USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. I > Part 31
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Even when the Revolutionary struggle was fought and won, it is im- possible to say that education-secular education-had advanced much beyond the 1750 stage. The children at school plodded on much as before,
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wrestling with moral and religious questions, but the political upheaval had taught the people much more. The agitation and discussion prior to the outbreak of hostilities had brought to their knowledge ancient and modern history, an understanding of the principles of government and a full reali- zation of the drift of human progress. It brought them face to face with the rest of the world, and showed what had to be accomplished, so that they might hold their own in the national struggle for existence which set in as soon as peace was declared and independence was acknowledged, in 1784.
In 1817 the Legislature created a school fund, the income from which was to be devoted exclusively to school purposes. This fund was placed under the control of the Governor, the Vice-President of the Council, the Speaker of the Assembly, the Attorney-General and the Secretary of State. Certain United States bonds, bank stocks and other securities were set apart from the fund. In 1871 the moneys received from the sale and rental of lands under water owned by the State were made a part of the fund. By an amendment to the State Constitution the principal of the fund must be kept invested and the income devoted exclusively to the support of free public schools. The principal of the fund now amounts to $3,690,682.62, and $200,000 of the income is appropriated annually for the support of public schools. The school tax in 1901 was .00256, and the appropriation from the State fund, as a part of the tax for the current year, was thirty- five per cent. of the tax, or over $800,000, so that the actual State tax for school purposes paid by each taxpayer was reduced from $2.56 to $1.67 on each $1,000 of ratables. The State fund is derived from the taxes on corporations, there being no tax on the people for State purposes, so that the appropriation of $800,000 from this fund is an actual saving, to that amount, to the people of the State.
In 1820 the Legislature authorized the several townships to levy a tax for the education of "such poor children as are paupers, belonging to the said township, and the children of such poor parents, resident in said town- ship, as are or shall be, in the judgment of said committee, unable to pay for schooling the same." This law remained in force for some years, being amended from time to time, and in such a manner as to provide for free schools for such time as the moneys received from the school fund and from local taxation would permit, and allowing tuition fees for the remain- .der of the year.
In 1829 the Legislature first began to make annual appropriations for the support of common schools. In that year $20,000 were appor- tioned to the several counties in proportion to the amount of taxes paid by the inhabitants. This act also provided for the election of school commit-
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tees in each township. In 1838 the inhabitants of each township were rec- ommended to raise, by taxation or otherwise, money for school purposes. This act also authorized the trustees to use the State appropriation exclu- sively for the education of the poor. The most important change made from the old law was the provision that the public money, which had been paid to the trustees of the districts, should now be paid to the several schools in the township, whether they were public, private or parochial. This change was made in obedience to the demands of the religious de- nominations in the State. Schools had been established by churches and. meetings in all parts of the commonwealth, and the friends of these de- manded, and finally obtained, part of the annual appropriation from the public treasury. The money was therefore distributed among all schools in proportion to the number of children taught.
The Constitution adopted in 1844 declared that it should not be com- petent for the Legislature to borrow, appropriate or use the school fund, or any part thereof, under any pretense whatever, for any other purpose than for the support of public schools for the equal benefit of all the peor ple. The general school law was amended in 1846 so as to require every township to raise for school purposes a sum of money at least equal to its portion of the State appropriation. In 1851 the annual appropriation was in- creased to $40,000. The act of that year provided also that the public money should be apportioned to the counties in the ratio of their popula- tion, and to the townships in proportion to the number of children be- tween the ages of five and eighteen years. In 1866 the State Board of Education was established, and the distribution of public money to private and parochial schools was discontinued, and the State appropriation was. reserved for the public schools. In 1867 the school law was remodeled,. the best features of the old system were retained, and important new pro- visions were adopted, and subsequent legislation has constantly followed in the same line of general advancement.
THE PRESENT SCHOOL SYSTEM.
The present school system is remarkably complete, and scarcely ad- mits of improvement. At its head is a State Board of Education, appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The Board is composed of two members from each Congressional District, who shall not belong to the same political party. The term of office is five years. The members serve without compensation, but are paid the actual expenses incurred by them in the discharge of their official duties.
The board appoints the County Superintendents of Schools, makes
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rules for the holding of teachers' institutes, the examination of teachers and for carrying into effect the school laws of the State. It has the con- trol and management of the State Normal School, the School for the Deaf, the Farnum Preparatory School, and the Manual Training and Industrial School for Colored Youth.
The State Superintendent of Public Instruction is appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. His term of office is three years. He has general supervision over the schools, and, by law, is made a court of limited jurisdiction, having the power to investigate and decide, subject to appeal to the State Board of Education, all disputes that arise under the school laws, and may enforce his decision by withholding all school moneys from the district until his decision is obeyed. He is, er-officio, the Secre- tary of the State Board of Examiners and of all local Boards of Examiners.
The County Superintendents have supervision over the schools of their respective counties, apportion the school moneys, license teachers, and, together with the local boards of education, prescribe the courses of study for their respective counties.
The entire State is divided into school districts, each city, town and township constituting a separate district. There are two classes of dis- tricts, viz., municipalities divided into wards and municipalities not divided into wards. The first class includes the cities and large towns. In these districts members of the Board of Education may be appointed by the Mayor or elected by the people. The amount of money to be appropriated locally for the support of schools is determined by the Board of School Estimate, consisting of the Mayor, two members of the financial board in the municipality, and two members of the Board of Education. The sec- ond class includes the townships and small boroughs. In these districts the members of the Boards of Education are elected and all appropriations. are made by direct vote of the people. By the law, Boards of Education are made bodies corporate, and are not a part of the municipal government.
The Legislature passed a law in 1881 providing that whenever a school district established a manual training school or added manual training to. the course of study, the State would appropriate each year an amount equal to the sum raised in the district for that purpose; provided, that the total appropriation by the State to a district should not exceed $5,000. Under this law two cities have established manual training schools and twenty-four districts have added manual training to their courses of study. The total amount appropriated by the State in 1900 for manual training was $46,000.
The State gives to each school annually ten dollars, provided such
19
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school raises a like sim, to be used for the purchase of apparatus or to maintain a library for the use of the pupils.
Legislation making the kindergarten an integral part of the public school system was secured in March, 1900, and 15,066 was the first official record of the kindergarten enrollment in the New Jersey schools. Said enrollment has, in addition to offsetting the usual increase in the number enrolled in primary grades, also reduced it 5,513 below that of the preced- ing school year, thus showing that many pupils rightfully belonging to the kindergarten had been attending in the primary grades.
For the year ending June 1, 1901, the number of school houses in the State was 1,875, and the number of class rooms was 6,408, providing ac- commodations for 310,328 pupils. The value of school property was $15,634,471, an increase of $1,860,371 over the previous year.
There were employed in the public schools 907 male teachers, at an average annual salary of $866, and 6,105 female teachers, at an average annual salary of $500. Of the 7,102 teachers, 3,415 had a normal train- ing and 409 were college graduates.
There were enrolled in the public schools 322,575 pupils, and in private schools 47,453, making the total number of children in school 370,028, or eighty-one per cent. of the children in the State. The average daily at- tendance in the public schools was 207,947. The average time the schools were kept open was 186 days.
In addition to the public schools, there are comprised in the State educational establishment various institutions designed for special pur- poses.
The State Normal School at Trenton was established in 1855. There is, in connection with it, a Model School, which affords to the pupils in the Normal School an opportunity for practice teaching. The number of pupils enrolled in the Normal Schcol was 639, and the number in the Model School was 568. The law requires that each graduate of the Normal School shall pledge himself to teach in the State for at least two years after graduation. This pledge is more than fulfilled; in the year 1900, 1, 18I graduates of the school were teaching in the State. The total expenses of the school that year amounted to $74,708.
The School for the Deaf, in Trenton, was established in 1882. Prior to that date the deaf children were educated at the expense of the State in institutions in New York and Pennsylvania. The number of pupils was I'55, and the cost of maintenance was $38,993.
The Farnum Preparatory School, an adjunct of the State Normal School, is located at Beverly. It was built by Paul Farnum and presented by him to the State. In his will he gave the school an endowment of
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$20,000. The number of pupils enrolled was 149, and the cost of mainte- nance was $5,780.
The Manual Training School and Industrial School for Colored Youth, at Bordentown, was established in 1894, and was under the care of a separate Board of Trustees. In 1900 it was placed under the care of the State Board of Education. In 1900 there were enrolled 118 pupiis, and the cost of maintenance was $5,354.
Outside the technicalities of public school instruction, the friends of education-teachers and laymen, men and women-have so widely ex- tended the sphere of usefulness of the educational system that it is diffi- cult to say where, in this day, the influence of the school room finds its bounds.
Perhaps the most important innovation was the establishment of pub- lic school libraries. Education does not consist merely in knowledge of facts derived from text-books. Long ago was asked the question, "What is Truth?" and, humanly speaking, it remains as yet unanswered. The question includes another, "What is Knowledge?" This, too, remains un- answered, but we reach toward an answer daily-listening for it in the voice of the speaker, searching for it on the page of the writer, and look- ing for it in every manifestation of the works of the Creator.
