HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive: Recent Episodes
The Heights School
Welcome to HeightsCast, the official podcast of The Heights School! Every other week, we feature interviews with teachers and educators here at The Heights School and elsewhere, on the education and formation of the type of man you’d want your daughter to marry. Our hope is that through this medium we can enlighten, inspire, and reassure the parents and friends of The Heights community, and parents and educators throughout the world. Join us!
"Friendship is one of the most indispensable requirements of life," says Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics. But, adds Alasdair MacInytre, it's also "difficult and often enough impossible—especially under the conditions characteristic of contemporary modernity."
Today on HeightsCast, long-time colleagues (and friends!) Austin Hatch and Tom Steenson reflect on the nature of friendship, and why it was chosen as the theme for the 2026 Convivium Conference for Teaching Men, hosted by The Heights Forum this November.
What is the value of friendships among fellow faculty? What are the ingredients of that friendship? How should individual teachers seek it? How can school leaders foster it? And how might the students benefit?
Mr. Hatch and Mr. Steenson begin to scratch the surface of these questions in preparation for the deep-dive at this year's Convivium. If you'd like to join us, registrations, essays for the conference companion, and proposals for breakout sessions are now being accepted.
Chapters: 7:42 Aristotle and Cicero on friendship
12:46 Teaching: a shared life
16:09 Friendship: shared work, shared mission
20:31 Time constraints to friendship
24:50 Faculty friendship's effect on students
32:41 Maintaining culture as the school grows
38:34 Education: a raising of friends
44:24 Best practices for school leaders, individual teachers
Links: De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture Keynote: Is Friendship Possible? featuring Alasdair MacInytre
"Economy and Pleasure" in The Art of the Commonplace by Wendell Berry
Also on the Forum: Faculty of Friends: Making Schools into Communities featuring Tom Cox
Friendship for Fathers: John Cuddeback on Living and Teaching the Art featuring Dr. John Cuddeback
On Hiring Teachers: Drafting a Faculty of Friends featuring Alvaro de Vicente
In the charged "Achievement Culture" we live in today, both parent and student anxiety have skyrocketed. There are the usual culprits, from a changing economic landscape to social media and comparison culture.
But ultimately, Michael Moynihan believes our professional and academic anxieties come from a crisis of meaning for the term 'work.'
Drawing on his experience as a math teacher, head of the upper school at The Heights, and father of a large family, Mr. Moynihan suggests that we can reduce anxiety by understanding 'work' not as a means of self-optimization or self-advancement, but primarily self-gift. Sanctifying our work tempers both extremes of anxiety and avoidance.
Chapters: 5:43 A results-based system meets parental pressure
8:16 Modern crisis of meaning for work
12:03 Helping young people see beyond the immediate, material
14:46 Sanctifying work for anxious students
20:57 Sanctifying work for avoidant students
25:12 Meaningful chores: an antidote to disordered work
28:02 Mastery over grades
Links: Answering Anxiety by Michael Moynihan
The Father and His Family: A Guidebook for Aspiring, New, and Experienced Fathers by Michael Moynihan
Decisive Parenting: Forming Authentic Freedom in Your Children by Michael Moynihan
The Talk and Beyond: Raising Children in a Confused Culture by Michael Moynihan
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Children Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
Also on the Forum: How to Not Be Anxious as a Parent by Alvaro de Vicente
Automaticity: Where 'Rote' Fits into the Liberal Arts featuring David Maxham
Automaticity and Creativity by David Maxham
Hopeful Parents, Hopeful Sons by Alvaro de Vicente
His Anxiety and Ours: Confessions of an Anxious Parent who Happens to Be a Therapist featuring Alex Berthé
Featured Opportunities: Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)
Leaders Initiative, a year-long mentoring partnership for school leaders
Natural History is a largely outdoor, discovery-based class for our lower school students, where they see the Valley as a textbook and the seasons as its chapters.
Eric Heil has taught Natural History to his third graders for decades now, and in this rebroadcast from 2021, he unpacks the class's lessons of close observation, pattern recognition, scientific inquiry, identification, wonder, and the foundations of philosophy—all among 8- to 11-year-olds.
Chapters: 3:10 Personal observation and discovery
5:35 The outdoors: an alternative textbook
9:55 Boys and nature journals
19:49 Intrinsic value in nature study
25:47 Junior philosophy: substance and accidents
31:50 "I see, I think of, I wonder"
36:23 Starting a nature study at your school
Links: Webinar: How to Keep a Nature Journal featuring Eric Heil and Peter Vitz Fact or Opinion: On Preventing (or Unwinding) Moral Relativism by Michael Moynihan
The Laws Guide to Drawing Nature and Journaling by John Muir Laws Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock A Natural History of North American Trees by Donald Culross Peattie Nature's Events: A Notebook of the Unfolding Seasons by John Serrao
Also on the Forum: Teaching Sovereign Knowers, a series on science education by Michael MoynihanEducating Boys: Nature, Risk, and the Making of Men by Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti On Nature Journals and Observant Souls featuring Eric Heil "Can I Catch It?": On Handling Wildlife featuring Eric Heil
Featured Opportunities: Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)
Our headmaster often uses this paradigm for the ideal Heights graduate: he's the kind of young man you'd want your daughter to marry.
In a recent article for the Forum, Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti asked: in our current culture, how does a boy grow up to be the kind of man who desires that life?
Delving into Church sources, both scriptural and magisterial, he has assembled the outline of a theology of masculinity. Responding to Pope St. John Paul II's description of the "feminine genius," Dr. Lanzilotti considers the prospect of a complementary "masculine genius," and what it means for our boys.
Chapters: 3:09 A man you'd want your daughter to marry 4:18 A man who wants to marry 7:40 Naturally ordered toward fatherhood 8:58 Building a culture of marriage 16:21 Stories about vocation, fidelity 18:22 Teaching vocation, fidelity 23:00 Theology and human sexuality 26:06 The human heart responds to goodness 31:01 The masculine genius 35:34 Scriptural, papal guidance on human love 37:51 Witnessing to the goodness of life
Links: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset Love and Responsibility by John Paul II Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body by John Paul II "The Jeweler's Shop" by John Paul II Redemptor Hominis, encyclical by Pope St. John Paul II, 1979 Familiaris Consortio, apostolic exhortation by Pope St. John Paul II, 1981 Deus Caritas Est, encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI, 2005 "Is There a Catholic Theology of Masculinity?" dissertation by Peter Holmes
Also on the Forum: Made in the Image and Likeness: On Man and Masculinity featuring Bishop Erik Varden
Worthy and Willing: Forming Boys Who Will Want to Marry by Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti
Educating Boys: Nature, Risk, and the Making of Men by Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti
The Magisterial Case for Single-Sex Education by Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti
The Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox
Featured Opportunities: Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)
How many of us wondered at some point in our lives: "Should I go to law school?"
It's a common question as one approaches college graduation. Students find themselves on that "moving walkway" toward the future: it will go forward, but at which stop should they get off? How can they pick a path on purpose—and not due to momentum?
Heights upper school teacher Mark Grannis spent decades practicing law, even co-founding his own DC firm. Knowing many lawyers, one-day lawyers, and would-have-been lawyers in every stage of professional development, he noticed some patterns of discernment that genuinely helped people decide whether the law vocation was for them. This spring, he released Should You Go to Law School? Knowing How to Know, a guide that addresses law in particular and professional/vocational discernment in general.
Mr. Grannis encourages people considering any career vocation to take stock of their academic and emotional talents, imagining where those can best be applied for the benefit of others.
Chapters: 00:03:29 The genesis of the book 00:06:51 Grannis's professional background 00:11:54 What a lawyer really does 00:15:33 Seeing career in vocational terms 00:19:50 Three lawyer temperaments: past, present, and future 00:24:23 Bad reasons to go to law school 00:26:33 The one good reason 00:29:10 Three questions for vocational discernment 00:33:20 The infinite, imaginative possibilities of work 00:39:42 AI and the future of law 00:43:47 Choosing a law school—or not
Links: Should You Go to Law School? Knowing How to Know by Mark Grannis
Logic Lectures, online lectures featuring Mark Grannis
The Reasonable Person: Traditional Logic for Modern Life by Mark Grannis
The Reasonable Person: Teacher Supplement by Mark Grannis
The Three Key Questions featuring Fr. Michael Himes
Also on the Forum: A Doctor, a Lawyer, and a Cop Walk Into a Boys School featuring Rob Liotta, Mark Grannis, and Josue Zelaya on the Forum Faculty Podcast
Vocational Discernment in an Age of Infinite Options featuring Fr. Carter Griffin and Alvaro de Vicente
Logic: On Forming the Reasonable Person featuring Mark Grannis
Logic and the Reasonable Person by Mark Grannis
Featured Opportunities: Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)
This year's Heights Forum Art of Teaching Boys Conference brought together motivated educators from across the country (and beyond) to discuss a new vision for boys' education. The overwhelming follow-up questions: How can I craft and communicate a new vision back at my school? How does a school community grow united in its vision and sense of mission?
This week on HeightsCast, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente offers his advice, first, for building a substantial and specific vision, and second, for translating that vision into action as a school community.
In the notes below, you can find recordings of Open House speeches featuring our headmaster across the years. These are practical examples of how Mr. de Vicente presents the vision, mission, and approach of The Heights School to prospective parents.
Chapters: 3:31 School vision: the who
8:08 Mission and curriculum: the what
11:29 Approach: the how
12:30 Sharing vision with the parent community
17:28 Vision architects: head of school, board, veteran faculty
20:45 When vision meets enrollment realities
25:05 Heads of school: pray, read, build friendships
31:47 Getting specific with your vision
35:53 Responding to national conversations in education
Speeches on Vision by Alvaro de Vicente: Open House 2023
Open House 2022
Open House 2021
Open House 2019
Also on the Forum: The Man Fully Alive: On Our Vision, an extended lecture featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Education and the Transmission of Culture by Nate Gadiano
Featured Opportunities: Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)
"Something old, something new, something red white and blue."
The American Book of Fables is Dr. Matthew Mehan and artist John Folley's latest children's book—or, rather, family book—presented for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It offers a delightful education in civics, geography, history, and love of country by combining the American founding documents, short poetry, new and ancient fables, and whimsical oil paintings all mapped to the American landscape.
This week on HeightsCast, Dr. Mehan shares the ideas behind the book's creation and what he hopes "littles, middles, and bigs" can all come to appreciate through a layered work like this.
Chapters: 3:01 Picture books and the role of the poet
8:21 A family book for littles, middles, and bigs
13:18 What's in the book
18:19 Fables: training your "good mother wit"
23:46 Hugh Manatee and humanity
28:33 John Folley's illustrations
30:55 The American city
34:49 The current discourse on duty
36:47 Presenting founding documents to kids
41:37 Celebrate America250 as a family
48:26 Despair and hope
56:00 Book launch events
58:45 Excerpt: "American Morning"
Links: The American Book of Fables by Matthew Mehan
The Handsome Little Cygnet by Matthew Mehan
Mr. Mehan's Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals by Matthew Mehan
National WWI Memorial, sculpture by Sabin Howard, installed 2024
Catholic Information Center Event with the Author, Washington, DC / livestream available – June 30, 2026
The American Book of Fables Website – Sophia Institute Press, for future book launch events
Also on the Forum: Patriotism and Piety: Honoring Founders and Fathers featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan
Teaching the American Founding after 250 Years featuring Dr. Matthew Spalding
Children's Literature and Human Flourishing: The Handsome Little Cygnet featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan
Why Our Politics Need Poetry: Mr. Mehan's Mythical Mammals featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan
Imagination: The Raw Material for Thinking featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan
As a top cybersecurity expert in the commercial sector, Mark Ryland has spent nearly a decade following the development of AI systems—their possibilities, their risks, and their limits. And he's found reason for measured optimism.
At this year's Heights Parents Conference on "AI and Our Sons: Optimism in Uncharted Waters," Mr. Ryland brought a moderating perspective to the podium, sharing his insights into how AI really operates and what kind of impact it may have on the job economy our children will inherit.
Chapters: 00:04:41 A recent history of AI 00:10:31 Intelligence: human, animal, and artificial 00:14:15 Brains vs. minds 00:16:55 Incredible possibilities through pattern recognition 00:21:21 AI's dependence, "model collapse" 00:24:49 Expected impact on economy sectors 00:32:47 AI limits: reinforcement learning 00:36:12 AI risks: safety, job loss 00:42:01 Thoughts on the home 00:44:01 Thoughts on the classroom 00:48:07 Catholic chatbots
Links: The Mind & The Machine, podcast by Dr. Michael Augros on AI, science, and philosophy Coding after Coders: The End of Computer Programming as We Know It, NYT, March 12, 2026 Why It's Getting Harder to Measure AI Performance by Timothy B. Lee, Understanding AI Substack
Attention Is All You Need, seminal paper on generative AI by a Google Team, June 2017 How One Paper Changed Everything, concerning "Attention Is All You Need," Medium, October 10, 2025 Scientists Research Man Missing 90% of His Brain Who Leads a Normal Life, CBC Radio, July 14, 2016
Also on the Forum: The Walled Garden: Critical Considerations for Classroom AI featuring Andrew Cantarutti
A Humane Way of Life: The Research Behind Home Tech Decisions featuring Clare Morell
AI tech has come knocking at the classroom door, and schools across the country are rushing to design their AI policies around information that seems to change by the day.
At this year's Heights Parents Conference on "AI and Our Sons: Optimism in Uncharted Waters," writer and educator Andrew Cantarutti shared the research and critical analysis necessary for school communities to consider the claims of AI ed-tech. In the end, he says, the question will be how best to raise citizens rather than simply users.
Chapters: 00:03:25 Turkish proverb: the trees and the ax 00:04:09 The attention crisis 00:08:46 AI: a different kind of technology 00:14:08 Adolescence and brain architecture 00:15:03 AI knocks on the classroom door 00:17:34 Walled Garden vs. Marketplace Mirror schools 00:21:03 Building AI literacy 00:27:04 AI's personalized education 00:27:47 Benefits of the traditional classroom 00:31:34 Our role as parents 00:34:25 Turkish proverb, decoded
Links: The Walled Garden, Andrew Cantarutti's Substack
Attention Span by Gloria Mark Empire of AI by Karen Hao Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt in Essay Writing, MIT Media Lab, June 10, 2025
Center for Humane Technology, co-founded by Tristan Harris, former Google employee
Also on the Forum: Classroom Habits of Attention in the Age of AI featuring Andrew Cantarutti
A Humane Way of Life: The Research Behind Home Tech Decisions featuring Clare Morell
A rapid rollout of integrated AI into technology we use everyday brings with it new considerations for our tech policies at home. At this year's Heights Parents Conference on "AI and Our Sons: Optimism in Uncharted Waters," author and public policy researcher Clare Morell shared the latest news and research to inform our digital decisions at home.
