The Park School

From its very first day in 1912, Park has been an educational leader in Baltimore and the nation. By adopting the tenets of progressive education; by committing to a non-sectarian admission policy; by emphasizing education as a lifetime process; by understanding its role in preparing students to become responsible, active participants in a democratic society; by giving its faculty the freedom to teach; and by trusting in the instincts of children bursting with natural curiosity and eagerness to learn, the extraordinary students and staff distinguish themselves.

Park was founded by forward-thinking, public-spirited citizens, who understood their responsibility to provide the best possible education for their children. Generations later, we are proud to have sustained that vision and to continue that important legacy, embracing the challenges and joys of becoming learners for life.

Devoted to intellectual inquiry, a collaborative spirit of learning, and an appreciation for the diversity of human experience, The Park School of Baltimore is a community founded on positive expectations of our students and respect for individual differences. We cultivate children’s innate curiosity by nurturing their interests and engaging them as active participants in their own education. We support young people in becoming confident questioners and responsible citizens of the world.

The Park School embodies both in its tradition and in its daily practice three assumptions. First, human beings are capable and desirous of rational self-discipline and of acting towards others with respect, kindness, concern, open-mindedness, and moral conviction. Second, the activity of learning is an expression of positive energies, fulfills natural impulse, and enriches life. Third, authentic learning flourishes when people work, think, and collaborate within a diverse community.

As young people respond to the influence of these ideals, learning to trust and assert their own intellectual and moral powers as they develop, they acquire a sense of confidence in themselves and others, which will inspire a productive adulthood. Since the quality of expectation is most important, the belief that positive expectations produce positive virtues is fundamental to the practice of the school.

The conviction that the child contains inner strength, talents, and powers, which can be liberated and nurtured, allows a variety of educational techniques and methods and is manifested in the school in different ways. Accepting this belief requires recognition of the excesses it may bring: occasional sentimentality, self-indulgence, disorder, and untidiness. Yet it insists that the teacher’s authority as an adult and as a scholar should be used not to suppress or constrain, but to provide the skills, opportunities, challenges, and encouragement to bring about the flowering and fulfillment of the individual to think and act in the world with responsible freedom.

The academic process offers young people a dynamic view of the nature of knowledge and the experiences of learning, and supports their efforts to construct life-affirming meaning. In every area of the curriculum the school encourages substantial student commitment to reading, writing, enquiry, and focused discussion in order to secure the factual knowledge and conceptual structures essential for intellectual competence.

Thus considered, school activities become both ends in themselves and means toward more complex, more difficult ends. But however rigorous, school work need not be alienating or painful, nor need success be measured by comparison to others. Rather, achievement is the result of the use by the child, under proper stimulation and challenge, of the natural powers of mind and body, which in their exercise and application provide pleasure and happiness.

To participate in the life of The Park School requires trust in these good prospects, effort to sustain these positive expectations, and confidence that, under their influence, children will grow to adulthood possessing the power to enact in their lives these beliefs about themselves and others.

All aspects of life at Park complement the academic curriculum by providing more opportunities for parents, students, and teachers to become engaged in the learning process. Our co-curricular activities and events help students develop leadership skills, self-awareness and cooperation. Additional groups and programs, such as the Parents' Association, the Diversity Committee, and the highly successful Partners program allow for collaboration between parents, faculty and students while supporting the growing diversity of Park’s faculty and student body.