The Monmouth inquirer., 1923-10-11

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Grange and the New Jersey Fedora
ton Of County Boards of Agriculture
has been making a study Of rural
school conditions for many months.
While it seems impossible for coun-
try districts to have their own high
schools at the present time, the con-.
mittee has gone on record as recon-
mending that pupils up to the eighth
grade get educated In country schools.
Rubber Tires R~evolutionize
Automobiles and motor buses, with
their easy transportation from coun-
try to town, have been the principal
factor in sweeping away the little red
schoolhouses which a generation ago
dotted the rural landscape in almost
every direction. The farmers hem
selves now use the automobile more
extensively than any other class. and
it has leveled lots of other rural GUS
toms besides the little red school
house.
Transportation for children OF all
ages and grades from country to town
has long brought forth protests from
the farmers.
The joint investigation committee
enumerated these objections In its re-
port made some time ago:
Small children do not feel at home
in town schools.
In the higher grades che country
children are weaned away from the
farm life by town and city schools.
The country is losing a community
center with the abolishing Of its own
schoolhouse.
Country people lose interest in
school and teacher when they have
none of their own.
Now that the ebb tide has set. in,
the country people are urging that as
town schools become o~vercrowded
with pupils transported from the
rural districts new schools be erected
where necessary in the country rather
than in the towns.
The farmers further approve of con-
solidating country schools where it is
necessary to obtain the most benefits
for the pupils, but they want these
consolidated schools wherever possi-
BILE erected in the country instead Of
in the towns and cities.
What has really handicapped the
rural districts in undermining their
schools, the farmers point out, is the
fact that there is at present an un-
equal distribution of state school
money, whereby the thickly populated
districts and the cities and towns get
proportionately more to spend per pu-
pill than do the poorer country dis.
tricts.
A bill will be presented at the next
session of the legislature providing
for more equitable distribution of
state school money. Such measures
have beer tried before, but have al
ways met the opposition of the richer
and more powerful north Jersey coun-
ties, which get a big slice of the state
funds.
Model for Rural Schools
In the meantime some of the rural
districts of south Jersey are working
out their own school problems. Such
a condition is found in Deerfield town
ship, whose school is now pointed to
as a model for consolidated rural
schools in this part of the state.
It was necessary to literally split
the old township in half before advo-
Gates of the new school were finally
able to get their building. which is in
the half that retained the townships
original name.
Erected upon a large site, on a
knoll, with a great sweep of lawn in
front Of it, the new Deerield school
is well set off to catch the attention
of thousands of motorists who pass
Route 6 of the state highway system.
1t is built right out in the country, a
good distance from the village of
Deerleld.
The building itself is most modern
in every detail. 1t has two stories,
with basement, and is built of red
brick, with white limestone trim.
There are four classrooms and a large
auditorium, seating about 900 persons,
on the irst floor and five classrooms
on the second. In the basement Is a
large room suitable for gymnasium
and also space for other school pur-
poses. The building is entirely fire.
proof, has modern heating and ven-
tilating systems and all the sanitary
conveniences of a city or town school.
The building at Bunker Hill repre-
sents a modern rural school ofsthe
smaller type. 1t is located almost in
the center of Washington township,
Gloucester county, and also built out
in the country, well apart from town
or village.
Fight Over Hot Water
Adoption of a State policy for con-
s~ervation Of potable water sources
will be an important issue at the next
session of the Legislature.
The Court of Errors and Appeals
set aside the action of the State Board
of Conservation and Development in
awarding to Bayonne the right to de-
veiop the Ramapo Valley watershed
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