BROOKLYN LATIN SCHOOL PARENT ASSOCIATION
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Mission Statement
The Brooklyn Latin School Parent Association, Inc. supports The Brooklyn Latin School (TBLS). TBLS is a specialized high school that serves a majority low-income student body, providing a classical education in a rigorous academic environment. It offers the International Baccalaureate Programme, an advanced liberal arts high school program. TBLS seeks to provide its discipuli with the groundwork for an understanding of the foundation of our society and the capacity to serve as leaders in our communities.
About This Cause
The Brooklyn Latin Parent Association, Inc., supports the Brooklyn Latin School. Specialized Liberal Arts High School The Brooklyn Latin School is one of only nine specialized high schools in New York City. All disicpuli take the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for admission. Discipuli at TBLS engage in a rigorous, classically focused liberal arts education. TBLS is the only specialized high school to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, an advanced liberal arts program that emphasizes the study of the humanities, mathematics, and sciences. Students around the world who are in the IB Programme undertake rigorous, college-level coursework across many fields. All coursework at TBLS is taken at the honors-level the first two years, and at the college-level during the final two years, with the opportunity to earn college credit for those courses. Within this rigorous liberal arts curriculum, our discipuli deepen their skills in areas that they may be interested in, while also gaining exposure to, and often developing interests in, fields to which they’ve had less exposure. Discipuli at TBLS become well-rounded learners that think critically, problem-solve, collaborate, and understand the physical world around them. This wide array of skills allows TBLS discipuli to graduate prepared to succeed in diverse fields, such as law, the arts, journalism, technology, medicine, and business. Classical Education The classical model of education has its roots in ancient Greece and Rome, where it was believed that that public discussion and debate with one’s peers developed citizens and leaders who were able to reason to their full potential. Continuing this tradition, discipuli in all classes can expect a strong - and continuing - emphasis on public speaking, structured writing, and analytical thinking. The Brooklyn Latin School enhances leadership skills through systematic academic exercises like declamation, in which discipuli practice the ancient art of rhetoric, and Socratic Seminar, in which discipuli follow the ancient philosopher Socrates’s lead in asking and debating thought-provoking questions with peers. Lastly, Latin language instruction helps all discipuli understand the nuances of grammar and language necessary to master the skill of communication, and puts them directly in touch with the classical tradition. Leadership Discipuli further hone their leadership skills within the context of classes where learning is discipuli-led. Working under the guidance of teachers, discipuli are themselves tasked with generating understanding and analyzing complex problems. In science and math classes, discipuli take the lead by collaboratively solving problems, and in designing and conducting their own experiments. In humanities courses, discipuli work together to analyze texts and pose their own interpretations to one another. School-wide structures like Socratic Seminar further help discipuli develop their leadership skills. The Legati program allows discipuli to act as ambassadors of the school, leading tours to prospective families and visitors, and answering questions during Open Houses. Student Senate allows discipuli, chosen by their peers, to meet with school leadership and ensure that discipuli have a voice in the community. Moreover, discipuli leadership of our many extracurricular clubs, like our newspaper has helped these organizations thrive on campus, contributing to a vibrant in-school community. Rigor Through participation in a rigorous and broad-based academic program, discipuli are challenged to grow as learners and people. Setbacks are treated as a necessary step within the broader learning experience, as discipuli take advantage of supports provided by the school to learn how to become life-long learners. Our commitment to helping our discipuli grow is further shaped by the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile, which encourages all students to become inquisitive, knowledgeable, and principled, but at the same time also caring and compassionate. Perhaps the most visible sign of our community is the distinctive uniform, whose purple accents reflect the color worn by Roman nobility. The school motto is also its guiding principle: Cui multum sit datum, multum ab eo postulabitur – to whom much is given, much is expected. Extracurriculars Participation in extracurricular activities and community-based service are important aspects of our mission to create well-rounded people that will succeed as professionals, citizens, and leaders. As part of the International Baccalaureate program, all discipuli are encouraged to take part in a program of Creativity, Activity, and