She points out that, increasingly, the vision we as parents have for our children is in direct competition with the vision big tech has for them. But an active and optimistic posture can help us guide our families toward a more humane way of life.
Chapters: 00:04:18 The lay of the digital land 00:08:38 Neuroscience of screens 00:18:56 The myth of parental controls 00:23:22 AI enters the chat 00:32:40 Maturity required to operate 00:35:09 Forming our children: parents and tech companies in competition 00:37:48 Digital detox for your family 00:41:29 A humane way of life: F.E.A.S.T. 00:43:59 Educating children on the harms 00:46:32 Adopting smartphone alternatives 00:48:11 Screen rules and accountability at home 00:50:58 Trading screens for responsibility 00:53:06 Reclaiming human flourishing
Links: The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones by Clare Morell
The Tech Exit Supplementary Resources by Clare Morell
Preserving Our Humanity, Clare Morell's Substack
Meta's 'Digital Companions' Will Talk Sex with Users—Even Children, WSJ, April 26, 2025
Meta's AI Rules Let Bots Hold 'Sensual' Chats with Children, Reuters, August 14, 2025
AI Tutors for Kids Gave Fentanyl Recipes and Dangerous Diet Advice, Forbes, May 12, 2025
Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt in Essay Writing, MIT Media Lab, June 10, 2025
Sexting with Gemini, The Atlantic, July 14, 2025
The Social Dilemma, ages 12+, docudrama explaining tech company motivations, 2020
Also on the Forum: The Tech Exit: How Smartphones Undermine Our Parenting—and How to Reverse Course featuring Clare Morell
Saving civilization well may begin with eye contact, a tucked shirt, a sincere apology, or a held door. For the dispositions we have toward the little things truly train our sense of human dignity.
In his new book, The Apostolate of Courtesy, middle school Latin and language arts teacher Rob Greving follows in the footsteps of St. Francis de Sales. His book offers a defense of civility for the sake of the soul, followed by a practical guide to many of life's social situations. From table manners to small talk to handling interruptions, our manner affects the temper of the world. And "when I have courtesy," Mr. Greving writes, "I am not lowering myself but raising myself to the dignity of Christ."
Chapters: 2:10 Mr. Greving's influences
5:46 Courtesy and civilization
10:53 The medium of apologetics: us!
13:56 St. Francis de Sales: the gentleman saint
19:09 Manners at home
26:05 Handling interruptions well
31:24 Parents and teachers as the example
39:28 The art of apology
42:37 Courtesy in the classroom
Links: The Apostolate of Courtesy: How to Save Souls and Change the World through the Power of Manners by Robert Greving
Introduction to the Devout Life by Francis de Sales
Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life by C. S. Lewis
Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior by George Washington
Also on the Forum: Manners: The Art of Happiness by Robert Greving
On Manners: The "ABCs" of Virtue featuring Colin Gleason
Enjoying Our Children and Why It's Important featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Featured Opportunities: Parents' Conference at The Heights School (April 25, 2026)
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 22-26, 2026)
How have we allowed such a daring story as the American founding to become so flat? A history lesson so simple, tidy, and inevitable that it can be covered in one day's class?
Dr. Matthew Spalding, dean of Hillsdale's Van Andel Graduate School of Government, wants to revive the living story of the American founding—and the Declaration of Independence, in particular. Calling it our nation's "epic poem," he sees in this document as a layered poetic, philosophical, and practical work of the American Mind. This week on HeightsCast, Dr. Spalding invites educators (and everyday citizens) to understand our nation's founding as so much more than just "an Enlightenment experiment."
Chapters: 00:03:04 "The American Mind" in 1776 00:08:36 A better definition of patriotism 00:10:57 Declaration of Independence: our epic poem 00:14:43 How and why we teach history 00:16:36 Founding influences: more than the Enlightenment 00:21:46 The American synthesis 00:26:40 "Pursuit of happiness" in context 00:29:22 Why the founding narrative is mistold 00:38:06 New surprises in old studies 00:41:32 Finding common ground today
Links: Dr. Matthew Spalding, Dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government, Hillsdale College
The Making of the American Mind: The Story of Our Declaration of Independence by Matthew Spalding
We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future by Matthew Spalding
The Founders' Almanac: A Practical Guide to the Notable Events, Greatest Leaders, and Most Eloquent Words of the American Founding by Matthew Spalding
Also on the Forum: On the Importance of History, Part I featuring Dr. Matthew Spalding
Why Arguments Make History by Mark Grannis
Keeping the Story in History by Mark Grannis
Featured Opportunities: Parents' Conference at The Heights School (April 25, 2026)
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 22-26, 2026)
Why tell the truth when it doesn't always pay? It's important to let boys encounter this question through example, literature, and enough freedom to wrestle with his own conscience.
In this rebroadcast of a 2017 talk, Head of Lower School Colin Gleason admits that you can't "teach" integrity with drills and facts. But you can create an environment that encourages it to develop. We have to push past consequentialism and avoid the adult instinct to root out the facts at any cost. Because the truth is a good and natural thing; the boy needs only to embrace it.
Chapters: 3:12 Dishonesty: from toddlers to adults
5:51 Examples of integrity
10:04 Defining integrity, and whether we can teach it
13:36 Getting past "consequence" ethics
22:14 Homes and schools where integrity can take root
24:47 Trust: the power of relationship
33:47 Freedom: their own initiative
38:37 Friendship: ready to guide and help
45:03 Dishonesty from fear, honesty from confidence
Links: Jeremy Affeldt repaid the Giants $500,000 after clerical error, CBS Sports, May 15, 2013
"Sportsman" Roddick falls in Rome, The Seattle Times, May 6, 2005
Also on the Forum: The Truth Shall Set You Free by Alvaro de Vicente
Lying to Dumbledore: On Moral Consequentialism in Children's Literature featuring Joe Breslin and Tom Cox
Featured Opportunities: Parents' Conference at The Heights School (April 25, 2026)
Could creativity and intellectual freedom actually depend on the rote?
Following up on his recent article for the Forum, math teacher Dave Maxham dives into why fundamentals and drills are integral to creativity—not hindrances. Between the "drill and kill" and the "free inquiry" camps lies the golden mean: an understanding that mastery and even delight in the basics allows for real, nimble handling of creative problems.
Chapters: 3:19 Defining automaticity, creativity
7:09 The automatic enables the creative
15:14 Returning to basics, overcoming boredom
19:14 Struggle and humility bear fruit
24:05 Mastery and the intrinsic payoff
27:24 Model delight in your subject
35:13 With low standards, high expectations
42:25 The goals of homework
47:58 Cover less material, emphasize process
55:45 Letting them work it out
Links: Automaticity and Creativity by David Maxham
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton (see chapter 4, "The Ethics of Elfland")
Just Tell Them: The Power of Explanation and Explicit Teaching by Zach Groshnell
The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids' Learning—And How to Help Them Thrive Again by Jared Cooney Horvath
Also on the Forum: Classroom Habits of Attention in the Age of AI featuring Andrew Cantarutti
Mathematics: The Lost Liberal Art featuring Dave Maxham
The Math Problem: Tackling the "I'm Terrible at Math" Mentality featuring Dave Maxham
Featured Opportunities: Parents' Conference at The Heights School (April 25, 2026) – link coming soon
The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026) – waitlist
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 22-26, 2026)
Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 2026)
What do our children need most from us in the unsteady years of middle school? First, says Head of Middle School Andy Reed, they need our availability.
But making ourselves fully and honestly available runs contrary to so many modern patterns of life, from work demands and short schedules to the ever-tempting screen. In fact, Mr. Reed calls it the Mount Everest of Modern Parenting: replacing frenetic patterns with quiet, contemplative patterns for our own mental management, so that we can be available to the boy who needs us at unexpected times.
Chapters: 1:35 Middle school's rough reputation
6:39 A boy in search of his role
9:30 Attention shouldn't be sourced in worry
11:44 How to trust the boy
22:54 A family culture of availability
26:27 Parenting spectrum: from buddy to manager
28:57 The golden mean: accompaniment
31:13 Quiet patterns over frenetic ones
42:28 How to deliver advice
Also on the Forum: Parenting: Patience or Optimism featuring Andrew Reed
There Is No Manual by Alvaro de Vicente
What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about The Male Brain by Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti
Educating Leaders with Thomas More featuring Dr. Stephen Smith
Featured Opportunities: Parents' Conference at The Heights School (April 25, 2026) – link coming soon
The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026) – waitlist
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 22-26, 2026)
Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 2026) – link coming soon
Today, we have an increasing store of research to evaluate the claims of educational tech. Where does it assist or upend our goals as a school? Where does it support or bypass our students' intellectual sovereignty? Can it be used constructively?
This week on HeightsCast, writer and educator Andrew Cantarutti shares with us the research on digital tools, and especially AI, in K-12 education. In passionate detail, he also lays out how a school can cultivate the habits of attention by its curriculum, pedagogy, character, and even the physical school building.
Chapters: 3:05 Cantarutti's background
5:27 The lay of the digital land in education
8:38 Attention: a capacity that can grow—and shrink
12:35 A school's mission and the habits of attention
20:08 School schedules, school spaces
23:35 Four cognitive skills for your lesson plans
34:14 The research on AI and education
38:47 Teachers' AI use
43:26 Constructive ways to engage with AI
50:47 Whether you can teach critical thinking
53:26 Promises of AI vs. the goals of education
58:05 Rethinking the structure of class time
Links: The Walled Garden, Andrew Cantarutti's Substack
Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, Protect, Brookings Institute report, January 14, 2026
Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt in Essay Writing, MIT Media Lab, June 10, 2025
Instructional Illusions by Paul Kirschner, Carl Hendrick, and Jim Heal
The Film Students Who Can No Longer Sit Through Films, The Atlantic, January 30, 2026
Alpha School: AI-Driven Education Coming to a School Near You, The New York Times, July 27, 2025
Also on the Forum: ChatGPT Holds These Truths to be Self-Evident by Mark Grannis
AI and the Take-Home Essay featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan
The Freedom to Form Bonds: Mindfulness and Attention featuring Kevin Majeres
Digital Minimalism: Creating a Philosophy of Personal Technology Use featuring Cal Newport
Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026) – waitlist
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 22-26, 2026)
Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 2026) – link coming soon
Volume, pitch, pace, tone, inflection: the human voice is our primary teaching instrument. The spoken word has not just a logos and an ethos but an embodied and personal quality—which comes with enormous advantages.
This week, twenty-five-year Heights veteran Tom Steenson shares a valuable reflection on the human voice and how we use it in the classroom. He includes many practical examples of how to engage students, express expectations, correct without disruption, and love your students by using your voice with intention.
Chapters: 3:11 The humanity of voice
5:14 The science of volume and pitch
6:56 Your reading and teaching voice
9:04 Speech as love, not punishment
10:46 Voice for humor and engagement
13:54 All the advantages of spoken word
16:25 A unique, live meeting of minds
20:26 Control without yelling
27:05 Enjoying your students
30:17 Song and poetry in the classroom
33:04 The value of the voice in-person
Links: Teaching the History of Our "Strange New World": The History of Western Thought Course featuring Austin Hatch and Michael Moynihan
Also on the Forum: The Ritual of Reading in the Classroom featuring Tom Steenson
Classroom Ambience by Joseph Bissex
Classroom Tone and Culture featuring Tom Steenson
Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026) – waitlist
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 22-26, 2026)
Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 2026) – link coming soon
When we join a school community, it should be to join forces with teachers, administrators, and other families in the "conspiracy for the good" of our children. In this multi-engine partnership, how do parents best play their role as the stewards of their child's whole-person formation?
In this rebroadcast from 2022, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente covers the idea of wise, willing, and informed partnership with your children's school; what it really means to the "primary educators"; how a school can be compatible with that philosophy; and the importance of parent friendships.
Chapters: 2:56 Entering a school partnership wisely 6:50 Entering the partnership fully 11:57 Parents' task: formation of the whole person 14:06 Ask what the teachers see 15:18 Match school culture with home culture 17:23 Your child's friendships 20:44 Parent friendships 26:39 Parent-teacher collaboration 32:04 When to pick up the phone, and the "conspiracy for good"
Also on the Forum: Building Parent-Teacher Rapport featuring Kyle Blackmer
On Home as Social Hub: The Importance of Hosting Our Sons and Their Friends featuring Tom Royals
Family Culture featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Creating a Culture of Learning in the Home by Alvaro de Vicente
Parents as Primary Educators by Michael Moynihan
Ways to Foster a Family Culture by Alvaro de Vicente
Does a talented person have a duty to serve others? What do leading citizens really need to live well, freely, impactfully—even greatly? How do we, parents and educators, order the educational goods?
"When I think of Thomas More's life, writings, and example, I think: here are the materials we need to answer those questions."
So says Dr. Stephen Smith, professor at Hillsdale College and co-director for the Center for Thomas More Studies. St. Thomas More not only provided a robust theory of education and duty in his writings, but also a praxis of that education by his heroic actions at the Tower of London in 1535. Dr. Smith joins us this week to discuss how More's life and education can be a pattern for our one-day leading citizens.
