wildman2
04-17-2007, 10:11 AM
"Tis the star-spangled banner, oh! long may it wave,
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave."
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 no desks. They looked around and said, "Ms. Cothren, where's our desk?"
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.
We live in the Land of the Free because of the Brave
REMEMBER OUR TROOPS.
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave."
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 no desks. They looked around and said, "Ms. Cothren, where's our desk?"
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.
We live in the Land of the Free because of the Brave
REMEMBER OUR TROOPS.