Service. The CAS program helps discipuli develop their creative thinking, encourages physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle, and encourages them to become involved in aspects of community service. Opportunities offered by TBLS that help fulfill these goals include sports teams like basketball and soccer, a studio arts club, and service-oriented clubs like the National Honor Society and Key Club. These opportunities allow TBLS discipuli to extend their educational experience beyond the classroom walls. Essential Features At TBLS, we call our school's guiding principles our Essential Features, because they distinguish us from every other school in New York and help us create and reinforce a strong culture that is instilled in every one of our students. From the use of Latin nomenclature to the institutions of Socratic Seminars and Declamation, Essential Features define who we are as a vibrant learning community. Latin The Brooklyn Latin School mandates the study of Latin, which lies at the core of its classical liberal arts curriculum. Latin puts students in touch with the great thinkers of the past, from Cicero to Erasmus, whose ideas form the basis of Western society. Such principles as democracy or the rule of law are ancient Greek and Roman ideas that can still be read in their original Greek and Latin texts. Latin also trains students to recognize the phonetics, the lexical roots, and the syntactic principles that underlie all Romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese), and even some non-Romance languages (English). Such familiarity with the major languages of the Americas and Western Europe is an invaluable asset. Finally, Latin encourages students to adopt disciplined methodologies for tackling new problems. Latin is very structured, and its rules must be mastered to achieve understanding. As students find ways to organize their thoughts about Latin they develop techniques that can help them any time they are expected to synthesize vast amounts of information. Nomenclature To better capture the nearly four hundred years of tradition of The Boston Latin School, The Brooklyn Latin School employs a unique nomenclature which uses Latin words in place of their English counterparts. Instead of teachers teaching students, at The Brooklyn Latin School magistri teach discipuli. Students do not change classes by walking through the halls, they file through the atria. Such nomenclature reminds discipuli that they participate in an academic tradition that stretches back to the first ancient Greek and Roman authors, whose language is alive in The Brooklyn Latin School. It is to this tradition that The Brooklyn Latin School nomenclature pays homage. Declamation The Brooklyn Latin School subscribes to the classical belief that to be a leader in any field, academic or otherwise, one needs to be well-spoken. As Cicero notes in De Oratore, mastering the art of speech involves mastering all of the arts. Those trained to speak well possess sharper memories, better writing skills, and more expansive areas of expertise. That they may enjoy these advantages, Brooklyn Latin School students must take part in declamation. In declamation, students must memorize a passage from a text, such as Dante's Commedia, and then declaim it before the faculty and fellow students. Each year four in-class declamations are held in English and History, with an additional four public declamations being held for students who wish to audition to declaim before the entire Brooklyn Latin School community. The last of these public declamations is Prize Declamation. Being selected as the declaimer for Prize Declamation is one of the highest honors The Brooklyn Latin School bestows. Activities such as these ensure that students learn to speak clearly and with confidence, and it follows Cicero's advice that the one crucial ingredient to becoming an eloquent speaker is practice. Socratic Seminar Like Socrates, The Brooklyn Latin School believes that an education does not mean simply filling a student with information, like filling a cup with water. Rather, an education means encouraging a student to realize his or her potential for discovery and independent thought. It is awakening a student to the reality that he or she must make the discovery. Socratic Seminar encourages such an awakening by training students to direct discussion without relying upon a teacher to always lead the way. A Socratic Seminar begins the night before, when students receive a text that they must annotate thoroughly. The next day, these annotations form the basis of a student driven discussion. Students discuss the text amongst themselves, their notes providing direction. As students take the discussion into new areas, they make discoveries themselves. They train themselves to be lifelong independent thinkers who do not need to be shown what to think. Uniform To foster a learning community free of distraction, and to better capture the disciplined culture that has been so crucial to the success of The Boston Latin School, The Brooklyn Latin School upholds a strict dress code. The code is strictly enforced, with students expected to be in full uniform during the school day. The Brooklyn Latin School's policy might be summarized thus: dress well to perform well.