Chapters:
2:32 The living image of a great man
8:49 More's philosophy of learning
12:50 Virtue in the first place
16:25 Love of good advice
18:48 Leading citizenship: skill and integrity
24:51 Pride as the enemy
29:32 On modern times: "Do not abandon the ship"
35:14 Mentorship: time and attention
46:39 Hope and humor
54:21 Thomas More as a father
Links:
The Center for Thomas More Studies, featuring video courses, teaching resources, and the written works of Thomas More
The Last Riddle: Advice on Living and Dying Well by Stephen Smith, pre-order for June 2026
The Essential Works of Thomas More edited by Gerard Wegemer and Stephen Smith
A Thomas More Sourcebook edited by Gerard Wegemer and Stephen Smith
On Duties by Cicero
Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage by Gerard Wegemer
"Letter to William Gonell, 1518" by Thomas More
Young Thomas More and the Arts of Liberty by Gerard Wegemer
"A Dialog of Comfort against Tribulation" by Thomas More
"Erasmus on Thomas More" by Erasmus
Also on the Forum:
Elon Musk and Mother Teresa Schools by Nate Gadiano
Teaching the History of our "Strange New World" featuring Michael Moynihan and Austin Hatch
Learning for All Seasons: What We Owe to Thomas More by Dr. Matthew Mehan
The Arts of Liberty – Part I featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan
Featured Opportunities:
The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026) – sold out
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 22-26, 2026)
Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 2026) – link coming soon
"Charity and clarity" are the lodestars when teaching middle school boys with various faith backgrounds—and who are developing faith dispositions of their own.
Bill Dardis teaches middle school religion and eighth grade core at The Heights. In his sixteen years of experience, he's navigated many tricky waters with the boys, with the ultimate goal to bring them into a deeper and more engaged relationship with faith.
Chapters: 3:19 Inviting boys deeper into their faith
8:17 A religion teacher has to pray
9:16 Following student questions
11:27 Charity: respecting parents' moral authority
12:32 Clarity: commitment to the truth
13:28 Avoiding relativism
17:17 Emphasizing essential questions
18:37 Persuasive common ground
25:21 Seeing the familiar as if for the first time
27:30 One, holy, catholic, and apostolic
31:45 When a student's life situation conflicts with the Catechism
37:59 Loving the job
Links: The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton (seeing something familiar as if for the first time)
Becoming Greece, textbook by Bill Dardis and Tom Cox
Becoming Rome, textbook by Bill Dardis and Tom Cox
Also on the Forum: Forming Men of Faith by Alvaro de Vicente
Pope Benedict XVI and Catholic Education: On the Adventure of Truth featuring Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti
Leaving Room for the Holy Spirit by Mark Grannis
"The Talk": On the Role of Schools and Fathers featuring Michael Moynihan
Featured Opportunities: Fathers Series for Fathers of Current Students at The Heights School (February 2026)
The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026)
The crisis of meaning among young people gets a lot of press; but a quieter crisis of calling afflicts every generation today. Dr. Arthur Brooks says the causes are the same: not knowing what our life is really and ultimately for.
In his talk at The Heights Forum Convivium 2025, Dr. Brooks shares the facts about calling—where neuroscience, psychology, and theology all agree, and how he (finally) found his. He goes on to say that helping young people to discover the true Christian purpose of life and then one's personal calling is the missionary work of teachers.
Chapters: 00:04:12 Teaching: a missionary field 00:06:15 Crisis of meaning among the young 00:07:35 Crisis of calling among more than the young 00:14:23 Sanctifying ordinary work 00:18:42 The marshmallow experiment: not all it seems 00:24:40 High achievers with no calling 00:27:55 Three tests for goal setting 00:36:12 Four profiles for career trajectory 00:44:31 Success addiction: when love feels conditional 00:48:33 Arrival fallacy: when the goal doesn't satisfy 00:51:34 Posture of submission to find your calling
Links: Arthur Brooks: The Science of Happiness, Work & Life, personal website
The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness by Arthur Brooks, pre-order for March 2026
"How to Follow the Right Star" by Arthur Brooks, The Atlantic
Also on the Forum: Choosing a College—Or Not featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Rethinking College: Why go? How? When? featuring Arthur Brooks
Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026)
Kevin Twomey is a husband, father, and a principal consultant at Table Group, founded by Patrick Lencioni, which specializes in helping executive teams build a healthy operational work culture. Lencioni's book, The Three Big Questions, brings that same expertise to bear on the modern frantic family: helping parents find their family identity, create intentional priorities, and live with more order and purpose.
Chapters: 4:01 Typical family operations
9:09 Frantic families in a frantic world
14:36 What makes your family unique?
21:57 Parent leadership
26:02 What is your family's top priority right now?
32:30 "Priority" shouldn't be plural
36:52 Long-standing objectives
38:46 Temporary rally cries
39:49 How do you deploy these answers intentionally?
45:22 Staying on track
Links: The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
The Frantic Family Model, family worksheet PDF
Also on the Forum: Family Culture featuring Alvaro de Vicente
How to Foster a Family Culture in Your Home by Alvaro de Vicente
Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026)
The first images of a "protector" that flash through our minds might be the warrior, the superhero, the movie star physically holding back evil from invading the world…. Our lower school head, Colin Gleason, casts a different vision: the benevolent king, the merciful brother, the knight at vigil in the sanctuary.
Yes, our role as fathers is to protect—most often through a steady presence that communicates security to our children. When we do our job well, they can live with confidence. In his talk from the Fatherhood Conference last fall, Colin identified five battlegrounds for establishing this kind of security, most of which are in our own homes.
Also on the Forum: The Father as a Guide to the World featuring Michael Moynihan
The Father as Presence featuring Andrew Reed
Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026)
To prepare for Homer, Virgil, Beowulf, the Eddas, and Dante—The Heights begins with Tolkien.
In a talk from 2016, former middle school core teacher and current upper school classics teacher Tom Cox defends the place of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in the epic tradition. He then explains why Middle Earth is so uniquely suited to the middle school, using Samwise the Stouthearted as our guide to the heart of a middle school boy.
Chapters: 2:46 Rethinking "the middle"
4:01 How LotR prepares boys for upper school
7:57 How LotR meets boys in middle school
12:47 Contrasted with other epics
14:41 Samwise as a middle school model
24:47 Tolkien's lessons for teachers and parents
26:07 Samwise the Stouthearted: earning his epic epithet
31:18 "Bear one another's burdens, fulfill the law of Christ"
Links: The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Iliad by Homer, prose translation by A. S. Kline
Plutarch Podcast by Tom Cox
Becoming Greece, textbook by Bill Dardis and Tom Cox
Becoming Rome, textbook by Bill Dardis and Tom Cox
Also on the Forum: The Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox
The Hope of Hobbits and the Despair of Denethor by Tom Cox
Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)
From utero and into infancy, babies recognize their mother as being essentially one with them. So, being placed in their father's arms is in fact their first introduction to the "other," the outside world. The father will continue this crucial role as mediator and representative to the outside world throughout a boy's childhood.
With decades of experience and dozens of personal anecdotes, Upper School Head Michael Moynihan addressed the 2025 Fatherhood Conference to share how a father's parenting outlook now will shape his son's vocational and professional readiness to enter the outside world as an adult.
Chapters: 00:05:47 Mr. Moynihan's background 00:08:17 Fathers represent the outside world 00:12:21 Model God's loving fatherhood 00:17:02 Awaken the child's own agency 00:24:52 Partner with your wife to build this home culture
Links: The Talk and Beyond: Raising Children in a Confused Culture by Michael Moynihan
Decisive Parenting: Forming Authentic Freedom in Your Children by Michael Moynihan
The Father and His Family: A Guidebook for Aspiring, New, and Experienced Fathers by Michael Moynihan
Also on the Forum: You're the Man for the Job: The Vocation of Fatherhood featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Our mission is to assist parents in the intellectual, moral, physical, and spiritual formation of their sons…
At The Heights, we repeat these words often, including a paraphrase at the beginning of every HeightsCast episode. But what constitutes intellectual formation? What does educating the intellect look like? Co-founder of the Hillbilly Thomists and Rector Magnificus at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome, Fr. Thomas Joseph White, joins us for a deep-dive into the rich Catholic understanding of intellectus, habitus, ratio, and what it means to "form" these God-given faculties.
Chapters: 1:35 Intellectus: to read into reality
7:41 Modern challenges to intellectus
13:35 Habitus: a stable disposition towards excellence
17:59 Modern challenges to habitus
21:22 Ratio vs. intellectus
27:07 Intuitive "sight" as a function of intellect
32:27 Developing clear "sight" in the young
34:35 Forming the heart alongside intellect
38:47 Whether the heart and intellect fully integrate
44:01 Beauty reveals the life of the mind to itself
Links: The Hillbilly Thomists, co-founded by Fr. Thomas Joseph White
Contemplation and the Cross: A Catholic Introduction to the Spiritual Life by Fr. Thomas Joseph White
Wisdom in the Face of Modernity by Fr. Thomas Joseph White
Full catalog of books by Fr. Thomas Joseph White
The Regensburg Address by Pope Benedict XVI
Beauty for Truth's Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education by Stratford Caldecott
Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation by Josef Pieper
Also on the Forum: Why Beauty Matters: The Postmodern Pressure on Our Interior Life featuring Dr. Jason Baxter
Teaching Sovereign Knowers, essay series by Michael Moynihan
"Fact or Opinion?": Roots of Relativism in an Ethical Dilemma by Michael Moynihan
Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026)
"Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matt. 16:25).
This week we're joined by Fr. Carter Griffin, rector of the St. John Paul II Seminary in the Archdiocese of Washington, and Alvaro de Vicente, headmaster of The Heights School, to examine "discernment." It's become a Catholic buzzword, applied (or sometimes, perhaps, misapplied) to a number of life situations. Here, Fr. Carter and Alvaro discuss the methods and limits of vocational discernment—and the moral courage of commitment.
Chapters: 3:45 Christian discernment
6:09 Misuses of the word "discernment"
9:39 Whether we can wrongly discern vocation
14:46 Choice paralysis
20:25 Submit to the process
25:48 Dating and marriage
29:55 Mentors and spiritual directors
33:21 Principles for discerning well
39:38 "Throw your life away"?!
46:17 The need for prayer
52:36 Crisis of vocations or crisis of faith?
59:59 Church choice and church-hopping
Links: "The Catholic Church Has a Manpower Problem", 22 September 2025, WSJ
2026 Men's Discernment Retreat for the Archdiocese of Washington
2026 Men's Discernment Retreat for the Diocese of Arlington
Forming Families, Forming Saints by Fr. Carter Griffin
Forming Fathers: Seminary Wisdom for Every Priest by Fr. Carter Griffin
Cross-Examined: Catholic Responses to the World's Questions by Fr. Carter Griffin
Why Celibacy? Reclaiming the Fatherhood of the Priest by Fr. Carter Griffin
Also on the Forum: You're the Man for the Job: The Vocation of Fatherhood featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Fostering Vocations in a Digital Age featuring Fr. Carter Griffin
Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026)
Please, thank you, after you… Do manners matter? Are they artifice or virtue?
In this rebroadcast from 2019, lower school head Colin Gleason shares how manners can be the building blocks to a richer moral life—the habituation of virtue. He then offers practical advice for families and schools to help even young boys strengthen their "moral muscle" through manners that matter.
Chapters: 1:34 Why start in the lower school
3:12 Manners: artifice or virtue?
5:34 Orienting them towards the needs of others
10:06 Manners that matter
13:31 Social manners for small children
17:57 Intergenerational social experiences
21:30 Coaching in advance
27:23 Our example
Also on the Forum: Manners: The Art of Happiness by Robert Greving
Manners Make (More Than) the Man, review of A Gentleman in Moscow by Robert Greving
Featured Opportunities: Mustard Seed Communities, donations for Jamaica hurricane relief
The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)
In our school communities, we talk a great deal about moral and intellectual formation. But physical development, too, has an essential place in the whole-person, long-term vision of what our sons and students can become.
Heights Athletic Director Dan Lively reminds us that the goals of athletic training don't begin and end with high school sports. In fact, lifelong functional fitness is in service to every vocation. It ensures that we and our sons are capable of having a positive impact—on the world and in our families—for as many years as we're on this earth.
Chapters: 3:22 A long-term vision for your son's physical development
10:41 The goal: robust longevity
14:34 Health: more than avoiding disease
21:05 Mark Baker on functional fitness
24:14 Fitness increases one's potential for self-gift
25:58 Role of the school
31:51 Role of the family
40:09 Parents can play too
45:39 The thrill of middle school gains
47:32 Embrace your inner gym bro
52:01 The reluctant athlete
Links: GuruAnaerobic, Mark Baker eBooks
Also on the Forum: Athlete or Academic: What's the Real Priority in Schools? on the Forum Faculty Podcast
Movement as Foundation of Fitness featuring Dan Lively
Character Formation in Elite Athletics featuring college coach Brad Soderberg
Featured Opportunities: Mustard Seed Communities, donations for Jamaica hurricane relief
The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)
One philosopher of our time claims that "today, the experience of beauty is impossible."
Dr. Jason Baxter, director of the Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College, begs to differ. Dr. Baxter joins us on HeightsCast to unpack his latest book, Why Literature Still Matters, which looks at why such a claim might feel true in our digital age. Then, he talks us through why and how we should reclaim our experiences of beauty for the health of our soul.
Chapters: 00:03:34 The experience of beauty 00:08:44 Byung-Chul Han: the possibility of beauty today 00:15:41 Marc Auge: still living in the Enlightenment experiment 00:20:46 The soul is not a machine 00:24:57 Our task as parents, educators 00:35:05 Likes and emojis: the simplification of our interior life 00:49:23 A near-death experience in Sardinia 00:56:24 Beauty and mental health 00:57:40 Franny and Zooey: interiority matters 01:03:41 Recommended reading
Links: Why Literature Still Matters by Jason Baxter
Help! Where do I go from here? Part I: Poetry by Jason Baxter
Beauty Matters, Substack for Jason Baxter
jasonmbaxter.com featuring articles and lectures
Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College
Saving Beauty by Byung-Chul Han
Non-Places: An Introduction to Supermodernity by Marc Auge
The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich
A Letter to Our Daughter by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan
"A Prayer for My Daughter" by W. B. Yeats
Recommended reading: "Burnt Norton" from Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot
Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
"A Hill" by Anthony Hecht
"Advice to a Prophet" by Richard Wilbur
The Loss of the Creature by Walker Percy
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Also on the Forum: Breathing Narnian Air: Loving Modernity as a Medievalist featuring Dr. Jason Baxter
Receiving Beauty: A Liberal Arts Education featuring Dr. George Harne
Order and Surprise: On Beauty and the Western Tradition featuring Dr. Lionel Yaceczko
Featured Opportunities: Mustard Seed Communities
The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)
The joy of "being known here" is not just for the students. When a faculty cultivates friendship, it benefits the entire school community.
