Boston Latin School

Boston Latin School, public secondary school in Boston, Massachusetts, the oldest existing school in the United States. Its establishment in 1635 as the Latin Grammar School, open to all boys regardless of social class, set a precedent for tax-supported public education.

Based on the English grammar school, its purpose was to educate young men in the classics as a preparation for university entrance. In 1789 the Latin School curriculum was changed from the English model by reducing the course from seven years to four; it now offers four- and six-year programs. In 1877, 242 years after the start of the boys’ school, the strictly college-preparatory Girls’ Latin School was established, and in 1972 the Boston Latin School was made coeducational. Notable alumni include the educator Charles William Eliot, philosopher George Santayana, businessman and statesman Joseph P. Kennedy, and composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein.