Desk Jockeyed {Insp}

"Desk Jockeyed"*

*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."

By the way, this is a true story.... *
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you read it in English, thank
a soldier.**

*
Received on Mon Nov 10 11:59:45 2008