Tom Cox has been a middle and upper school Latin and Greek teacher at The Heights since 2009. Tom also hosts The Forum Faculty Podcast, now in its second year, which gives a slice of teacher breakroom culture: the kinds of conversations, rapport, and friendship that are born of our shared work and life as teachers. Tom joins us today to talk about how important faculty friendship is to making a school into a community, and what schools can do to support the planned and unplanned interactions that feed friendship.
Chapters: 1:53 Tom Cox's history at The Heights
6:35 School as a community of friends
10:15 Using school trips for faculty bonding
14:58 Regional schools: community or society
17:01 Creating community over large distances
26:53 Building up faculty friendship
36:04 Friendship requires shared life, work
38:57 Facilitating that shared life
47:09 Planned and unplanned interactions
50:49 Real communities pass on a culture
57:26 The fruit of staying in one place
Links: "A Faculty of Friends" from Gregory the Great Academy in Elmhurst Township, Pennsylvania
Plutarch Podcast by Tom Cox
The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis
Man and the State by Jacques Maritain
The World-Ending Fire Collection by Wendell Berry
True Friendship: Where Virtue Becomes Happiness by John Cuddeback
"Charles" by Shirley Jackson
"The Work of Local Culture" in What Are People For? by Wendell Berry
Also on the Forum: The Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox
Friendship and the 21st-Century Boy featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Friendship for Fathers featuring John Cuddeback
On Friendship after Senior Year featuring David Maxham
Featured Opportunities: Fathers' Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025)
The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)
What are parental rights? Are they a legal stance—or a philosophical one?
In today's conversation, Dr. Melissa Moschella of the University of Notre Dame discusses the profound and practical implications of the parent-child relationship. She then explores how those conclusions operate in the American legal tradition, tracing from natural law to John Locke to historic court cases and the public discourse today.
Chapters: 3:46 True rights imply true duties
10:04 Natural law: knowable through reason
15:00 The rights and duties of parents
22:32 Role of the state in the American tradition
28:44 Twentieth-century shift, John Rawls
37:29 Whether schools can be value-neutral
43:34 Parental rights in American courts
46:47 Beyond religious liberty
55:00 School choice as parental choice
1:00:57 Public discourse: how to talk to friends, family, neighbors
1:05:30 Her book on natural law
Links: Melissa Moschella, Ph.D., McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame
To Whom Do Children Belong? Parental Rights, Civic Education, and Children's Autonomy by Melissa Moschella
Ethics, Politics, and Natural Law: Principles for Human Flourishing by Melissa Moschella
Democratic Education by Amy Guttman (argued against by Dr. Moschella)
Brief of Amica Curiae in Support of Petitioners by Melissa Moschella
"Nonreligious Parents Have Rights Too," WSJ op-ed by Melissa Moschella
Also on the Forum: The Mortara Case: Parental Authority and Thomas Aquinas featuring Dr. Matthew Tapie and Dr. Lionel Yaceczko
Parents as Primary Educators by Michael Moynihan
Featured Opportunities: Fathers' Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025)
The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)
There should be no contradiction in pursuing hard sciences, humanities, and moral virtue all in one day.
For upper schoolers switching classrooms every hour, or for teachers siloed in a single subject, it can be easy to mistake "education" for a series of distinct academic categories. In this rebroadcast from 2015, Upper School Head Michael Moynihan gives us a better framework. He urges us to look at how our school's different departments present a unified and infinitively connective worldview—one that invites inquisitive engagement and exercises the full scope of human reason.
Chapters: 4:39 The strength of "entertainment culture"
8:16 Successful families
9:28 Assessing the educational landscape
11:32 Fragmented school subjects
14:20 Teaching persons, not subjects
17:18 Appreciating the full scope of human reason
Links: Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton (see chapter 8, "The Romance of Orthodoxy")
By the Communion of Persons Man Becomes the Image of God by Pope St. John Paul II
The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy Sayers
The Idea of a University by St. John Henry Newman
Regensburg Address by Pope Benedict XVI
Laudato Si by Pope Francis
Also on the Forum: The Art of Teaching Sovereign Knowers by Michael Moynihan
Featured Opportunities: Fall Open House at The Heights School (October 18, 2025)
Fathers' Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025)
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
“Be perfect” (Matt. 5:48) and “anxious for nothing” (Phil 4:6).
This tall order from the New Testament may put modern parents into a cold sweat. Parental perfectionism and anxiety are surely on the rise, but in his annual Headmaster’s Lecture at The Heights School, Alvaro de Vicente talks us down. He shows us the compatibility and wisdom of these two Biblical encouragements by refocusing on the process of growth—moral, academic, athletic, and spiritual—over simply the apparent results.
Chapters: 2:41 Introduction: being “good enough”
8:15 A new way to see perfection
10:07 Context changes our expectations
17:34 Setting reasonable expectations
24:46 Acknowledging our son’s freedom
29:28 Parental anxiety: danger ÷ opportunity
36:54 Surrounded by goodness, a twitch upon the thread
40:53 Perseverance through hard times
47:42 Addressing real problems
53:15 Ultimately, in God’s hands
Links: Men in the Making, Alvaro de Vicente’s Substack
Loss of the Creature by Walker Percy
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Minority Report (2002)
The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Also on the Forum: Failure Is a Great Tutor—Don’t Fire Him by Alvaro de Vicente
Having Better Mentoring Conversations by Alvaro de Vicente
Featured Opportunities: Fall Open House at The Heights School (October 18, 2025)
Fathers’ Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025)
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
The art of mentoring is not just for teachers and coaches, but also parents—who can never really be out of mentoring mode.
In a recent Substack article, Alvaro de Vicente named five pitfalls for our attempts at mentoring young men. This week, he talks us through some of the takeaways, reminding us that mentoring is not a profound lecture but an ongoing conversation, and the goal is not to modify but to form.
Chapters: 3:49 What mentoring is
4:35 Conversation as the basis
8:55 Parents: always in mentor mode
10:13 Presence over “meaningful content”
16:01 Weighty conversations
18:25 Daily conversations
21:24 Love unlocks a child
30:48 Urgent conversations
33:34 When to mandate
35:36 When to end the conversation
37:33 Formation is a game of inches
Links: Men in the Making, Alvaro de Vicente’s Substack
Five Conversational Temptations Mentors and Parents Commonly Face by Alvaro de Vicente
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Only the Lover Sings by Josef Pieper
Also on the Forum: Having Better Mentoring Conversations by Alvaro de Vicente
Forming Others: What Mentoring Can and Can’t Be featuring Colin Gleason
Anthropological Foundations of Mentoring featuring Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti
Mentoring without a Program: Joe Cardenas on Teaching the Whole Person featuring Joe Cardenas
Featured Opportunities: Fall Open House at The Heights School (October 18, 2025)
Headmaster’s Lecture on Freedom in the Home at The Heights School (October 4, 2025)
Fathers’ Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025) link coming soon
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
In the broader society, mistrust increasingly defines the parent-teacher relationship. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
As a Heights parent and seventh grade core teacher, Kyle Blackmer shares a practical vision for sound parent-teacher relationships. It begins with understanding parents and teachers in their true, cooperative roles for a child’s good. And it ends with developing real friendship between parents and teachers as they pursue this good together.
Chapters: 1:29 Decline of the parent-teacher relationship
4:51 Parents’ true role as primary educators
10:18 How teachers relate to parents
13:40 How parents relate to teachers
18:28 Shared understanding of the goal
20:52 School as a community
26:39 Building parent-teacher relationships
Links: We Need to Talk About Parent-School Relationships by Daniel Buck
Also on the Forum: Partnering with Parents: Some Implications for Parents as Primary Educators by Michael Moynihan
Communicating with Parents by Kyle Blackmer
The Role of Parents in the Conspiracy for the Good featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Order and Surprise: Lionel Yaceczko on Beauty and the Western Tradition featuring Lionel Yaceczko
Humility and Teaching: On Leading While Walking Backward by Joseph Bissex
Parents as Primary Educators by Michael Moynihan
Featured Opportunities: Headmaster’s Lecture on Freedom in the Home at The Heights School (October 4, 2025)
Fathers’ Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025) link coming soon
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
“One of the best places to cultivate a Catholic worldview in the hearts and minds of young people … is in the backcountry,” writes Fr. John Nepil in his recent release, To Heights and unto Depths.
Fr. Nepil, who has led dozens of group treks through the mountains of Colorado and said Mass atop every fourteener in the state, joins us to talk about adventure and a young man’s theological education. The backcountry, he says, is rich in lessons of creation, dependence, suffering, and beauty—restoring our sense of being created and loved by a self-giving God.
Chapters: 5:18 What draws us to the mountains
9:04 “Nature” vs. “creation”
13:16 Fatherhood
16:00 Dependence
20:44 Cultivating a worldview
25:54 Guiding the conversation (or not)
28:13 Redemptive suffering
31:23 Starting with beauty
38:59 Physical vs. metaphysical limits
46:46 Men doing hard things together
48:29 The backstory of the book
50:39 A habit of reading
Links: To Heights and unto Depths by Fr. John Nepil
Rethinking Mary in the New Testament by Edward “Ted” Sri
Daughter Zion: Meditations on the Church’s Marian Belief by Joseph Ratzinger
Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton
Also on the Forum: Why We Go: Seven Benefits of the Backcountry by Elias Naegele
The Way of Encounter by Joe Breslin
Why We Need Exposure to Nature by Eric Heil
Featured Opportunities: Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
How many times a day do I tell my son what to do next?
In this rebroadcast from 2015, our Head of Middle School Andrew Reed offers his ideas on cultivating an environment at home (and in the classroom) where boys can develop their own academic will. This entails not only greater freedom but also—just as necessary—a close and reliable family bond. Mr. Reed explains how this counterintuitive pair works together to teach a boy to choose the good for himself.
Chapters: 6:32 The will: a marker for success
9:02 Overmanaging: telling them what to do
10:54 Boys grow from experience and challenge
12:33 The indifferent boy
14:43 Prompt the will with a question
17:31 Create an environment of freedom
20:16 But keep a close family bond
22:33 Manage the influences
24:21 A parenting examination of conscience
27:10 Patience and optimism
29:00 The will, freedom, and good academic habits
Links: Developing Academic Habits: A Guide for Parents by Andrew Reed
The Key to Success? Grit, a TED Talk by Angela Lee Duckworth, May 2013 (transcript here)
Also on the Forum: Academic Habits and a Student’s Developing Will by Andrew Reed
Featured Opportunities: Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
To help our seniors synthesize the many ideas, events, and texts they’ve surveyed across high school—and to help them better understand their own cultural moment—Heights teachers have developed a senior core class titled “History of Western Thought.” In this episode, Upper School Head Michael Moynihan and long-time teacher Austin Hatch discuss the course and its guide-text: Carl Trueman’s Strange New World (2022).
HOWT covers essential texts from Plato’s Republic to Pope Benedict XVI’s “Regensburg Address.”. Its goal is not only to prepare students for college work but to prepare them to meaningfully engage with the culture they will inherit, understanding its origins and its underlying assumptions.
Chapters: 00:02:31 History of Western Thought course 00:08:10 The “HOWT” syllabus 00:11:31 Strange New World, a primary source guide 00:14:13 Teens and the intellectual tradition 00:16:39 Seeing ideologies in motion 00:18:48 Pairing philosophical threads 00:27:26 Understanding our cultural moment 00:29:25 Pushing back on ‘authenticity’ 00:33:31 How students respond to the course 00:35:09 Thinking about friendship 00:41:04 Big ideas in a short class 00:44:32 Reading Trueman alongside your son
Links: Strange New World by Carl Trueman
“Canada Is Killing Itself” by Elaina Plott Calabro, The Atlantic, September 2025
Texts from the HOWT course:
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman
Republic by Plato
Phaedo by Plato
The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
De Officiis by Cicero
Moralia, vol. 1, featuring “How to Know a Flatterer from a Friend” by Plutarch
Confessions by Augustine
Summa theologiae by St. Thomas Aquinas
Utopia by Thomas More
Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau
Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Idea of a University by St. John Henry Newman
Regensburg Address by Pope Benedict XVI
Also on the Forum: American Restlessness featuring Dr. Benjamin Storey
A Study for All Seasons: On the Western Tradition featuring Lionel Yaceczko
Is The Heights a Classical School? by Michael Moynihan
Featured Opportunities: Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
Properly understood, the imagination is not something you escape to; it’s something you draw upon every day to make decisions, understand events, and communicate.
This week on HeightsCast, Dr. Matthew Mehan explores the purposes of the imagination and the habits of wit and wisdom that help us insightfully process our world. We may think of the imagination at odds with reality. But, he says, cultivating the imagination actually makes us more capable, “wittier” thinkers about reality.
Chapters: 00:03:05 Defining the imagination 00:05:31 “Good mother wit” 00:08:25 How LLMs undermine the wit 00:11:05 Beyond the “moral imagination” 00:15:33 Imagination of the Founding Fathers 00:20:03 Aesop and governing your animal spirits 00:24:28 The mistakes of Naturalism 00:27:57 18th century ABCs 00:32:13 Role models for the civic imagination 00:40:38 Who chooses what goes in 00:43:26 Reality educates us 00:46:39 Recommendations for parents 00:52:24 Metaphor control: guarding your hope 01:02:33 Humor and joy
Links: mythicalmammals.com, Matthew Mehan’s website
“Restoring America’s Founding Imagination” by Matthew Mehan
Mr. Mehan’s Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals by Matthew Mehan
The Handsome Little Cygnet by Matthew Mehan
The Plutarch Podcast by Tom Cox
Illustrated Aesop’s Fables by Aesop, with an introduction by G. K. Chesterton
Fifty Years on the Old Frontier by James Cook
Saints Series Podcast by The Merry Beggars
The Boy Stories Series by Tom Longano
Also on the Forum: Metaphor Control: A Modest Hope for Civilization by Matthew Mehan
Shaping Your Son’s Moral Imagination (article) by Alvaro de Vicente
Shaping Your Son’s Moral Imagination (lecture) featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Seeing History: On Using Images in the History Classroom by Kyle Blackmer
Featured opportunities: Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
“… the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.”
G. K. Chesterton This week we feature a rebroadcast of a 2021 talk from our lower school head, Colin Gleason. Mr. Gleason addressed the topic of discipline using decades of experience in the Valley, converting the lessons he shares with his homeroom teachers into ideas for parents at home. Ultimately, his guidance is all about bringing a long-term vision and great love into our attitudes of discipline, willing the good for our boys with all earnest humility.
