Providing opportunities for boys to design, build, nurture, and grow their world, we have created four core pillars to the programmatic goals of the school: SELF, PREP, WORK, all encompassed by LIFE.

• The SELF is the responsibility to one's self (self-knowing, healthy habits, etc.)
• The PREP is the process of preparing a student for the LIFE and future schooling by building skills, content understanding and connections between the classroom and life experiences.
• The WORK is a process of building the multitude of skills through hands-on learning to make the self useful to the life (design, engineering, building, civic engagement)
• The LIFE is one's responsibility to others (your brothers, family, community, country, world)

the self
The pillar of the SELF reflects boysʼ unseen, yet critical, self-knowledge, development, inner growth, and all related physical, mental, emotional, and moral developmental processes. The Self can be viewed as an evolving whole with multiple behaviors, skills,
and habits of mind, built on over time. Holistic self-development empowers boys to observe, assess, and act in the world, with purpose, and from a place of integrity and compassion. The boyʼs sense of self is developed in a multitude of ways: in the
classroom, Advisory, Town Meeting, Clubs, and together.

The goals of the Self are:

• to increase oneʼs knowledge of the self, including the spectrum of oneʼs strengths and areas for improvement across all pillars through integrated and regular reflection;
• to become emotionally literate: to be able to identify and articulate oneʼs emotions and to learn to “read” the emotions of others and of social contexts;
• to connect empathy and action: to learn to put oneʼs self in anotherʼs place, cultivate compassion, and create positive change in the world. Confidence, security and the understanding of the self build compassion.

the prep
The PREP encompasses traditional academic courses taught in collaboration and connection with the WORK and SELF in preparation for high school and LIFE. The PREP is an inquiry- and discovery-based, experiential process engaging the whole boy
through coaching, practice, and presentation.

The PREP takes the National Common Core Standards and creates diagnostics, lessons, assessments, and opportunities of student self-reflection, all of which create a classroom of engagement, a place where boys do not just come to be fed information, but instead to feast and savor what the learning community has to offer and develop their own critical ideas and assertions for others to consider and partake.   Our intent is not only to prepare boys for high school, but for life through fostering their curiosity and ability to recognize their own academic strengths and challenges.  EBSB boys will grow to stand out as particularly engaged, thoughtful and courageous young men in their communities.

An EBSB alumnus should be well prepared to demonstrate proficiency in English (by being ready to read and write in persuasive, expository, narrative, and descriptive forms) in social studies (by being ready to take world history or civilization); in math (by being ready to take algebra 1, algebra 2, or geometry); in science (by being ready to take biology, with a laboratory component); and in Spanish (by being ready to take second-year Spanish or the first year of a different language).

A teachers job is to give them the experiences practice to build their mental, social, and physical capacity through drill and challenge and to provide them with space to take those capacities to solve problems, imagine and create.

the work
The WORK is the responsibility to utilize self-knowing (SELF), practical skills (WORK), and the love of learning (PREP) to compassionately create and communicate with oneʼs environment (LIFE). The Work encompasses empathy, design, building, creation, critical problem finding and solving, collaboration, community, service-learning, cultural competency, reflection, and a confidence to grow through mistakes.

The Work helps make learning and knowing more tangible by engaging the whole person within a project-based hands-on learning curriculum that is rigorous and fun with clear expectations and educational purpose. It embraces all learning styles and approaches to a problem through its multiple methods utilizing all parts of the brain, body, and life experience.

The goal of The Work is to build confidence in boys that through practice, patience, and purpose he can become the engaged, thoughtful, and courageous man of tomorrow. EBSB Work aims to achieve these goals through the application of and connections
among Prep courses: social science, math, English, world language, and science. An EBSB student becomes fully engaged with his learning when he is able to apply his passions, skills, and life experiences with his shared world.

the life
The LIFE is seen as a manifestation of all the experiences at EBSB, in particular how each boyʼs self-awareness and community mindedness build skills to be a good man and citizen throughout his life.

The philosophy of the LIFE holds that:

• Boys engage more when there is a direct connection to the real world;
• Boys do better with abstraction when they can attach it to the concrete world around them;
• Boys’ ability to play in fantasy worlds allows them to work out their understanding of real life issues;
• Seeing interconnectedness helps boys see how their actions have impact;
• Nurturing living things gives boys a sense of purpose and prepares them to be nurturing members of the human community;
• The men of tomorrow need to listen and speak assertively;
• Men should be able to communicate their emotions;
• Men should treat women well;
• Mistakes are essential to learning;
• Boys need to work hard and play hard;
• Boys need to adapt to new environments, situations, and an ever-changing world;
• Personal and communal livelihood are equally important; boys should understand their own independence and interdependence;
• Collaboration in a diverse society is essential;
  
• Leaders of the 21st Century have a responsibility to sustainability ; and
• There are many ways to be a man.