Guiding the children: Schools, teachers, community and state in Sussex County, New Jersey, 1750-1894

Sussex County is in the northwest corner of New Jersey. Its easternmost communities are fifty miles from New York City. Twenty miles to the west is the Delaware River separating New York and Pennsylvania from New Jersey. By 1997 1,400,000 people lived in the county.; Until 1780 Sussex County was a militarized frontier. Following the Revolutionary War between 1790 and 1860 the economy changed from a mixed subsistence/monetary economy to a market economy more and more integrated with the New York metropolitan area following 1853 when rail transportation reached Newton the County seat.; During the last three decades of the 19th. century the County's population remained stagnant. Small scale, mixed crop farming declined. Many farmers attempted a transition to dairy products or fruits, vegetable, and egg production shipped to nearby urban markets. Young people migrated to jobs and training "down below." Within the county Newton became a shoe and silk factory town with 600 jobs by 1895. The Ogdensburg/Franklin mining area expanded.; Amidst these economic changes Sussex County public schools continued to provide children a transition from rural and small town family life to the options of remaining within the county or leaving for work elsewhere.; The first schools were created by community leaders and parents. They taught literacy and arithmetic skills. Through these skills children would take their first steps along a life-long road of personal improvement designed to retain their political rights, develop morale character and achieve social respect. Schools did not emerge from market economy demands and did not change their curricula or goal as the regional and national market economy negatively affected the county. The poor, one room schools met the needs of the urban, industrial economy by preparing fluent, literate, and arithmetically competent workers.; Throughout the 19th century Sussex school leaders worked aggressively to get more and more state authority and money for their schools. When state officials first arrived in 1867 local leaders worked cooperatively, adjusted their practices where necessary and never gave up the idea that they were the "state" responsible for educating children. In 1894 legislation consolidated local school districts trustees into township Boards of Education. This change did not significantly affect children. Most continued to attend ill equipped, one room school houses. Consolidation did not cause a shift in school operating authority from local leaders to state officials.; Today, as legislatures and courts in northeastern states grapple with educational issues political power rests with suburban and rural residents who have inherited and modernized 19th century educational ideas and practices which had seemingly died with the coming of consolidation and bureaucratic management in the 20th century. The beliefs and practices of early 19th century rural school managers and community supporters will dominate early 21st century educational practice.