We need more like her!
NOW SHE IS A TEACHER!!!
In September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a
History 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 in her classroom. When the
first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no
desks. 'Ms. Cothren, where are 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. Kids called their parents to
tell them what was happening and by early afternoon television news
crews had started gathering at the school 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 or
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 uniform, 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. They went
halfway around the world, giving up their education and interrupting
their careers and families so you could have the freedom you have.
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. And this teacher was
awarded the Veterans of Foreign Wars Teacher of the Year for the State
of Arkansas in 2006. She is the daughter of a WWII POW.
Do you think this email is worth passing along so others won't forget
either, that the freedoms we have in this great country were earned by
our U.S. Veterans? .................... I did. Let us always remember
the men and women of our military and the rights they have won for us.
From an email, author unknown
