Ernie Els Scoffs at Losers

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 what you have done to 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."