January 20, 2018 A Lesson Not Quickly Forgotten
( A True Story)
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 his 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 they have 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."
This a true story!
Have a blessed day,
Tom & Linda Milam
Missionaries to America
Phil. 2:16
What insight. Wish more teachers could think outside the box and teach our children respect for our vets and commitment to learning. Thank you for sharing. Thanks to this teacher. Great job.
ReplyDeleteWe so agree! Have a blessed day.
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