Submitted by Paul Leber, Jul 2, 2007 11:52

I attended Erasmus for 3 years (1951-54); at the time I recall it may have had a total enrollment approaching 6000 or so. It was a great place then, but far from homogeneous. Those of us heading to college (i.e., 350 or so out of my graduating class of 1054) were effectively segregated from the hoi pelioi; based on grades and conduct, high academic performers were granted access to special classes collectively identified as the Honors Program. Indeed, I have often remarked that the density of gifted, intelligent, and motivated individuals was fargreater in these classes at Erasmus than at either the college I attended (Hamilton) or the several medical schools at which I subsequently taught. Thus, although a large school in name, in those halcyon years when "Brooklyn was the World," Erasmus for those of us in the Honors Program was a 'small and exclusive school.' If I recall correctly, one year, Erasmus had more Westinghouse Scholarship finalists and National winners than the states of Illinois and California combined. Admittedly, the large overall size of the school did allow for many, many extra-curricular activities ranging from a champion basketball team to Public Speaking Competitions to a Rifle team. I suspect, however, that it was not its size, but the epoch and the indigenous population of Flatbush that made Erasmus the terrific experience what it was in the early to late 1950's.

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