NEGenWeb Project
Resource Center
Schools

the older pupils. Out of the thirty-five who took all or a part of the examination the past year, seventeen received diplomas and several of that number will attend some high school in the state.

     The library question is a great one, and while it is far from being answered, we believe we are coming nearer the solution each year. The enforcement of the library law, together with the earnest efforts of on rteachers (sic), is creating a library spirit among patrons and pupils. There are at present only about fifteen rural school districts in the county owning a library, most of which have been purchased during the last few years. We hope for greater progress along this line.

     Teachers' wages are being materially increased, and with our present advantages, together with a state normal in the immediate future, we hope to be able to raise the educational standard of our county, and to give our boys and girls better equipment for life.

     County Associations.--Dawson county has thus far held no association or convention of school officers. We try to reach these officers through the County Teachers' Association. School officers are urged to attend these association meetings, and to take part in the programs. They are placed on the programs to discuss topics relating to school organization and management as exercised by school officers. The attendance of many of these officers is thus secured, and we find that they enter enthusiastically into the discussion of questions of school administration.

     We have a permanent county teachers' association, including as members all the teachers of the county. Sectional meetings are hold in different parts of the county, three or four sectional meetings each year, closing with a general county meeting in the spring at Lexington. During the year closing last July, about 125 of the county teachers attended one or more of the sessions.

     The county association is an important factor in maintaining the professional standard of our teachers, and the educational policy of the county is largely shaped by the work of teachers and school officers in the various meetings of the county association.

     The State Teachers' Association and the district association are very useful in bringing teachers to consider the broader phases of school work; but it is in the county association that our teachers discuss enthusiastically the every-day difficulties of the school room.

     Reading Circle Work--About 50 per cent of the teachers of Dawson county do the work of the Nebraska Teachers' Reading Circle each year. Usually local circles are conducted at Gothenburg, Cozad, Lexington, Overton, Sumner, Eddyville and Farnam. Teachers and near these towns attend the meetings and take part in the discussions that are conducted by the respective local managers. Those teachers who reside so far from town that it is impracticable for them to attend the

---

---

 

---

© 2003 for the NEGenWeb Project by Ted & Carole Miller