Today Hepcat, OSFO, Luvbud and I toured Brooklyn Latin, which calls itself “a replication” of the Boston Latin School, which is the oldest public school in the United States. The curriculum is a classical liberal arts education, that includes Latin, declamation (memorization and recitation of important texts), Socratic seminars, where students engage academic debate, and the International Baccalaureate.

Invigorating.

Hepcat said it was the kind of school he’d like to go to. Now. That said it’s not for every kid. I’m guessing if it’s right for your child you or your child will know it.

The BL students, who observe a dress code of white shirts and khaki pants (or skirts for the girls) of their own choosing, look intelligent, engaged, relaxed, energetic and enthusiastic about the school, which really seems to stress learning for the sake of being a well-rounded and educated member of the world.

That said, the school, which is one of the specialized schools requiring the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) for admission, is college-oriented and we were told that colleges visit the school on a weekly basis during junior and senior year. The girl who led our tour said that she’s hoping to get into Harvard and that’s why she’s happy about doing the International Baccalaureate.

I expected to feel the rigor of the school but I didn’t expect the kids to be so relaxed, good humored and unpretentious.  During the Q&A at the end of the tour, a panel of kids spoke openly when asked what they found most difficult about the school:

“Getting up in the morning,” more than one kid said.

“Scheduling. There so much to do, so much to juggle: school work, classes, meetings, after-school activities and social life…”

“Freshman year it took a while to adjust to the teaching styles…”

The kids seemed unusually mature and poised. Of course, these were the kids hand-picked by the administration to represent the school and lead the five tour groups.

The parents on tour seemed taken in by the school’s humanities based curriculum, high quality of the teachers and the impressive level of discourse going on in at least one of the classrooms. Some of the kids on the tour found the dress code to be problematic. We were shown the school’s brand new library. While the room and its furniture was quite attractive, there were few books on the shelves. But that will come.

We were able to see a math class, a history class and what I think was a Socratic seminar, where I heard a girl speak impressively about the partitioning of India and Pakistan. We also got to meet a Latin teacher, a young man who seemed appropriately eccentric and interesting.

Founded in 2006, Brooklyn Latin is located in a large public school  building, where it currently occupies two floors. It took us forever to get to Bushwick from Park Slope by car service in the heavy morning traffic. The return trip was easier because we took the L train to the G (which we got at Lorimar) to Seventh Avenue.

Not too bad a subway commute.

I don’t know much about the surrounding neighborhood or the other school in the building but it is not far from an L train stop. When asked about the neighborhood one of the students, who lives in the neighborhood said:

“It’s getting better since the school started. They get who we are, what we’re doing here.”

The girl leading our tour said that many of the teachers are young. “We can relate to them and that makes it’s easy to learn,” she told me.

Brooklyn Latin is high school from a different era but it doesn’t feel stodgy or precious. A Jesuit style education without the religious training, it’s a great books curriculum that seeks to prepare students to be articulate and well-rounded for the 21st century.

You can also read about my tours of Edward R. Murrow High School, Midwood High School and the NYC iSchool.

Illustration by Kevin Kocses: www.kevinkocses.carbonmade.com