Every child should be taught this lesson

A lesson
that should be taught in all schools ... And colleges!

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.

'Ms.. Cothren,
where're 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.

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 desk less 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.