Why is there the Liberty Bell?

Teacher-Open your text books to page one-ten.

[Students search desks, taking out their text books, pages rustling]

Teacher-Read up to page one-twenty.

[Complains roused up the room. Soon everyone quieted down and only the fan's whirling hummed in the room]

[The teacher sat in her desk, took a drink of the melting iced water. She fanned herself with a folder]

*Few minutes later*

Teacher-Ok, kids, if you didn't finish you'll read it for homework-

[Interrupted by students groaned]

[Teacher grins] Teacher-Oh, ok, so one homework is too little for you. I guess I'll throw in Math
Skills book pages-

Students-No!

[Teacher nods pleasantly] Teacher-I would've thought so. Now would some like to tell me what the passage was about?

[Students look bored and sweaty, none raise their hands]

Teacher- Fine. I'll choose for you.

[Teacher searches the faces of students. Her eyes lay on a boy who's eyes she noticed had been wondering throughout the class the whole time]

Teacher- Jake, what did you read?

[Jake looked at the teacher blanked faced]-I didn't read anything...

[Teacher about to speak]

[Hotly Jake adds]-Why do we have to read this anyway? It's the past, it's done and gone...and it’s boring.

[The teacher was not surprised with the response]Teacher-It may seem like that but our past is much the same as our future. Without it nothing would have happened, what happened on the past made up now and what is going to happen in the future.

Jake-But Ms. West, if we keep going to the past we will never progress to the future.

Teacher-Quite the opposite Jake, if we didn't look into the past we would keep making the same mistakes that our ancestors have done.

[Jake rolls eyes]-Like what?

Teacher-There's quite a few mistakes that the men and women in the past made, since we are in the seventeen-fifty's, I'll explain. There is John Pass and Stow, if they didn't look into the past they would have done the same mistake they did when they tried to fix Liberty Bell.

Jake-Why did they even make the Bell? It just ended to be broken, no one uses it anymore, why not throw it away?

Teacher-Good God! Throw it away! Liberty Bell was more than any ordinary bell! Liberty bell was symbol for--ironically despite its name-- was a symbol for Anti-slavery. If Isaac Norris, back then didn't take action into making this bell for the State House and for so many reasons, Jake you and your family might still be treated the way slaves were treated. Just because of their color. I would be kept as a slave even.

[The class was silent for a few minutes]

Jake-Ms. West, if that’s the reason why is it called Liberty Bell?

Teacher-It's called Liberty Bell because over the years from being a present to celebrate the fifty year anniversary of William Penn's seventeen-oh-one Charter of Privileges to a anti-slavery symbol. During its time it was turned into a symbol of hope for freedom. How it got its reputation I am unsure of...maybe if you read the text book you'd find the answer to that. How about it? You have until the end of class.

[Jake's head fell into the book. He started to read]