Whether you’re thinking the kitchen or the classroom, Mr. Gleason encourages us to foster a culture of respectful dominion.
Chapters: 3:54 The parenting crisis 7:04 Defining discipline 9:20 Boys, immaturity 14:44 Raising them to our level 16:30 Unanxious leadership 18:53 Things Valley teachers don’t say 20:47 Freedom via boundaries 24:10 Prudent corrections 27:47 Give options 28:47 Establish a culture 30:40 Rely on natural consequences 33:14 How lessons really sink in 35:07 To discipline should be to love 39:10 What Valley teachers do 41:33 You’re the expert for your child
Links: Wimps and Barbarians by Terrence O. Moore
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton
Also on the Forum: Self-Mastery and Interior Freedom by Alvaro de Vicente
Discipline in the Classroom: On the Art of Order featuring Colin Gleason
Why Boys Need to Be Given Freedom by Andrew Reed
Featured Opportunities: Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
In 2008, Tom Vander Woude died saving the life of his youngest son. But this radical self-gift was really the culmination of a quiet life of daily virtue with a heart of faith.
Chris Vander Woude, the fifth of Tom and Mary Ellen’s seven sons, now carries the story of his father’s life and death across the country, as well as sharing the process towards canonization that began this year with the assignment of a postulator in Rome. Chris joins us today to speak about fatherhood and the extraordinary man who exemplified it for him.
Chris invites you to reach out to him at 5thvwson@gmail.com or info@tvwguild.org.
Chapters: 00:04:50 The life of Tom Vander Woude 00:07:34 His sacrificial death 00:17:17 His character 00:23:23 Physical strength: one’s readiness for action 00:28:52 Faith: one’s trust and mission 00:39:18 Fatherhood and Down syndrome 00:50:52 Father of seven sons: tandem work 01:00:10 Tom’s discipline: priorities and good humor 01:04:39 Hosting and friend culture 01:07:44 Tom as a husband 01:13:03 Balancing family and community 01:17:22 Towards canonization 01:28:44 “Man fully alive”
Links: Tom Vander Woude Guild, website
A Father’s Sacrifice, video interviews with the Vander Woude family
The Father: 30 Meditations to Draw You into the Heart of God by Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, featuring Tom Vander Woude’s story
Tragedy at Rattlesnake Falls: Opus Dei Mourns the Drowning of Three of Its Members, National Catholic Register, 3 July 2025
Also on the Forum: Forming Families, Forming Saints featuring Fr. Carter Griffin
To the Glory of God and the Memory of Emil Beer by Mark Grannis
Featured opportunities: Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
They know we love them; but do our children sense that we like them? And how does that relate to their formation?
In the intense season of togetherness that is summer break, headmaster Alvaro de Vicente recommends four practices to help us live more in the present and enjoy our children—even when the anxieties of life come knocking.
Chapters: 00:02:17 Distinction between loving and liking 00:06:49 Four tools for cultivating “like”: 00:08:02 1. Express triple-gratitude 00:10:45 2. Spend unnecessary time 00:15:25 3. Find the humor 00:17:15 4. Pray for the grace 00:18:38 Why liking them matters 00:22:59 Living in the present: an antidote to anxiety 00:29:12 The “four tools” for teachers 00:35:42 Whether humor belongs in bad situations 00:41:14 Don’t take the bad too personally 00:46:03 Emotional stabilizers: marriage, friendship, prayer
Links: I Believe in Love: A Personal Retreat Based on St. Thérèse de Lisieux by Fr. Jean C. J. D’Elbée
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War by Douglas Brunt
Also on the Forum: Reframing Our Desire to Be Liked featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Seeing Our Boys with Loving Eyes: Not Projects but Persons featuring Tom Royals
Featured opportunities: Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
Months ago, Heights teacher Joe Lanzilotti took up a prodigious project: reviewing the body of popular literature on boys’ education.
Partway through his journey, Dr. Lanzilotti catches us up on the diversity of scientific, biological, psychological, and moral perspectives—and how they cohere into a bigger picture of boys and where their developmental needs differ from those of girls. Framing the evidence with papal guidance from the last century gives us a solid starting-point to consider the education of boys according to their nature.
Chapters: 00:04:09 The timeline of research on boys 00:08:26 Why attend to the sex difference 00:10:36 Definition of a man: fatherhood, sonship 00:15:06 Sex differences manifest early 00:21:05 The secular evidence supports natural law 00:28:51 The importance of role models 00:32:10 Single-sex education 00:34:55 Athletic trials 00:36:10 Male friendship 00:42:11 The collaboration of men and women 00:50:25 Parents, teachers: be not afraid 00:59:40 Educate boys according to their nature
Links: The Male Brain by Louann Brizendine
Defending Boyhood by Anthony Esolen
No Apologies: Why Civilization Depends on the Strength of Men by Anthony Esolen
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
The War Against Boys by Christina Hoff Sommers
The Two Sexes: Growing Up Apart, Coming Together by Eleanor Maccoby
Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax
How to Raise a Boy by Michael Reichert, which Dr. Lanzilotti critiques
“Letter to the Bishops on the Collaboration of Men and Women” by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
“Letter to Women” by Pope John Paul II
Mulieris Dignitatem by Pope John Paul II
The Gurian Institute, training programs on boys’ and girls’ academic development
American Institute for Boys and Men, advocates for evidence-based policy solutions
Also on the Forum: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about The Male Brain by Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti
Raising the Boys: Saving the Difference by Dr. Joseph Lazilotti
Featured opportunities: Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
January Workshop at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026) link coming soon
May Workshop at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026) link coming soon
The ever-changing tech landscape and the ever-growing research on interactive screens means that the topic must come up anew year after year. For parents trying to keep pace, Clare Morell has compiled the most up-to-date research into her recent release, The Tech Exit. Armed with the facts and interviews with dozens of Tech Exit families, she encourages parents that it’s never too late to reverse course on smartphones. United with other families trying to do the same, we can replace the new “smartphone milestone” with real milestones that emphasize the goods of the real world.
Chapters: 00:03:56 Getting the metaphor right 00:08:32 The myth of time limits, parental controls 00:11:24 Boys and online extortion 00:14:23 A culture inherent to smartphone use 00:17:51 A parent’s willpower vs. Big Tech 00:22:30 The alternatives: feature phones, landlines 00:31:25 Not your mama’s internet 00:34:43 Brain drain: new research on attention, making memories 00:39:41 How to reverse course with teens 00:43:01 The 30-day digital fast 00:47:17 A new digital paradigm: F.E.A.S.T. 00:56:13 Digital accountability in the home 01:00:30 Morell’s personal tech use 01:05:22 The father’s role 01:09:56 Encouragement to start
Links: The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones by Clare Morell
The Tech Exit Supplementary Resources by Clare Morell
Reset Your Child’s Brain by Victoria Dunckley
Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
‘Sextortion’ Scams Involving Apple Messages Ended in Tragedy for These Boys, 7 June 2025, WSJ
How Broken Are Apple’s Parental Controls? It Took 3 Years to Fix an X-Rated Loophole, 5 June 2024, WSJ
Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity, April 2017, UChicago Press
Also on the Forum: Dumb Phones, Feature Phones, and the New Tech Landscape featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Technology in the Home: Perspective, Principles, and Practices by Michael Moynihan
Smart Phones: A New Mythos by George Martin
On Self-Mastery, Technology, and Parental Discernment featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Smart Phones: Why Wait When He’s “The Only One” featuring Joe Cardenas
Featured opportunities: Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
In 1858, six-year-old Edgardo Mortara is forcibly removed from his family’s home in accordance with civil and canon law. His Jewish family’s legal appeal invokes, to great effect, the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. Dr. Matthew Tapie and former Heights teacher Dr. Lionel Yaceczko join us this week to pull apart this difficult case with the assistance of St. Thomas, who gives a theological basis for parental authority in accordance with natural law—a useful perspective for our culture today.
Chapters: 00:04:06 The Mortara Case (1858) 00:11:12 The personality of an original document 00:15:23 The Mortaras’ appeal to Thomas Aquinas 00:17:13 Handling difficult history 00:21:36 Thomas Aquinas: natural law and parental duties 00:33:39 Parallel roles of educator, translator 00:39:07 Gradual handoff of parental authority to the child 00:46:06 Why the Mortara Case resurfaces today
Links: The Mortara Case and Thomas Aquinas’s Defense of Jewish Parental Authority by Dr. Matthew Tapie
Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues by Alasdair MacIntyre
Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara movie (2023)
Also on the Forum: The Importance of Ugly History by Mark Grannis
Featured opportunities: Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
In a world competing for our attention, our guest this week admits: “It’s probably harder to read novels now than it ever was.” But their value cannot be overstated. The novel’s unique humanity, its careful and open treatment of the human experience, helps us to develop a sympathetic imagination, tuning our hearts and minds in a way that non-fiction argument simply cannot.
Christopher Scalia, author of 13 Novels Conservatives Will Love (but Probably Haven’t Read), makes the case that it is a distinctly conservative interest to explore the Western tradition through fiction. Recommendations in hand, he invites adults to refresh their reading list with novels—from the very inception of the form up to the present.
Chapters: 1:47 The great book rut
4:11 Novels: the medium of recent Western tradition
5:30 The 18th-century bildungsroman
9:47 “Conservative” themes
16:18 The American dream in My Ántonia
22:39 Miraculous realism in Peace Like a River
29:02 Acknowledging the existence of evil
31:44 Wonder and encounter over strict interpretation
37:03 Revisiting works from your school years
38:47 Why narrative works
42:01 Books that nearly made the cut
Links: 13 Novels Conservatives Will Love (but Probably Haven’t Read) by Christopher Scalia
Christopher J. Scalia at American Enterprise Institute
The History of Rasselas by Samuel Johnson (1759)
Evelina by Frances Burney (1778)
Waverley by Sir Walter Scott (1814)
The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1852)
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (1876)
My Ántonia by Willa Cather (1918)
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)
The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark (1963)
The Children of Men by P. D. James (1992)
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (2001)
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (2004)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)
How I Won a Nobel Prize: A Novel by Julius Taranto (2023)
Also on the Forum: Heights Forum Book Reviews
On Reading Literature by Joseph Bissex
Some Summer Reading Recommendations for Teachers by Tom Cox
Modern Literature: On Curating the Contemporary featuring Mike Ortiz
Guiding Our Boys through Modern Literature featuring Joe Breslin and Lionel Yaceczko
Featured opportunities: Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
As we conclude the school year, parents are turning their sights to summer and the much-anticipated family vacation. We bear such hope for rest and connection on these trips—but we can too easily end up chasing a bucket-list.
Head of Mentoring Joe Cardenas offers a timely intervention for our vacation planning, reminding us to plan for people before places. Bringing his own family traditions and Crescite Week experiences to the question, he offers a new set of questions to help us plan and enjoy a truly transformative, restorative vacation for all members of the family.
Chapters: 00:02:57 The anti-bucket list approach 00:08:23 “You need a change of soul” 00:10:11 Rest 00:13:46 Linger at table 00:15:18 Soak in a limited itinerary 00:17:10 Build in time for reflection 00:19:53 Better vacation planning questions 00:23:27 See it as a pilgrimage 00:28:33 Plan for people before places 00:34:55 Naturally layer in meaning, traditions 00:42:08 Share the highs and lows 00:45:12 The key: to plan ahead of time
Also on the Forum: Three Components of a “Great” Summer featuring Colin Gleason
Taking Advantage of Summer (for the Non-Working Boy) by Elias Naegele
A Summer Fully Alive by Nate Gadiano
Mentoring Sons to a Successful Summer featuring Joe Cardenas
Four Ways to Have an Incredible Summer by Tom Steenson
Featured opportunities: Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
As more families scrutinize their post-high school options for virtue and value, the field has perhaps never been wider. Choosing a path carefully, with the right balance of priorities, should be the goal for every high school graduate.
Before serving as our headmaster, Mr. Alvaro de Vicente was the Heights college counselor. Over the last few decades, he’s witnessed an exciting shift in the way students and their parents can evaluate, prioritize, and choose a path after graduation that serves the whole person well. And while colleges are responding more and more to these good demands, Mr. de Vicente also explores how high schools and employers could keep pace with the changes.
Chapters: 2:32 Am I on the education treadmill?
4:16 Purposes of college: personal growth, financial growth
8:32 Keeping the two purposes in proper proportion
12:20 The wider field of alternatives
15:42 How high schools must respond
19:35 Peer groups on the alternative path
24:22 If virtue and value aren’t in balance
27:33 The future graduate’s options
29:54 The future of hiring
Also on the Forum: A Short Guide to the Purposeful College Decision by Alvaro de Vicente 4/25
Advice for the College Launch featuring Alvaro de Vicente 8/24
Considerations for College-Bound Students featuring Dr. Peter Kilpatrick 5/24
The College Experience featuring Dr. Jonathan Sanford
Rethinking College: Why Go? How? When? featuring Arthur Brooks 7/2021
Featured opportunities: Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
Human reason: what is it? How does it cooperate with faith and the will? How can we distinguish between authentic reason and its counterfeits—particularly in an age of relativism, pluralism, scientism, and artificial intelligence?
Here to unpack a heavy topic is Fr. Gregory Pine, a Dominican friar, instructor at Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. You may recognize his voice as a frequent contributor to podcasts like Godsplaining and Pints with Aquinas. Following a talk with our juniors, Fr. Pine graciously joined us in the studio to offer a wealth of ideas on this natural capacity and inclination to understand God’s world.
Chapters: 00:05:19 Defining human reason 00:08:23 Modern preference for practical reason 00:12:17 Modern preference for relativism 00:17:18 Faith, reason, and the will assist each other 00:24:05 Teaching apologetics today 00:28:26 Finding truth in a pluralist world 00:34:59 AI: a counterfeit of intellect 00:41:30 AI: an anthropology 00:44:36 Closing thoughts from Arthur Brooks, Thomas Aquinas, and Aristotle
Links: Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly by Fr. Gregory Pine
The Dominican House of Studies, home of the Pontifical Faculty and The Thomistic Institute
Godsplaining Podcast hosted by the Dominican friars of the Dominican House of Studies
Beauty for Truth’s Sake by Stratford Caldecott
“Why You Should Go with Your Gut” by Arthur Brooks
Featured opportunities: Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
Prayer is not prescriptive. So how could we hope to teach our children a practice that St. Thérèse called “a surge of the heart”? Lower school head Colin Gleason suggests that it’s about creating opportunities and options, so that our sons can naturally make a life of prayer their own.
