University of Nebraska Kearney - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Kearney, NE)

Page 24 text:

Anna V. Jennings Librarian Harvard has its ivy; Yale, William Lyon Phelps; Nebraska, its scarlet and cream; but Kearney Slate Teachers has Anna Vivian Jennings. Not only is she a vital part of this institution, but she is, in herself, an insfifu ion. Under her touch a mere shelf of books has grown info a great library. Her frequent spiels', as she calls her speeches, her numerous trips, and her personal qualities are indicative of true leadership. Those who know her best, her boys , look to her as the French soldier revered Napoleon .... positive, dauntless, square, understanding .... these qualities they find in her. All of them, each her staunch supporter, declare they would work for nothing to work for her. Kearney's glorious tradition is she, ruling her literary empire. Page 22

Page 23 text:

f The nature of the genuine teacher is perennial In the seventeenth cen- tury, Thomas Fuller created The Good Schoolmaster, whose characteristics resemble the traits of our twentieth-century faculty. A representative Kearney instructor is modern pedagogically, and yet he is not unlike Fuller's model, for his genius inclines him with delight to his profession; he studies his scholars' natures as carefully as they their books ; and he is moderate in inflicting deserved correction. Moreover, he does not present the muses in Ihe shapes of fiends and furies, for he wished youth to love them. With psychology as his guide he is able, diligent, and methodical in his teaching, p not leading them (the students) rather in a circle than forwards. His educa- tional aim, like that of Fuller's ideal, is democratic, and out of his school, he is no whit pedantical in carriage or discourse; contenting himself to be rich in learning, though he doth not jingle with it in every company wherein he comes, In short, our faculty members convince us that Fuller was right when he said, God moldeth some for a schoolmaster's life, undertaking it with desire and delight, and discharging it with dexterity and happy success. f He was no peddlar of mere facts, Nor such a person as exacts A given grade to make a class The best, or let a pupil pass. He is no seeker after grinds. Nor maker of tired, slavish minds By work, and thought, and word, and pen, His wonted task was building men. —Clarence E. Flynn. I Page 21

Page 25 text:

Geonje E. Martin President To him each one o us is a book which must be read to be understood. To read his students aright has always been his desire, and his speeches betray this yearning. 'Tis true his delightful humor has made us icrugh on many occasions, but we wonder sometimes if his humor is not allied to wistfulness . . . . if, instead of jesting or expounding truths, he would rather tell us that we are far dearer to him than all the other books that are. That we are Living Books .... with pages yet unturned, With climax hid and message undiscerned .... Each line of you reveals some promise new Of beauty, purity, and courage true, .books, whose plot unfolds so fast, May each new page be finer than the last. Page 23