Every Teacher in America Should Do This

I'm told this is a true story. If not, it should be. God bless our Troops, then, now and forever.

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 , Arkansas did
something not to ever 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 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.
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 des ks 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.'