."
