Moving Desks

In September 2005, Martha Cothren, a teacher in Little Rock, took all of the desks out of her class room. She told each of her classes that they couldn’t have desks back until they told her how they could earn them. When the final class of the day was unable to answer the question, she opened the door and in came 27 veterans with the chairs. Mrs. Cothren told the students that they didn’t have to earn their chairs because the veterans had already done that. I’m sorry, but how did a veteran earn the kids their school desks? Why not have factory workers bring it in? They are the folks that built the desk. Is that too literalist for you? Then why not have construction workers bring it in? They have built the infrastructure that allows us to go to school and to have schools. You could always have politicians bring it in. No one likes politicians, but they set the course for the country. They make the decisions that determine where and when people go to war and help us avoid it too. Sometimes they even make decisions that help create better schools and more opportunities for our young people. They certainly get their fair share of blame when things go wrong. What about community activists? I’d let a smart person who passed on big money to help people out bring in my desk. Here’s a funny idea … what about teachers? I know it’s fashionable to look down at teachers as people who have failed or weren’t ambitious enough to even try other real careers and went looking for a job where they would get paid gobs of money for doing nothing … but they are the ones giving out the education. Of course there are always the students themselves. I know that it is easy to get through college and into graduate school. They just give away advanced degrees for free, but presumably students do something to further their own education. I have no problem for thanking soldiers for risking their lives. They haven’t, however, won freedom for America all by themselves. It isn’t a slight to them to not thank them for upholding democracy itself. People who risk their lives to do their country's dirty work should be recognized. But they shouldn't get truckloads of credit, or blame, for everything under the sun. Vietnam veterans didn’t diminish American democracy. The people who guided that war might have, but not the people who fought it. Likewise, people fighting in more acceptable wars haven't established American democracy all by themselves. The sum of all American accomplishments is not on the battlefield, even battlefields where we saw victory. In some way, the fetishization of soldiers is a response to the ill treatment they got after Vietnam. In some ways it is a byproduct of political movements that diminish the contributions of teachers, community activists, and the federal government. In some ways it is a just a sign of the extent to which we have reduced our democracy to symbols. I guess it is easier when America is just flags, soldiers, and football games. What I know is that telling school children that they owe their educations to soldiers isn't telling the whole truth. Many folks have worked to make education possible. Many folks need to continue to work to continue to make it possible, and to make it possible for more of us. Many folks should be recognized, not just the people who are sent out to solve problems with guns. I know it doesn’t make for as easy a lesson or as big an impact to have desks brought in by soldiers, plumbers, factory workers, teachers, lawyers, doctors, and musicians … but at least it would be the truth.