In his talk from our Parenting Conference in April, Mr. Gleason lays out ten very practical ways to sow the seeds of prayer into our family’s daily routines—in formal and spontaneous ways. He ends by reminding us that prayer is not a program. It is an orientation. And whatever we parents approach with consistency and sincerity, “the house will be filled with the fragrance of it” (cf. John 12:3).
Chapters: 00:05:28 Prayer as a relationship 00:09:53 A family plan for daily prayer 00:12:30 Introducing them to mental prayer 00:15:00 The Psalms: a handbook 00:20:37 Making opportunities and options 00:24:20 Asking them to pray for us 00:26:57 Stories for the prayer imagination 00:29:52 Prayer journals 00:31:07 Discussing prayer 00:32:46 Prayer in our daily activities 00:35:27 Making a prayer spot 00:37:32 Clearing obstacles, preparing the ground
Featured opportunities: Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
Also on the Forum: Forming Men of Faith by Alvaro de Vicente
Forming Families, Forming Saints featuring Fr. Carter Griffin
We often speak of a pedagogical friendship between teacher and student: the earnest desire for the student’s good, the collaborative adventure through difficult material, and the trust built thereby. But we shouldn’t oversimplify this friendship: it’s not merely to be liked by our students.
From rookie teachers to decades-long veterans, we can all feel that pull to be the “favorite teacher.” But what kind of frameworks should we keep in mind as we serve our students well? This week, Heights Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente unpacks the very human desire to be liked, the perils of seeking popularity, and what our students really need from us.
Chapters: 00:03:16 The student is not for your gain 00:05:18 Including social-emotional gains 00:11:10 Practical pitfalls of seeking popularity 00:15:31 Why we want to be liked 00:19:21 Give the respect you want 00:21:46 Like your students 00:26:03 Where to find stable satisfaction
Featured opportunities: Parents Conference: Fostering Our Sons’ Faith at The Heights School (April 12, 2025)
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Also on the Forum: Respectful Dominion: On Discipline featuring Colin Gleason
Order and Surprise: On Beauty and the Western Tradition featuring Lionel Yaceczko
“Offer it up!” Do we receive that invitation with a wince or a nod? Heights Assistant Headmaster Tom Royals invites us to examine our approach to Lent and “offering it up”—with an emphasis on offering. Mr. Royals reflects on the “happy obligation” that is the habit of sacrifice, and he considers the liturgical seasons of Lent, Passiontide, Eastertide, and ordinary time as gifts from the Church.
Chapters: 4:21 “Offer it up”
8:37 Look to the cross
10:59 Offering it up as a pattern and practice
12:47 Keeping the Lord company
16:22 Our reactions to setbacks
20:57 History of Lent: an ecclesial framework
23:22 Our Lent so far
25:44 Lent in the family culture
28:24 Easter: the feast of feasts
32:02 These next ten days
Links: Holy Rosary (with images) by Josemaria Escriva
Featured opportunities: Parents Conference: Fostering Our Sons’ Faith at The Heights School (April 12, 2025)
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
Also on the Forum: Learn to Turn featuring Tom Royals
As a Valley veteran, Tom Steenson has seen patterns emerge from his two decades of parent-teacher conferences. He invites us to sit down for a not-so-hypothetical conference featuring the recurring advice he offers to the parents of his lower school students. In short, Mr. Steenson hopes to encourage parents in their parental authority and to help them identify (or sometimes even invent) opportunities for growth in their young men.
Chapters: 3:25 Encourage parental instincts
7:03 Trust in the long game
9:02 “Better late than early”TM
11:38 Exercise his accountability
20:05 Let him help others
22:48 Don’t eliminate friction
24:05 Beware the schedule
26:36 Help him want to read
Featured opportunities: Parents Conference: Fostering Our Sons’ Faith at The Heights School (April 12, 2025)
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Also on the Forum: A Guide to Parent-Teacher Conferences by Kyle Blackmer
Partnering with Parents by Michael Moynihan
Communicating with Parents by Kyle Blackmer
Dumb Phones, Feature Phones, and the New Tech Landscape featuring Alvaro de Vicente
“Are you a classical school?” It’s a question many parents and educators will have to answer at some point. St. Martin’s Academy in Fort Scott, Kansas, likes to say they’re not exactly classical—more like medieval.
At St. Martin’s, a boys’ boarding school and working farm for grades 9-12, Adam Taylor and a team of educators seek to nurture authentic masculinity, awaken wonder, and heal the imagination. This week on HeightsCast, Mr. Taylor talks with us about the vision of St. Martin’s, and gives us ideas we can take into our own understanding of boys’ education.
Chapters: 3:35 The medieval model
7:12 The path to “Dean of Magistri”
14:38 Nurturing authentic masculinity
19:14 Healing the imagination
25:00 Boys need reality and heroes
33:49 Soulcraft: the role of work at St. Martin’s
36:54 Forms of manly friendship
40:57 Time management for teachers
45:35 Recommended reading
Links: St. Martin’s Academy in Fort Scott, Kansas
“The Necessity of Chivalry” by C. S. Lewis
The Tuft of Flowers by Robert Frost
John Senior and the Restoration of Realism by Fr. Francis Bethel
Poetic Knowledge: The Recovery of Education by James S. Taylor
Beauty for Truth’s Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education by Stratford Caldecott
Beauty in the Word: Rethinking the Foundations of Education by Stratford Caledcott
Featured opportunities: Parents Conference: Fostering Our Sons’ Faith at The Heights School (April 12, 2025)
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Also on the Forum: Breathing Narnian Air: Loving Modernity as a Medievalist featuring Jason Baxter
Shaping Your Son’s Moral Imagination featuring Alvaro de Vicente
On Moral Imagination, Part I featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Pope St. John Paul II outlined the four pillars of formation for seminarians back in 1992 with his apostolic exhortation Pastores dabo vobis. For years, Fr. Carter Griffin has used this framework to walk with seminarians through a program of human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation at St. John Paul II Seminary in Washington, DC.
With his recent book, Forming Families, Forming Saints, Fr. Griffin brings that rich framework into the context of parenting. In this episode, he provides parents with an overview of the four pillars of formation, and offers encouragement and practical wisdom about what it means for the family to be a “domestic church.”
Chapters: 5:43 Family: the domestic church 8:38 Similarities to seminary formation 10:45 Not just self-optimization 15:03 The four pillars of formation 18:30 Sincerity: the truth is never a problem 25:50 Parental expectations 30:29 A childlike relationship with God 33:48 What faith is 37:41 Introducing our children to prayer 43:42 Struggles with prayer 46:41 An apostolic approach for families 48:34 Comfortable with being different 52:52 Awareness of vocations: 11 and 11th 56:31 An outlook of hope
Links: Forming Families, Forming Saints by Fr. Carter Griffin
Optimal Work Program by Dr. Kevin Majeres
Featured opportunities: Parents Conference at The Heights School (April 12, 2025)
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Also on the Forum: Fostering Vocations in a Digital Age featuring Fr. Carter Griffin
Magnanimity and the Great-Souled Man featuring Fr. Carter Griffin
A great learning experience comes at the material using different practices—listening, reading, memorizing, interrogating, doing, speaking, and/or writing about the idea until it crystallizes in the student’s mind. And a great teacher facilitates those practices in his class plan.
For his talk at the 2024 Forum Teaching Conference, upper school teacher Austin Hatch borrowed the “three modes of teaching” proposed by author and educator Mortimer Adler. These are: didactic instruction, supervised practice, and active participation. Mr. Hatch explains why they are each needed in good proportion, and what each can look like in the classroom.
Chapters: 00:04:25 The beginning and end is friendship 00:09:57 Didactic instruction: be brief and clear 00:12:23 Supervised practice: make the time 00:20:54 Active participation: host a seminar or performance 00:31:27 Beholding a man in performance 00:33:21 Q1: preparing students for a seminar 00:35:07 Q2: escaping the grade game
Links: Paideia Program: An Educational Syllabus by Mortimer Adler
De Amicitia (On Friendship) by Cicero
Featured opportunities:
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Mr. Tom Cox’s approach to telling great stories in the classroom starts with a self-limiting 3×5 notecard. The challenge when telling any story from history is that all such stories run together, are infinitely entangled, and lack the defined clarity of exposition, crisis, climax, and denouement. Mr. Cox provides a practical framework and examples for “putting flesh on dry bones” in an effective, compelling way that students will remember.
This talk was delivered at the Forum Teaching Conference in the fall of 2024.
Featured opportunities: Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Also on the Forum: A Better Approach to History featuring Tom Cox and Bill Dardis
Keeping the Story in History by Mark Grannis 9/22
Seeing History: On Using Images in the History Classroom by Kyle Blackmer 2/22History the Way It Was by Bill Dardis
If we’ve decided against smart phones for our kids, can dumb phones come to the rescue? New options for families have hit the tech market, offering few or select features, and giving parents new things to consider when it comes to kids and phones in 2025. Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente offers a framework for thinking about smart phones, dumb phones, and feature phones in a culture still weighed down by anxiety and distraction.
Chapters: 4:04 Deciding when 5:17 Phones as tools 10:05 The dumb phone: what problem is it solving? 16:11 The feature phone: constant connection 17:30 Healthy friendship 22:03 An age of distraction, even offline 23:44 The need for silence 26:29 School policies 27:14 Family policies
Links: School Phone Bans Alone Do Not Improve Grades or Wellbeing, The Guardian, February 5, 2025
Apple Just Reinvented Its Biggest App, The Atlantic, September 14, 2016
The Anxious Generation: The Great Rewiring of Childhood by Jonathan Haidt
Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation by Josef Pieper
Featured opportunities: Parents’ Conference: Passing the Faith On to the Next Generation at The Heights School (April 12, 2025) link coming soon
Also on the Forum: Technology in the Home: Perspective, Principles, and Practices by Michael Moynihan
Forming iGen: On the Forces that Shaped Them featuring Alvaro de Vicente
When Is Your Son Ready for a Smart Phone? featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Smart Phones: Why Wait When He’s “the Only One” featuring Joe Cardenas
On Freedom and Phones featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Reconsidering Electronics under the Tree featuring Alvaro de Vicente
“It is an atmosphere we breathe in, rather than an argument we consider.” Thus wrote T. S. Eliot about the very idea of happiness Americans have adopted for their own. When raising sons in modern America, we should understand what cultural air they—and we—are breathing. Is that “pursuit of happiness” keeping our hearts and minds restless?
In their book, Why We Are Restless, Dr. Benjamin Storey and his wife Dr. Jenna Silber Storey explore the inheritance of American-style happiness: where did it come from? Who has wrestled with it before? And how should we really engage with it? Ben Storey sits down with us to discuss this week on HeightsCast.
Chapters: 00:08:44 Montaigne’s recipe for happiness
00:15:16 “Immanent contentment”: now is enough
00:17:19 Pascal’s reach for God
00:20:11 Rousseau’s earthly transcendence
00:29:09 The American Dream
00:33:45 Democracy and restlessness
00:39:38 The highs and lows of infinite possibility
00:45:02 Advice for high school seniors
00:49:30 Advice for parents
Links: Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment by Benjamin Storey and Jenna Silber Storey
Also on the Forum: ChatGPT Holds These Truths to Be Self-Evident by Mark Grannis
The Importance of History, Part I featuring Dr. Matthew Spalding
At our 2024 Teaching Conference, Dr. John Cuddeback of Christendom College unpacked what boys need from their fathers and teachers in order to grow into the men they truly desire to be. And what boys desire, he argues, comes from their God-given nature: one that resonates with fatherhood, moral character, and the ability to speak truth.
Chapters: 6:21 Today’s rejection of masculinity
10:11 Education: formation of right appetites
15:33 What they enjoy and what pains them
18:52 What boys should desire
21:26 To be fathers
29:15 To be men of character
31:33 To articulate the truth
33:32 How we educate: by example
36:16 By curating influences
37:57 By great art
42:49 By direct articulation, in friendship
Links: LifeCraft, John Cuddeback’s website featuring free courses, videos, and articles
True Friendship: Where Virtue Becomes Happiness by John Cuddeback
The Intentional Household Podcast hosted by John and Sofia Cuddeback
Also on the Forum:
Made in the Image and Likeness: On Man and Masculinity featuring Bishop Erik Varden
Friendship for Fathers featuring John Cuddeback
The Man Fully Alive: On Our Vision featuring Alvaro de Vicente
It’s true: we talk too much. And we know that just one more brilliant lecture from us will not solve our boys’ every problem—but we can’t seem to help ourselves.
This week on HeightsCast, lower school head Colin Gleason takes an intentional look at how we as parents and educators engage our boys, and how we might do better. The conversation reminds us that parenting is relational, not a delivery system, and that ultimately we want to keep the lines of communication open.
Chapters: 2:30 Talk less, engage more
8:31 Over-supervision leads to acting, not being
15:11 Strategies for listening
17:23 Recon: trying to draw something out
21:12 Showing unanxious interest
25:38 Response: when they come to you
28:13 Keep them coming to you
31:01 Let the emotions breathe
37:32 Disrespect and complaints
43:38 The impact of listening
Featured opportunities: Parents’ Conference: Freedom and Addiction at The Heights School (April 12, 2025) link coming soon
Teaching Men’s Conference at The Heights School (October 2025) link coming soon
Also on the Forum: On Emotional Presence and Imperfect Parenting featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Seeing Our Boys with Loving Eyes: Not Projects but Persons featuring Tom Royals
Building a Relationship of Trust with Your Son featuring Alvaro de Vicente
In this episode, our guest (an AP U.S. History teacher) and our host (an AP Government teacher) delve into the worthy American most likely missing from your U.S. history or government class.
Orestes Brownson was a nineteenth-century political thinker who wrote about the American project through his unique lens as a post-Civil War American-Catholic. He was well known in his time but is often only featured in the footnotes for the Election of 1840, the Transcendental Movement, and the Emancipation Proclamation. Brownson’s essays, though, belong in the classroom. They seek to answer with optimism and insightful reflection: what is this country all about? For what did our sons die in this great Civil War?
