Pro Virili Parte

TO THE BEST OF ONE’S ABILITY

Before having the opportunity to join the student body, each student was required to take entrance examinations, whereby to determine level of intelligence and the appropriate academic grade level in reading vocabulary and comprehension, English grammar and spelling, and mathematical reasoning and fundamentals. Qualified applicants, and his parents, were interviewed before a decision could be made on admission.  

A demonstration of superior intelligence possessed by the student, and academic accomplishment, was crucial to the admissions process. 

To achieve a high level of excellence, B.U.S. classes were taught by the best qualified instructors that could be found. Requisite characteristics of those instructors were dedication to the B.U.S. ideal of education, a personal commitment to always seek knowledge and professional competence, and diligence ever to strive to stretch the mind of each boy enrolled at the school. These instructors were devoted to the intensive teaching of basic courses: written and oral communication in English, ancient and modern languages, mathematics, history, and sciences.

The curriculum of B.U.S. aimed to offer the best possible preparation for college entrance—it was the desire of the administration and the faculty that each graduate of the school would be able to enter the college of his choice and excel within his course of study whatsoever it might be.

 Those at Birmingham University School were aware that the capacity to learn and the ability to make use of information in creative and reflective thinking, as traits, are uniquely human. There was a general feeling for “learning PER SE” as the indispensable fabric of sound thinking. While the leadership and faculty did seek every opportunity to encourage the use of facts in intelligent reasoning, they considered their first business to be the teaching of fundamental knowledge and skills.