Realizing all this-that the true end of school education is but to lead the searcher after knowledge into the broad fields of investigation- the thought came to some that if school does no more than to lead children to become good methodical readers, lovers of good literature, then it will have fulfilled a high mission. For it is only in good books that the child meets and associates with the great and noble men and women of all ages, and, as he studies the character and deeds of such, his own life must take on some of their noble qualities. Such is the decision of the most eminent educators. And Carlyle says, "No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men."
And so the school library was established. In many districts it is the only collection of books practically open to the entire population. In all it is, in quality, superior to the ordinary public library, with its super- abundance of "the latest" literary abortion-stories of mawkish sensation- alism and distorted historical facts, padded out to booklike proportions when their proper setting would be the column rules of a cross-roads news- paper. For it is to be said that the school libraries are made up of really standard works-history, travel, biography and such romance as instills noble principles and begets a taste for real elegance in literary style.
That the school library is not a fad, that it fills a positive want and
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meets with hearty appreciation, is evident from the fact that few schools now consider themselves properly equipped without it, and that most of those as yet unsupplied are making strenuous effort to supply the want. In the . recent year from which our statistics are drawn, the amount expended in the State for school libraries was $1,570 more than in the year preceding. During the year cited, the amount contributed for library purposes by the several school districts was $6,650. Under the provisions of the law, a like amount was contributed by the State, making the library fund $12,150. In addition, many school districts were holding additional funds in re- serve until future State appropriations should become available. The de- lay is much to be regretted, as the books which such funds would purchase are needed in the school libraries immediately, and the children at present in school should have the use of them.
The chief cause for regret, however, is that the amount appropriated by the State to stimulate this important interest is so meagre. In this respect New Jersey is not as liberal as she can well afford to be, nor as progressive as some other States.
In various places Mothers' Meetings have exerted a healthful influence upon the schools. Mrs. E. C. Grice, a member of the Board of Education of Riverton, was the pioneer in this movement. Through the earnestness of her effort she soon enlisted the sympathy and hearty co-operation of the teachers of the school in the undertaking. In the village named, as elsewhere, there seemed to be no vital connection between the school and the people. One expressed himself thus: "We never hear anything about the school except when called upon to vote money for its support, or when
something goes wrong." For some reason people were apt to feel that they would be intruding if they were to visit the schools; that possibly the teachers or pupils or members of the Boards of Education might ac- cuse them of presuming. Others were wholly absorbed in other matters too important, so they thought, to permit them to think of the interests of children, and yet others were wholly indifferent. To combat these er- roneous conceptions and to unite all the people of the town for the best in- terests of the school, these earnest women labored for four years. The ex- perimental stage for them has passed, and their example is finding emula- tion in similar effort elsewhere.
A sample programme of a Mothers' Meeting suggests the importance and usefulness of such gatherings. The papers read and the topics dis- cussed were "The Physical Condition of Children-Care of the Body, Clothing, Diet, Ventilation, Emergencies;" "Christian Problems-Evils Prevalent in the Celebration of Christmas, the True Christmas Spirit, Gifts that Children Can Make, Christmas Stories;" "How Shall Morals be
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Taught ?- Influence of Parents, Co-operation with Teachers, Courtesy in the Home;" "Right and Wrong Punishment;" "Need of the Beautiful in the Home, the School and Everywhere, and its Influence on Character, Habits, Usefulness in Later Life and Success in Business."
Growing out of such and similar effort, in many places, much interest has been taken in schools in the matter of school decoration. In some of the larger schools there are now many handsome pictures. In some com- munities many fine gifts of pictures have been made by citizens. In other places money has been raised by subscription for the purchase of pictures and statuary. In yet other places it is a pleasant custom for the graduating class to leave a framed picture as a memento. All these efforts to make the school house attractive are worthy of the highest praisc. The value of pictures in training the aesthetic sense, as well as in deepening the impression made by lessons in literature, history and geography, are be- yond measurement.
A beautiful custom in vogue in nearly all schools is the observance of Arbor Day. In many places not only is a suitable programme carried out in the schools, but the practical side of the work is made prominent by the distribution of a large quantity of seeds, vines and shrubs among the children, to be planted at home or on the school grounds. In Orange, through the efforts of the ladies of the Educational Union and the officers of the New Jersey Floricultural Society, some twelve hundred packages of flower seeds, eight hundred packages of vegetable seeds, six hundred vines and flowering plants and twelve hundred chrysanthemums were given to the children, with printed instructions showing how to plant and care for them. During the term frequent reports were made of the progress of the growing plants, and at the close, of the season each child was asked to write what he could concerning his experience. The response was very gratifying, showing that the children had taken a genuine interest and that much good had been done. Such work is educational in its best sense, and such training will exert a salutary influence upon the lives and char- acters of the children. It will also arouse an increased interest in the ap- pearance of the home, the school and the village, fostering civic pride and conducing to good citizenship, and, in all, will certainly tend to earnest emulation in various communities throughout the State.