Chapters: 4:20 Why read Brownson?
10:11 A religious and political wanderer
14:01 Arrives at the Catholic Church
17:00 Magnus opus: The American Republic
21:57 “Territorial democracy”
27:44 History as human experience
28:51 Territorial democracy and American Union
32:31 Missteps of democracy
36:54 Brownson’s vision: “Freedom of each with advantage to the other”
37:41 Yet history repeats itself
41:47 America’s role in the story of history
44:55 “Unwritten constitution”
49:36 The task of the modern teacher
54:24 One’s development of ideas over time
Links: The American Republic by Orestes Brownson
“Democratic Principle” by Orestes Brownson
Orestes Brownson Symposium hosted by the American Family Project
“Catholic Lives: Orestes Brownson, the American Newman” on Controversies in Church History
Featured opportunities: On Faith and Beauty in Churches talk by Joe Cardenas at The Heights School (February 1, 2025)
Series for Heights Fathers: Accompanying Our Sons as They Grow in Understanding of Human Sexuality at The Heights School (Thursdays in February 2025)
Parents’ Conference: Freedom and Addiction at The Heights School (April 12, 2025) link coming soon
Teaching Men’s Conference at The Heights School (October 2025) link coming soon
Also on the Forum: ChatGPT Holds These Truths to Be Self-Evident by Mark Grannis
The Importance of Ugly History by Mark Grannis
Keeping the Story in History by Mark Grannis
Seeing History: On Using Images in the History Classroom by Kyle Blackmer
Patriotism and Piety: Honoring Founders and Fathers featuring Matthew Mehan
All the first universities were—St. Thomas Aquinas would tell us—Catholic ones. But in this modern day, it takes intentionality to maintain the rich tradition of Catholic education.
In a talk recorded for HeightsCast, Dr. Peter Kilpatrick, president of The Catholic University of America, spoke to families at The Heights about what it means to be a Catholic university. He first consults the experts: Thomas Aquinas, John Henry Newman, John Paul the Great, and Pope Benedict XVI. He then offers examples from his own career in school leadership, and how to put the exhortations of popes and saints into action on campus.
Chapters: 6:14 Universities: a Catholic inheritance
8:06 Newman and Aquinas on universities
11:58 Papal directives for Catholic universities
15:56 Theodrama vs. egodrama
19:16 Getting these ideas on campus
19:36 Mission-enthusiastic faculty
21:26 Mission-integrated curricula
24:12 Counseling with a Christian anthropology
25:01 Teaching a professional call to holiness
26:21 Campus ministry
28:15 The distinctive value of Catholic education
31:10 Q1: Technology and the next 50 years
36:13 Q2: College affordability and value
Links: The Idea of a University by St. John Henry Newman
Ex Corde Ecclesiae by Pope St. John Paul II
Regensburg Address on Faith, Reason, and the University by Pope Benedict XVI
“The Real Cost of College Education—for Students, Families, and the Nation” by Jamie Merisotis
Superhabits: The Universal System for a Successful Life by Andrew Abela
Hannah’s Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth by Catherine Pakaluk
Also on the Forum: Receiving Beauty: A Liberal Arts Education featuring Dr. George Harne
Considerations for the College-Bound Student featuring Dr. Peter Kilpatrick
The Idea of the Liberal Arts University, Part I featuring Dr. Thomas Hibbs
Rethinking College: Why go? How? When? featuring Arthur Brooks
Advent invites us to reflect on our Christian disposition, oriented towards peace, hope, joy, and love. St. Josemaría Escrivá was known to summarize that disposition by calling it, simply… “simple.” In The Way, he praises the apostles and St. Joseph for imitating Jesus himself in being simple. And then he exhorts us: “May you not lack simplicity.”
Heights faculty Joe Cardenas and Nate Gadiano join us this week to explore the Christian meaning of “simplicity,” beginning with the ways that God is simple: unified, sincere, essential, and wholly true. As we strive to reflect his example, how do we find that interior disposition of simplicity? And how can we help our boys find it too?
Chapters: 3:07 A Catholic sense of simplicity
10:13 Moving beyond “minimalism”
18:38 Simplicity in Scripture
20:43 Social simplicity
24:12 As opposed to duplicity
26:08 How spiritual direction simplifies you
30:36 A unity of purpose
32:39 Distinct from feelings-based “honesty”
39:02 Helping our boys as parents, mentors
41:41 A boy’s insecurity, overcome by trust
47:38 Secure in divine filiation
Links: The Way, Furrow, and The Forge by St. Josemaría Escrivá
Also on the Forum: The Virtues Playlist on The Heights Forum
“The air of Narnia had been working upon him … and all his old battles came back to him, and his arms and fingers remembered their old skill. He was King Edmund once more.”
In this week’s wide-ranging discussion, Dr. Jason Baxter talks about fellow Medievalist C. S. Lewis’s ideas of story and history—and how those ideas matter for the education and formation of a thoroughly modern people. What can today’s “classical revival movements” learn from Lewis?
Chapters: 3:56 C. S. Lewis’s library
6:31 His theory of stories: mining ancient jewels
14:49 His theory of history: a post-Christian world
17:14 Modern man’s trouble with pre-modern texts
20:09 Embracing modernity and tradition
25:45 Making virtue attractive
33:49 How to “teach” a passion
42:45 Why a new translation of Dante
49:51 Wounded by beauty
Links: jasonmbaxter.com featuring articles and lectures
Beauty Matters, Substack for Jason Baxter
The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind by Jason Baxter
The Divine Comedy: Inferno translated by Jason Baxter
Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College
Also on the Forum: A Doctor, a Lawyer, and a Cop Walk into a Boys School, episode two of Heights Forum Faculty Podcast
What Fiction Is For featuring Joe Breslin
Inferno or Paradiso? On Introducing Students to the Divine Comedy featuring Jason Baxter
In this episode we feature a lecture from Heights Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, at the last Art of Teaching conference. In the talk, Colin explores the concept of “unanxious leadership” in the classroom, emphasizing the importance of teachers maintaining a calm, grounded presence. He explains that anxiety often arises when teachers feel they are in constant conflict with students or struggling to control the classroom. Colin encourages teachers to adopt a mindset of humility and vulnerability, rather than relying on rigid authority or defensiveness, which fosters trust and respect. By focusing on building genuine relationships and being a “storyteller” rather than an “actor,” teachers can create a classroom where students feel seen, valued, and understood.
Colin also stresses the importance of fairness in discipline. He warns against using authority as a tool for domination and suggests a “double correction” strategy—addressing conflicts with two students by fairly acknowledging the role each one played in the dispute. He emphasizes that fairness, empathy, and thoughtful reflection can help reduce anxiety for both teachers and students. Colin believes that teachers must trust that students are genuinely trying to do their best, even in difficult moments, and that recognizing this effort is key to fostering a positive classroom environment.
Finally, Colin highlights the value of informal, outside-the-classroom interactions in building strong teacher-student relationships. By spending time with students outside of lessons—whether through casual conversations or attending their extracurricular activities—teachers show that they care about their students as individuals. This personal investment creates a sense of connection that enhances both academic and personal growth. Ultimately, Colin argues that an “unanxious classroom” is shaped by teachers who lead with humility, compassion, and a focus on positive relationships, transforming both the teaching experience and the overall learning environment.
How do we justify reading? Do we justify reading?
Heights fifth grade teacher and published fiction author Joe Breslin chases away such questions. Though fiction can have utility, even moral impact—fiction at its best is an art created and received with wonder. In this fascinating conversation, Mr. Breslin reflects on writing, reading, and gets us to the heart of what it actually means to do something “for its own sake.”
Chapters: 3:50 Do we read for utility?
7:49 Fiction: pursued for its own sake
11:43 Whether fiction has a moral purpose
18:57 Fiction writing is not essay writing
23:03 Good art ends up reflecting God
26:09 Defining “good for its own sake”
28:23 The tension between education and encounter
34:04 A parent’s role in sharing fiction
38:07 The human impulse for literature
Links: Hearts Uncanny: Tales of the Unquiet Spirit by Joe Breslin
Other Minds: 13 Tales of Wonder and Sorrow by Joe Breslin
joeybreslinwrites.com Joe Breslin’s author website
“Ethics of Elfland” by G. K. Chesterton
Leisure: The Basis of Culture Josef Pieper
“The Loss of the Creature” by Walker Percy
Men in the Making, Alvaro de Vicente’s substack featuring original articles
Featured Opportunities: What Should a Catholic University Be? at The Heights School (December 7, 2024)
Also on the Forum: The Forum Book Reviews, many written by Joe Breslin
A surprising number of Catholic conversions in the last hundred years begin with one man: G. K. Chesterton. A modern Catholic favorite, Chesterton looms large in subjects as diverse as theology, satire, marginalia, philosophy, politics, and mystery fiction.
Our guest today is Dale Ahlquist, founder and president of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton. His own journey of conversion started with Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man. In our conversation, we visit many of Chesterton’s ideas, concluding with the much misunderstood “distributism”—a Chestertonian practical philosophy and the subject of Ahlquist’s co-edited book of essays titled Localism: Coming Home to Catholic Social Teaching.
Chapters: 1:53 Conversion by way of Chesterton
6:17 Chesterton: a “complete thinker”
8:16 Reading recommendations
12:05 The opening of Everlasting Man
13:56 The ending of Man Who Was Thursday
17:16 Fairy tales and fundamental truths
19:18 “The twitch upon the thread”
22:27 Defining distributism, or localism
30:13 Localism for D.C. (sub)urbanites
33:44 Founding schools: localism in action
39:11 Family enterprises
42:19 The contributors to Localism
45:31 Creating a life of localism where you are
Links: Localism: Coming Home to Catholic Social Teaching edited by Dale Ahlquist and Michael Warren Davis
The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton
G. K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense by Dale Ahlquist
Common Sense 101: Lessons from G. K. Chesterton by Dale Ahlquist
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton
St. Thomas Aquinas by G. K. Chesterton
St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton
Father Brown: The Essential Tales by G. K. Chesterton
“The Roots of the World” by G. K. Chesterton
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. Chesterton
Men in the Making, Alvaro de Vicente’s substack featuring original articles
Featured Opportunities: What Should a Catholic University Be? at The Heights School (December 7, 2024)
Also on the Forum: Episode 1: The Homework Problem, newly launched Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox featuring round-table discussions with veteran teachers
The task of fatherhood is critical, dynamic—and daunting. How could one address hope to address it all? During the Fatherhood Conference at The Heights School this month, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente boiled it down to this: God chose this for you. You are called. Accepting this simple starting point should give fathers the confidence to take on the role, and the humility to seek God’s grace while doing so.
Chapters: 3:02 Fatherhood as vocation
9:20 Vocation as your position on the team
12:09 The mission: bring your family to heaven
13:29 Fatherhood is a partnership with God
16:07 A father’s example of piety and virtue
27:06 Offering our children direct guidance
30:37 Offering them our time
34:05 Witnessing to the world
36:54 Being open to God’s grace
40:41 Messy is fine
45:20 You’re the man for the job
Links: Men in the Making, Alvaro de Vicente’s substack featuring original articles
Pastoral Letter on New Evangelization, 2 October 2011 by Javier Echevarría, former prelate of Opus Dei
Christ Is Passing By by Josemaría Escrivá
“In Joseph’s Workshop” by Josemaría Escrivá
Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
Also on the Forum: Episode 1: The Homework Problem, newly launched Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox featuring round-table discussions with veteran teachers
On Emotional Presence and Imperfect Parenting featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Paternal Presence featuring Alvaro de Vicente
The Father and His Family featuring Michael Moynihan
What is beauty? Is it definable? What is it for, how are we drawn to it—and why do we sometimes resist it?
This week we welcome Dr. George Harne, president of Christendom College and an accomplished medieval and music history scholar. Drawing on his perspective as head of a vibrant Catholic liberal arts college, he speaks to us about the liberal arts as a path of study driven by beauty and contemplation, in pursuit of a true vision of reality.
Chapters: 2:02 Liberal arts: what free people study
5:51 Versus “humanities” or “classical education”
7:46 Why study them
9:43 Music as a liberal art, fine art, liturgical art
13:16 Teaching art and contemplation
18:24 Defining contemplation
21:21 Contemplating music
24:45 Music with our family
28:19 Receiving beauty objectively, subjectively
29:42 Beauty under suspicion today
34:24 A Catholic liberal arts education
Links: Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation by Josef Pieper
The Arts of the Beautiful by Etienne Gilson
Featured Opportunities: Fathers Conference at The Heights School (November 2, 2024)
The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
Also on the Forum: Episode 1: The Homework Problem, newly launched Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox featuring round-table discussions with veteran teachers
Defining the Liberal Arts featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan
Order and Surprise: On Beauty and the Western Tradition featuring Dr. Lionel Yaceczko
Why a Liberal Arts Education Today featuring Michael Moynihan
The Idea of the Liberal Arts University featuring Dr. Thomas Hibbs
Dr. Jeremy Beer’s study of American society over the last 200 years, overlaid with psychology research and statistics about American charitable giving, has brought about his recent book: The Quest for Belonging.
The book directly advises nonprofit and fundraising leaders, though it just as much informs the everyday giver. This week on HeightsCast, Beer helps us see that charitable giving at its best is not a distant act of beneficence but an intimate act of community. It allows those who participate to become more rooted in the reality of social belonging, making for a healthier society in more ways than one.
Chapters: * 3:56 American cultural tradition of “association” * 7:39 Four pillars of civil society * 9:04 American society, in particular * 16:53 Gradual decline of American association, of belonging * 21:33 Giving and religious affiliation * 25:04 Giving and localism * 28:02 Giving as a democratic exercise * 31:31 Nonprofits have a role in belonging * 33:50 The goods of associating ourselves * 34:36 To whom do you owe? * 41:07 Giving and the Catholic tradition
Links: * The Quest for Belonging: How the Most Effective Nonprofit Leaders Understand the Psychology of Giving by Jeremy Beer * Givers, Doers, and Thinkers, Jeremy Beer’s podcast * A Spirituality of Fundraising by Henri J. M. Nouwen
Featured Opportunities: * Fathers Conference at The Heights School (November 2, 2024) * The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
It turns out that modern psychology, neuroscience research, “habit hacks,” and popular self-help literature can all be summed up in one very classical idea: the virtues.
