Why a Boys School?

In addition to encouraging the pursuit of academic achievement, Gilman promotes wellness, belonging, and community, focusing on the development of resilience and empathy. We help each boy and young man to make responsible choices, to be of service to others, and to live an honorable life. Throughout their time at Gilman, boys not only participate in community service projects but they learn the value of public service and how to make meaningful contributions to society.

Our top priority is to ensure a strong ethical foundation. Ask any Gilman student or alum, and he will tell you that the Gilman Five — honor, integrity, respect, humility, and excellence — is woven into every aspect of the school day. This framework of expected behavior is strengthened by outstanding faculty who model it daily.

It's a simple fact that boys and girls grow at a different pace. While girls generally develop earlier physically and socially, refining their reading and writing skills sooner, boys are more spatial and visual by nature, and they demonstrate a natural affinity for areas like abstract mathematics. They are also hardwired to learn more easily through action than words.

Using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), researchers have observed unique characteristics between the developing male and female brains that demonstrate why boys and girls learn in different ways. Boys' brains are wired to require movement, space, action, and rest. A typical coed classroom that favors verbal and auditory learning can put an active boy at a disadvantage.

One of the important advantages of a single-sex education is the opportunity it presents to create a learning environment that accommodates what boys and young men need. In a boy-centered environment, Gilman teachers introduce more kinesthetic and sensory experiences into their curriculum, engaging boys more fully.

Each faculty member at Gilman has made a conscious choice to teach boys. They enjoy boys' irreverent humor and draw energy from their natural exuberance. Their passion for teaching boys requires a commitment to build relationships, craft a curriculum, and lead a classroom that engages each student in the way he learns best.

As experts in boys' education, teachers take into consideration the interests and talents unique to boys when they prepare each lesson. Because they know boys often prefer to work cooperatively, faculty can use teams effectively in project-based assignments. And because they understand the rhythm of a boys' classroom, they can plan physical activity into class time and extended breaks into the school day.

Without the social pressures of a coed environment, students in an all-boys school can explore the full range of their personalities and potential. Eschewing stereotypes, they discover they have many roles to play as a scholar, athlete, artist, musician, and friend. A boys-centered school assists students in finding their innate creativity and imagination while developing their communication skills and pursuing other strengths and interests.

Boys' schools have a key role to play in fostering what psychologists like Michael Thompson (who wrote "Raising Cain" and "The Pressured Child") call "emotionally literate boys," who respond to others with empathy and compassion. Such schools appreciate that boys "will not express feelings as girls do" and provide guidance in coping with the many expectations that schools, parents, or society may have for them as young men and boys.

Working together in the classroom, on the playing field, or on the stage, students are united by a special bond of brotherhood. Many alumni say the friendships they developed with their peers and with faculty are among the most important benefits they carry with them from their time at Gilman.

Gilman's relationship-based education model not only enhances the learning process; it also contributes to a boy's growing sense of belonging to his class, his team, and the School. Boys find important role models in the outstanding teachers, coaches, and mentors who are by their sides each day.