I was born and raised a few miles north of Arthur, Nebraska, in the heart of the Sandhills. The claim was that at one time it was the largest desert in the U.S.
By the time I came along it had grassed over and was a sea of rolling hills covered in all kinds of native grasses. My parents owned land north of Arthur in the country. At that time, there were small one-room schools located throughout the county where local kids went to school.
All nine grades were in the same room and almost always only one teacher for kindergarten through eighth grade. Teachers were required to get a teaching certificate, which took one summer and consisted of 12 credits. Virtually everyone in western Nebraska went to Chadron State College or Chadron State Teachers College…