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I'OL. ATJ, NO. LII
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 'JS, 1901
ESTABLISHED IN 1S86
EDUCATION IN NEBRASKA
Although Young in Yeats the Schools of
the Commonwealth Have Shown a Mar
velous Growth J Jt jt jt
During the last decade Nebraska
has taken long and rapid strides to
the fore in development of public
schools. For the next decade even a
greater development is prophesied by
W. K. Fowler, state superintendent of
public instruction.
of 47,927. In the same length of time
the value of school properties of the
state increased by $2,977,670.28. .
While the figures quoted show a mar
velous growth in the school interests
of the state during the last ten years.
Superintendent Fowler, who is espe-
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Evolution of a Nebraska School
Views of North Platte Schools '6S.
and must be a material Increase if we
wish to keep in the profession the
better qualified persons.
"In 1910 the enrollment will be a
larger per cent of the school census
than in 1900, but what is or vastly
more importance, the average daily at
tendance will be a much greater per
cent of the enrollment and of the
school census than In 1900. The num
ber of sod and log school buildings in
the state will rapidly decrease, the
number of frame school buildings will
slightly decrease, while the number of
brick buildings will increase. During
the next ten years there will be a de
crease in the total number of school
buildings in the state
of Nebraska through
the consolidation of ru
ral school districts.
"There will be a ma
terial increase In the
length of the term In
many school districts
of the state; and let us
hope that in 1910 our
county superintendents
will average at least
$1,000 a year each. Our
state teachers associa
tion, our great univer
sity, andour stale nor
mal school will in
crease their enrollment
materially. There will
then be three state
normal schools. In 1910
in many of the rural
portions of the state
the farmers" children
will have the same ad
vantages of education
in a well arranged,
well organized, well
graded school, that the
village and city pupils
now enjoy. Instead of
attempting to let down
our hooks and nets and
tackles and lines from
better preparing our pupils for prac
tical life by giving more attention to
the sclentillc side and less to the class
ical side than we did In 1S90, or than
we now do.
"In 1910 we will distinguish between
one, two, three and four year high
schools, their diplomas or certificates
and their graduates, as we now dis
tinguish between university graduates
and those who complete only the Jun
ior year, or perhaps the sophomore
year, or only the freshman year; or as
we distinguish between those who
complete the eight, seventh, sixth and
fifth grades respectively in the gram
mar department. A high school grad
uate then will be one who has com
pleted the three-thirds of our public
school system, including the high
school department of four years.
"In 1910 the high schools of the state
will be as free to the children of the
farmer and the stock raiser ns they
now are to the children of the mer
chant, the banker and the professional
man. In 1910 the public will demand
that those who train and direct and
assist In developing their children's
minds and morals and habits and
manners have the same thorough
training for their work as those who
look after their children's bodies In
times of ill-health. The teacher will
then be a professional man or wo
man. In 1910 we will have a law fixing
the dimensions and other requirements
of school-rooms and school buildings,
as well as the size and character of
school grounds.
"Schoolrooms will then be arranged
with reference to proper seating. heat
ing, lighting and ventilating, with
greater regard to the comfort and con
venience of school children. Every
schoolroom will then be provided with
maps, a globe, a dictionary, and a li
brary. Our teaching body will then be
the same earnest, progressive, hard
working people they now are", even
though a larger per cent of Its mem
bership will be changed three times
during the decade, but the third group
' In 1890 there were 792 sod school
houses in the state. Ten years later
this number had diminished by 2S7,
and in each instance almost without
exception the building of sod was re
placed by a substantial frame struct
ure. During the same time the num
ber of log school houses diminshed
from 210 to 112. Thus it is seen that
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',fid 112 log doing service throughout
me state today.
The total receipts for school pur
poses from all sources, for the year
ending July 1900, exceeded the receipts
on the same date ten years previous
by $771,283.39, aggregating for the year
JU10.400.33. Expenses during the same
Period Increased at about the same
rate, the total expenditures for 1900
being $4,404,222.07. and those for 1S90
being $3,499,300.26. The total number of
"len teachers employed dropped from
2,861 in 1890 to 2,062 in 1900, and the
number of women teachers from 7,964
,0 7,401. A peculiar feature of the de
cade was the Increase of men's salaries
from an average of $43 a month to
J4C.26, while the women's average de
creased from $37.92 to $36.90.
Both the census of school children
and the enrollment of school children
show marked Increases. The census of
iVoth boys and girls increased 43.54S
during the decade, aggregating 377.791.
i The "total enrollment for the year end
ing July, 1900, was 2SS,227. an Increase
cially well situated and fitted to speak
with authority, expresses the opinion
that the future holds out greater
promise. In an address before the
Southwestern Nebraska Teachers' As
sociation held at Holdrege last month,
he said:
"I prophesy that in 1910 city super
intendents and principals will be re
quired by law to make as complete re
ports and to furnish statistics of school
as county superintendents now are;
that their work will be done more sys
tematically. There will, let us hope,
be a revision of the method of assess
ment and levying of taxes before that
time; a consequent reduction of the
maximum tax levy, a slight increase
in the receipts for all school purposes,
a very slight increase in the expendi
tures, but that waste through lack of
organization and system will be large
ly reduced. Let us hope that the num
ber of men teachers employed, which
decreased nearly thirty per cent dur
ing the past decade, will increase,
while the number of women teachers,
which decreased only about four per
cent during the same time, will re
main stationary. May their shadows
never grow less! In this connection
permit me to call your attention to the
fact that the average monthly wages
of men during the decade increased
$3.26, while that of the women de
creased $1.02. In both there should
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Sod Schoolhouse in Western Nebrask a District No. 14, Frontier County
the university above, in 1901 we will
build from the kindergarten up, carry
ing the better features of the kinder
garten through the primary grades,
correlating with it manual training and
domestic science and elementary agri
culture in the grammar grades, and
will be better prepared in advance for
its great work than the first group.
You, nor I, nor any one else, working
alone, can do an appreciable amount
toward effecting these Improvements,
but all of us, working together, may
accomplish much for the schools and
school children of Nebraska and o'
this southwestern district."
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