The Missing Desks
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 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.'