Love this teacher !!
 

LOVE THIS TEACHER
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 howyou 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 or 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.'
By the way, this is a true story. And this teacher was awarded Teacher of the Year for the state of Arkansas in 2006. Please consider passing this along so others won't forget either that the freedoms we have in this great country were earned by U. S. Veterans. Always remember them and the rights they have won for us..

That made my day and made me cry. What a great lesson for all children to learn. It is so easy to take our freedom for granted until we all remember what that freedom costs.

Exactly how this moved me... Thank and Bless our Veterans.

Judy in Phx, AZ

What a great lesson and one I'm sure the kids will never forget.

Wonderful. Thanks for the "serious" story.

Goosebumps through the whole read. Thanks for sharing this visual reality of privelege vs. entitlement.

We do tend to forget how much we have - - - and how much it cost.

Just one word - Beautiful! - Thank You, my friend.

Amen
Amen

http://www.snopes.com/glurge/nodesks.asp

True story, more info here. note that this was a military history class makes the point of the class to the students right away.

That teacher and her lesson will always be remembered by that class. We all need to be reminded of the things we take for granted.

thanks for sharing and oh how true that is.

aman aman i agree indeed children are no longer taught about certain things like moral value of a simple desk.thank you so much for sharing.may our god keep our soliders safe and bring them home to their family and the good ol (u s a )

Never heard that story. How wonderful is that teacher?

I think our right to everything American has been won by all of our soldiers starting with the Revolutionary War and almost lost again in the voting booth.

Wonderful story, I wish more teachers were this way.

thank you for sharing....Amen...

Great story! Made me cry too! Reposting on my facebook page!!

How touching and what a wonderful "object" lesson--one we all need to take to heart.

My DH had a saying--"the tree of freedom is watered by the blood of patriots." We are both vets and know first hand how great this country is-

So many just take our freedoms for granted. Thanks to everyone who has helped ensure our freedoms.

Me, too... freedom isn't free & we must never forget that.

WOW, God Bless and Amen to our troops, how beautiful this is and how true, A BIG "THANK YOU" goes out to our Military. And thank you ditter for bringing this to us.

...and congratulations to the superintendent, the principal, and the building supervisor for trusting and allowing this awesome teacher to do this. Great story!

I love this!!!!! My dad went to Germany and almost lost both his legs for his children to have many things he didn't have.Many children need to read this . My daughter is trying for her teaching licenses next week-end, and will finishing college in december.I read this to her and she may try it the first class she has.Hope you dont mind! Thank you for sharing.

Ditter ~ you always post the BEST stories. Thank you and God Bless you.

In so many third world countries, parents and kids consider an education to be the best thing they could have. They have to pay fees to have their kids in school, the kids WANT to go to school because they know without education they are doomed to a life of poverty.
And yet in this country so many kids disdain education and consider going to school to be a boring chore. We take it for granted.

That's a great story. Thank you for posting it. It has made my day today.

Speachless. What an awesome story. Thanks, Ditter.

What a beautiful change. My husband went to the US Naval Academy during the Viet Nam war. When his school would play football at a civilian school the students weren't real nice. Suffice to say he had to change his uniform periodically. He spent 20 years in the Navy. Back then while On vacation he was asked why are you not working, our tax dollars are paying your salary. He finally retired and we moved to New Hampshire. We have veterans license plates. When we step out of the car someone always comes up and says thank you. He even rear ended a truck one day recently and the man got out of his truck looked at the damage then saw the license plate. As they were exchanging info he said, Thank you for your service." Wow what a change!

Thanks Ditter!:thumbup:

This is really special. This was a insightfull teacher. A lesson we should all never forget. Thanks for sharing. I hope you don't mind, I passed it on to my email list.

what a wonderful teacher. Thanks Ditter

Love the story. Glad to hear it's true as well. My son was in the Navy and sent on some missions. He is now transitioning to the Coast Guard.

Thank you for posting this story. I have printed it out and plan to share it with younger generations.

Kat