[EIDXA] Missing Desks

[RONALD C BORKGREN]

I thought some or all of you would like to read this.

73s   Ron....     NNØL 

: Missing Desks






Here is a  lesson  that should be taught in all schools...

Back in  September, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School, did something that will not soon be forgotten. On that first day, 
with the permission of the school superintendent and the principal, she removed all of the desks from her classroom. 

When her first period kids entered the room and discovered that there were no desks of course the first question was,'Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?' 

She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you can 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 the local 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. 

When the final period of the day came, the puzzled students again took their 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) War 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. 

Please consider passing this along so others won't forget that the freedoms we have in this great country were earned by War Veterans.