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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
The early log schoolhouse was about 16 feet square. Windows cut into
the log walls were covered in winter with sheepskin or oiled paper. There
was a huge fireplace at one end, and near the windows a rough desk for
the older children, who were learning arithmetic.
Frontier education was primitive. Reading was the main course, supplemented at times by writing, spelling, and arithmetic. The stern Dutch
and Puritan schoolmasters excelled in discipline, literally requiring their
pupils to toe the chalk line drawn across the schoolhouse floor. Slab
benches hardened the younger children against the usual punishment for
failing to toe the mark.
In the towns, the apprenticeship system in the crafts and trades aided
the progress of education. By contract the master was bound to teach his
apprentice not only his occupation but also "to read, wryte and cypher."
This led Moses Combs, an early Newark shoe manufacturer, to found a
night school for his apprentices; later the privilege was extended to
others. In Woodbridge as early as 1691 the town schoolmaster was engaged to teach until 9 o'clock on winter nights, presumably for the benefit of apprentices and other workers.
Although these crude schools continued well into the last century, more
advanced institutions were founded in the older settlements for those able
to pay the cost. Newark Academy was opened in 1774, and the Trenton
Academy three years later. Princeton University had been established in
1746 by the Presbyterians at Elizabeth, and Rutgers was founded as
Queen's College by the Dutch Reformed Church in 1766. A Princeton
graduate opened a grammar school at Elizabethtown in the same year and
other college men followed his example.
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