EDUCATION IN THE COAST COUNTIES. 1
In Monmouth county well established schools were in existence as early as the Revolutionary War period, and probably much earlier. Cer- tain it is that classical schools were carried on in the township of Freehold
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in the times first mentioned, and an advertisement of one of this class ap- pears in "Collins' Gazette," dated March 14, 1778. Soon after 1800, an English and classical school was opened in the village of Freehold by the Rev. Andrew Fowler, who was then rector of St. Peter's Protestant Epis- copal Church. It is related that shortly afterward Mercy Lerton taught near the village in a log school house which was built by General David Forman, of Revolutionary fame, who maintained the school for his own children and those of the neighborhood. About 1820 James McGregor, spoken of by his pupils (Dr. Robert Laird among them) as "a testy old Scotchman," taught in the village, and his was for many years the only public school in the vicinity.
It is no fancy picture we draw of the school of the early days, and long after the close of the Revolutionary War, for it was in one such that the writer of this made his beginning in education.
The school house was a log building with two windows. A great fire- place, wide enough to take in a cordstick, occupied one-half the width of the room. The seats were rough planks supported by legs let into augur holes at either end, and without backs. At the sides of the building were rough planks resting upon puncheons, and at these stood the pupils over unruled copy books, laboriously tracing with a goose-quill pen the copy set by the master-capitals and small letters, and then such alliterative sen- tences as "Many Men of Many Minds." It was before the days of "Read- ers," too, and two or three generations learned to read and spell from the Bible. If the master was an amiable creature, he would turn the children to the plain short word passages in the Gospels. If he was irascible and domineering, he would "give out" a chapter in the pentateuch, and his gorge would increasingly rise as the frightened youngsters stumbled over the unpronounceable names in the old genealogies. But the youth thus taught became admirable readers, and the pulpiteer or rostrum speaker who was taught in such fashion had no difficulty in being clearly undei- stood by his hearers. Indeed, were there no other reason to cling to the Bible, it were valuable before all other books for its splendid influence in the formation of a clear and concise use of the English language, whether in utterance or in writing.
Aside from the Bible, there was no uniformity of text-books in those early schools, each schclar bringing such as the family closet would afford, and, as a consequence, there were rarely two alike. Those were the palmy times of the "Three R's" -- "reading', 'riting' and 'rithmetic." He was ac- counted something of a mathematician who was ready in vulgar fractions, tare and tret, and the double rule of three. If perchance one had a gram- mar, or a geography, he was viewed by his less favored fellows as one
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whose learning would enable him to make a great mark in the world. And the learned despot who ruled in this hall of learning! The typical schoolmaster of the period was a Scotchman or Irishman, who wrote a clerkly hand and had some knowledge of the classics. His post of observa- tion was in the chimney corner, where he sat enjoying a pipe, and appar- ently immersed in a book, but not so abstracted but that he noted any inat- tention to study or disposition to horseplay, which brought from him a sharp "draw near," and a volley of blows from his convenient birch ( al- most a cudgel) when the head or shoulders of the offender were within reach. Similar punishment attended a failure in a lesson, and it was a lucky lad who worried through a day without a castigation more or less severe.
Tender-hearted, after all, in a fashion, was this old-time schoolmaster, and in later years, when old and infirm, he would drag himself to the office or home of him who had been his scholar, whom he regarded with almost paternal affection, and whose punishing, he firmly believed, was the chief instrumentality in forming his character, and in providing him with that mental equipment which enabled him to take an honorable and useful po- sition among men.
In 1847 was founded the Freehold Institute for Boys, under the prin- cipalship of Oliver R. Willis. In 1862 Professor Baldwin succeeded to the management, and he introduced a system of military drill and discipline. The institution subsequently passed into the hands of Colonel Charles J. Wright; and has come to be known as the New Jersey Military Academy. During its existence of more than half a century, this school has had as pupils hundreds of young men, many of whom went from it into colleges and universities, or immediately took up preparation for professional or business life, and came to occupy honorable and useful positions in life.
An earlier institution, the Freehold Academy, was founded in 1831, and had for one of its earliest teachers (and perhaps the first) James Mc- Burney. At one time it was conducted by James Shields, who in later years became famed as a Major-General in the Federal army during the Civil War, and at other times enjoyed the rare distinction of representing two States in the United States Senate. This academy occupied a useful place for many years, but finally deteriorated, and was abandoned.
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