Peru State College - Peruvian Yearbook (Peru, NE)

Page 31 text:

nszEEBmzimrzzix Page 25

Page 30 text:

Greetings It has been my privilege to write a few words of greeting for three Peruvian . The first came at the close of our war experience. One year ago we were in the heyday of the prosperity that seemed to be coming to America because she was the one sol- vent nation in the world. As Maytime approaches this 1921 we find ourselves in the early stages of the reaction from the war. Depression is felt in most fields. Products and wages are gradually being reduced to pre-war levels. Financial and industrial institutions are struggling for existence or tottering on the brink of disaster but with a tendency toward sanity and safety. The most hopeful phase of these troublesome days is the altitude of the public toward their schools. In nearly every state in the Union the limitation of the rate of taxation for school purposes has been removed. Boards of Education and Boards of Control of endowed institutions, sensing the absolute necessity of maintaining the educational institutions of the country, are actually increasing the compensation of teachers, providing them with teacherages, making provision for permanent tenure and retirement compensation. More and more all these factors are insisting upon trained teachers because they realize that America must he the leader in this critical decade of reconstruction. Teachers are responding bv an added sense of responsi- bility and a lirmer determination to be thoroughly prepared for their new responsi- bilities. This has been plainly noticeable on the campus this year. There is a seri- ousness and a determination that lias not been in evidence since 1914. I am sure each member of the Class of ’21 goes to his school this fall with a clear vision of responsibility and a full determination to play his part well in the building of a better citizenship. The State Legislature, discerning the need for more and more adequate prepara- tion for the teaching profession, has authorized the transformation of the Normal Schools into Teachers’ Colleges. We are confident that in ever increasing numbers teachers will come to their classrooms with at least a college education as a prepara- tion. We are glad that the State Teachers College at Peru has been added to these full grown Normal Schools. There is every indication that many members of the Classes of ’20 and 21 will return for the additional two years of training at the earliest possible moment. Will not many of the ’teen Classes follow in their train? It is with keen regret and the breaking of many heart ties that I leave the old school. My best wishes and my personal influence will he for the upbuilding of a better and stronger school in the years to come. The friendships formed during these fourteen strenuous hut happy years are enough to sweeten many a day of discouragement if such shall he my lot. Surely any and all Peruvians know they may call upon me for any professional or personal service I can render them. —E. L. Rouse. Pace 21

Page 32 text:

Page 26 [mvm