Fairchild History Lesson for our kids.....
Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 8:34 pm
'Subject: No Desks in the School Room - Why?
Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren,
a Social Studies teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did
something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with
permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the
building supervisor took all of the desks out of the classroom.
The kids came into first period, they walked in to find there were no
desks. They looked around and said, "Ms. Cothren, where's our desks?"
She said, "You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn them."
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."
They first period came and went... still no desks in the classroom.
Second period, third period, same thing. By early afternoon television
news crews had gathered in Ms. Cothren's classroom to find out about
this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out.
For the last period of the day Martha Cothren gathered her class. They
were at this time sitting on the floor around the sides of the room.
She says, "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you
earn the desks that ordinarily sit in this classroom. Now I'm going to
tell you."
Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it
and as she did 27 U. S. veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into
that classroom, each one carrying a school desk and they placed those
school desks in rows and then they stood along the wall.
By the time they had finished placing those desks, those kids for the
first time perhaps in their lives understood how they earned those desks.
Martha said, "You don't have to earn those desks. These guys did it
for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit
here responsibly to learn, to be good students and good citizens,
because they paid a price for you to have that desk. Don't ever forget
it."
My friend, I think sometimes we forget that the freedoms that we have
are freedoms not because of celebrities. The freedoms are because of
ordinary people who did extraordinary things, who loved this country
more than life itself and who not only earned a school desk for a kid
at the Robinson High School in Little Rock, but who earned a seat for
you and me to enjoy this great land we call home, this wonderful
nation that we better love enough to protect and preserve with the
kind of conservative, solid values and principles that made us a great
nation.'
Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren,
a Social Studies teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did
something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with
permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the
building supervisor took all of the desks out of the classroom.
The kids came into first period, they walked in to find there were no
desks. They looked around and said, "Ms. Cothren, where's our desks?"
She said, "You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn them."
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."
They first period came and went... still no desks in the classroom.
Second period, third period, same thing. By early afternoon television
news crews had gathered in Ms. Cothren's classroom to find out about
this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out.
For the last period of the day Martha Cothren gathered her class. They
were at this time sitting on the floor around the sides of the room.
She says, "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you
earn the desks that ordinarily sit in this classroom. Now I'm going to
tell you."
Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it
and as she did 27 U. S. veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into
that classroom, each one carrying a school desk and they placed those
school desks in rows and then they stood along the wall.
By the time they had finished placing those desks, those kids for the
first time perhaps in their lives understood how they earned those desks.
Martha said, "You don't have to earn those desks. These guys did it
for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit
here responsibly to learn, to be good students and good citizens,
because they paid a price for you to have that desk. Don't ever forget
it."
My friend, I think sometimes we forget that the freedoms that we have
are freedoms not because of celebrities. The freedoms are because of
ordinary people who did extraordinary things, who loved this country
more than life itself and who not only earned a school desk for a kid
at the Robinson High School in Little Rock, but who earned a seat for
you and me to enjoy this great land we call home, this wonderful
nation that we better love enough to protect and preserve with the
kind of conservative, solid values and principles that made us a great
nation.'