PHILOSOPHY & HISTORY
Director Gus Trowbridge with the 5-6s class, ca. 1967
In 1966, founders Gus and Marty Trowbridge set out to create an independent school where equality, social justice, a diverse community, and the inspiration of Martin Luther King, Jr. would form the basis for children’s education. Four decades later, at a school with no racial majority, that dream has become a vibrant reality for almost 200 students every year.
Today, Manhattan Country School is recognized as a model of both progressive education and socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic diversity. Our graduates leave not only with a first class academic education and preparation for some of the nation’s top high schools and colleges but with a deep understanding of our multicultural world. The farm program engages students with the natural processes that support life and provides an unparalleled experience of community.
Vision
Manhattan Country School envisions its students as future leaders whose shared experiences in learning and activism inspire them to champion excellence and justice, compassion and peace, and the rights of all people to racial, economic, environmental, and educational equity.
Mission
Reflecting the vision of the civil rights movement, Manhattan Country School teaches students in a community with no racial majority and broad economic diversity. Our goals for students are academic excellence, intellectual freedom, social awareness, self-confidence, and first-hand knowledge of the natural world. MCS is unique among NYC independent schools in having a 180-acre working farm integral to the curriculum and a sliding scale for tuition.