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 are 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.'