So asserts Dr. Andrew Abela, founding dean of the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America. This week on HeightsCast, he helps us unpack his new book, Superhabits, in which he rebrands the virtues as “superhabits” to suit the contemporary discourse. Then, with the help of Thomas Aquinas and about a dozen gripping stories, Dr. Abela shows us how these superhabits of virtue are described, developed, and supported by modern research as the way to live a good life.
Chapters: * 2:20 Virtues: the essential human operating system * 5:19 Humans pre-wired for virtue * 9:14 Psychology research, self-help books all point back to virtues * 17:57 “Anatomy of Virtue” diagram * 25:57 The role emotions play * 29:12 Virtue gets easier! * 33:21 Translating virtue into “superhabits” * 37:19 Redirecting anger with gentlefirmness * 43:22 Finding restful leisure with eutrapelia * 48:41 Where to begin
Links: * Superhabits: The Universal System for a Successful Life by Andrew Abela * Dr. Abela’s Substack featuring blog posts and articles * “The Anatomy of Virtue” by Andrew Abela, including his diagram of Aquinas’s categories of virtue * Treatise on the Virtues by Thomas Aquinas
Further reading: * The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg * Atomic Habits by James Clear * Tiny Habits by B. J. Fogg * The Virtues by John Garvey * Learning the Virtues that Lead You to God by Romano Guardini * The Heart of Virtue: Lessons from Life and Literature Illustrating the Beauty and Value of Moral Character by Donald DeMarco
Featured Opportunities: * Fathers Conference at The Heights School (November 2, 2024) * The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
Also on the Forum: * Free Hearts and Magnanimity featuring Alexandre Havard * From Anxiety to Adventure: On Reframing Challenges featuring Kevin Majeres * Emotions Fully Alive: Forming Boys’ Affectivity Pt. I featuring Joe Cardenas * Emotions Fully Alive: Forming Boys’ Affectivity Pt. II featuring Joe Cardenas
The sentimentalism of our greater culture is a formidable—yet surmountable—challenge to young men. Our sons are relentlessly encouraged to follow their affections and feelings wherever they might lead, whatever their commitments. How can we, as parents and teachers, help our boys to become men who love the world without being pulled off course by the sentiments and affections that are a natural aspect of our God-given humanity?
As part of our parent lecture series at The Heights School, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente offers his insights to navigating the cultural challenge of sentimentalism by using the virtue of loyalty as a ballast. For when the feelings fail, loyalty helps us to stay the virtuous course—where our yes is yes and our no is no.
Chapters: * [00:02:11] The erosion of loyalty, rise of sentimentalism * [00:05:14] Loyalty: a virtue that trains other virtues * [00:12:36] Sentimentalism: when feelings dominate * [00:17:47] How sentimentalism undermines the good * [00:30:01] Modern boys and sentimental morals * [00:30:48] Training the sentiments * [00:32:39] Naming them * [00:35:22] Practicing self-discipline exercises * [00:38:02] Setting limits on pleasurable activities * [00:39:13] Confronting “emotional attacks” * [00:42:16] Harnessing the sentiments to promote virtue * [00:47:54] Stories of loyalty * [00:55:21] Don't commit lightly: let your yes be yes * [00:59:20] The grace to succeed as parents
Links: * The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
Featured Opportunities: * Fathers Conference at The Heights School (November 2, 2024) * The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
Also on the Forum: * Emotions Fully Alive: Forming Boys’ Affectivity Pt. I featuring Joe Cardenas * Emotions Fully Alive: Forming Boys’ Affectivity Pt. II featuring Joe Cardenas
Last weekend, The Wall Street Journal published a front-page story on American young men and the crisis of masculinity. It featured hard stories of the “aimless and isolated”—but could ultimately offer no solutions.
This week on HeightsCast, we’re pleased to welcome Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, Norway. Bishop Varden has authored several books exploring human personhood, including topics of masculinity and femininity. He helps us get the lay of the land both culturally and spiritually in this so-called moment of crisis. His Excellency then shares the vision of masculinity that he finds in scripture and tradition, so that we may bring these ideas into our homes and to our sons.
Chapters: * 2:59 Man fully alive: is my life fruitful? * 5:09 A crisis of masculinity * 11:06 Language for a constructive conversation * 14:11 ‘Man,’ ‘woman,’ ‘human person’ called into question * 17:39 Vision of the human person in Genesis * 26:38 Complementarity of the sexes * 30:19 Masculinity and femininity as dual poles * 38:29 Manliness: to pour oneself out in protection of another * 42:08 Accepting our fragility * 48:49 Communicating masculinity to modern boys
Links: * Coram Fratribus, Bishop Erik Varden’s blog featuring homilies, articles, and “marginalia” * Chastity: Reconciliation of the Senses by Erik Varden * Entering the Twofold Mystery: On Christian Conversion by Erik Varden * The Shattering of Loneliness: On Christian Remembrance by Erik Varden * “America’s Young Men Are Falling Even Further Behind” by Rachel Wolfe, WSJ 28 September 2024
Featured Opportunities: * Headmaster’s Lecture at The Heights School (October 5, 2024) * Fathers Conference at The Heights School (November 2, 2024) * The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
Also on the Forum: * Stewards of the Universe: Men Fully Alive featuring Alvaro de Vicente * The Man Fully Alive: On Our Vision featuring Alvaro de Vicente
It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.
So writes the fictional devil Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood in C. S. Lewis’s epistolary novel The Screwtape Letters.
But where devils may wish to keep the good out, Heights headmaster Alvaro de Vicente highlights the ways we as parents can keep the good in. By aligning our family culture with the good voices we hope our sons will hear—and leaving space to allow the Divine voice and the voice of one’s own conscience to be heard—we help our sons form a good vision of themselves and the world.
Chapters: * 4:55 Why The Screwtape Letters * 8:18 A devil’s job is keeping the good out * 11:09 Three voices: people, the Divine, and the conscience * 14:58 Unpacking the term ‘voice’
Advice for keeping the good in: * 18:05 Slow down the noise * 23:45 Promote contemplative times * 26:20 Reserve time to read * 29:41 Cultivate the art of conversation * 32:12 Conspire for the good with their teachers * 36:40 A slow roll-out for new family initiatives
Links: * The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
Featured Opportunities: * Headmaster’s Lecture at The Heights School (October 5, 2024) * The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
Also on the Forum: * Who am I?: The Question of Persona featuring Alvaro de Vicente * Ways to Foster a Family Culture by Alvaro de Vicente * Raising Contemplative Sons featuring Colin Gleason
Part of the Teaching Sovereign Knowers Collection
In recent years, a number of HeightsCast guests have touched on the same resounding theme: the modern creep of curiositas and acedia, both considered classical vices. But where there are two vices, Aristotle encourages us to look for a virtue at the Golden Mean.
Mr. Michael Moynihan, head of The Heights upper school, finds it in studiousness. Adding to his collection of work on Teaching Sovereign Knowers, this episode unpacks Michael’s essay “Intellectual Virtue and Personal Sovereignty,” available on the Heights Forum. In it, he speaks to the why and how of pursuing studiousness as an intellectual virtue. For this, as with all virtues, allows us to stand before reality in an intentional way.
Chapters: * 3:43 Curiosity as an intellectual vice? * 7:55 Acedia at the other end of the spectrum * 10:15 Golden mean: studiousness * 14:36 When is it curiositas, when is it engagement? * 16:37 Studiousness as a virtue—of sorts * 23:09 Standing before reality in an intentional way * 26:23 Seeking the golden mean: sticking to a plan * 29:21 Using “Great Books” well * 34:46 Orienting students to the golden mean
Links: * Intellectual Virtue and Personal Sovereignty by Michael Moynihan * The Idea of a University by John Henry Cardinal Newman
Featured Opportunities: * Headmaster’s Lecture at The Heights School (October 5, 2024) * The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
Also on the Forum: * Teaching Sovereign Knowers Collection by Michael Moynihan * On Hope and Despair featuring R. J. Snell * Forming Deep Workers featuring Cal Newport
The vision of “man fully alive” involves a man motivated by faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these, St. Paul tells us, is love.
Our guest today, Mr. Tom Steenson, is a long-time teacher of the Heights fifth grade and also the upper school class History of Western Thought. He brings his experience and broad readings to bear on the question: How can we impart lessons of authentic love to rambunctious twenty-first century boys in a way they’ll actually internalize? Tom’s practical ideas span younger and older students, framing the endeavor as forming the boys for love by love.
Chapters: * 2:47 Teaching love to younger students * 6:11 Teaching love to upper school students * 11:26 Turning self-focus into self-knowledge * 16:20 Images of love in the curriculum * 19:36 Love and masculinity * 23:47 Love in imitation of God * 26:06 Passionately loving the world * 31:00 Faith, hope, love: the greatest is love * 34:46 Affirmation of their goodness
Links: * Augustine’s Confessions translated by F. J. Sheed * Phaedo by Plato
Featured Opportunities: * The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
Also on the Forum: * The Man Fully Alive: On Our Vision featuring Alvaro de Vicente
In classrooms where the students can read for themselves, reading aloud often falls off the daily schedule. But it’s a ritual well worth keeping—for the sake of literacy, the moral imagination, classroom bonds, and so much more. Long-time Heights teacher Tom Steenson encourages the teachers tending that flame, or wanting to rekindle it, in their own classrooms.
Chapters: * 2:08 Goals of reading aloud in the classroom * 4:44 The artist sees, then helps others to see * 11:47 Books that aren’t landing * 15:10 The read-aloud routine, scene-setting * 18:35 Reading in a high school classroom * 22:27 Separating instruction from narrative * 24:59 The effect on teachers
Links: * Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation by Josef Pieper * The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien * Augustine’s Confessions translated by F. J. Sheed * Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nihm by Robert C. O’Brien * The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Featured Opportunities: * The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
Also on the Forum: * Classroom Ambience by Joseph Bissex * The Read-Aloud Family featuring Sarah Mackenzie * Stop Telling Your Son to Read: How to Inspire a Love of Reading featuring Tom Longao * How to Master the Art of Reading Outside by Tom Longano
As we embark on a new school year, we are full of resolutions for the family routine. How will we order our week to support the highest goods? How will we fit it all in?
Not to be overlooked while charting the course: our keeping of the Sabbath. Last April, author and teacher Daniel Fitzpatrick released his book Restoring the Lord’s Day: How Reclaiming Sunday Can Revive Our Human Nature. Daniel sits down with us at HeightsCast to discuss the book, which examines the cultural drift away from a sense of Sabbath, why we should restore this God-given rhythm to our lives, and the scriptural support for how to do it.
Chapters:
- 4:09 Inattention to the Sabbath: modern or ageless?
- 7:54 Acedia, primary vice against the Sabbath
- 12:32 Challenges of the five-day work week
- 17:24 Festivity and sacrifice
- 21:56 The draw of sports as they relate to beauty
- 24:30 The good, UNrestful activities of Sunday
- 31:09 Practical advice for young families
- 35:38 Preparing on Saturday
- 40:44 Concluding the Sabbath
- 43:22 Reckoning with the necessity of labor
Links:
- Restoring the Lord’s Day: How Reclaiming Sunday Can Revive Our Human Nature by Daniel Fitzpatrick
- Joie de Vivre: A Journal of Art, Culture, and Letters for South Louisiana edited by Daniel Fitzpatrick
- Grace Fitzpatrick Art, Byzantine iconography by Grace Fitzpatrick
Featured Opportunities:
- The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
Also on the Forum:
- Work and Acedia: On Our Original Vocation featuring R. J. Snell
- Leisure and Acedia: On Contemplative Homes in a Frenetic Age featuring R. J. Snell
“Picture yourself here.”
“Become all you can be.”
“This will be the best four years of your life.”
The college pitch to high school seniors is alluring—though it doesn’t sketch a very clear life plan for a young person entering higher education. As Heights Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente points out, a successful time in college can be measured in growth: Are you physically, spiritually, and intellectually stronger by the end of these four years? In order to answer yes, students will need to embark upon college with a plan and a healthy way of measuring those dimensions of growth.
This week on HeightsCast, Mr. de Vicente shares incredibly practical advice for spending the college years well, drawing on a letter he sent this summer to the newly graduated Heights class of 2024.
Chapters: * 1:45 The best four years of your life? * 6:44 Old truths remain fresh * 9:17 College success measured by growth * 12:05 Five battlefronts, five tools for success * 12:36 One: Shower and eat breakfast * 15:30 Two: Look at your day as a 9-to-5 job * 19:26 Mr. de Vicente’s study plan * 25:32 Three: Find the right peer group * 30:04 Four: Chart a path for spiritual growth * 32:00 Five: Have a mentor * 35:27 A reasonable study load, being effective without overloading * 41:26 Laptop distractions in class * 44:25 Breaking out of the “self-focused” college attitude * 50:40 A truer pursuit of happiness
Featured Opportunities: * The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
Also on the Forum: * Considerations for College-Bound Students featuring Dr. Peter Kilpatrick of The Catholic University of America * The College Experience featuring Dr. Jonathan Sanford of University of Dallas * Rethinking College: Why Go? How? When? featuring Arthur Brooks
Charlotte Mason’s simple framework for a teacher calls him a “guide, philosopher, and friend.” It’s a lovely image—but what does that practical application look like? At the Forum Teaching Vocation Conference last winter, Heights teacher Tom Cox unpacked each of these terms citing ancient wisdom and loads of modern classroom experience.
Chapters: * 6:09 Charlotte Mason and the teacher as guide, philosopher, and friend * 7:44 Guide: one who has been there before * 10:53 Communicating the “why” * 14:18 Philosopher: starting in wonder, ending in wisdom * 15:59 A storyteller stirring up wonder * 20:01 Friend: beginning with a mutual love of something * 22:28 Modeling friendship with fellow faculty * 23:57 St. Aelred of Rievaulx’s qualities of friendship * 24:19 Dilectio, outward benevolent acts * 24:54 Affectio, interior feeling * 26:29 Securitas, freedom from anxiety * 27:42 Iucunditas, pleasantness * 30:00 Orient towards hope: begin and begin again
Links: * Grammaticus.co, Tom Cox’s website featuring Latin and history courses, his blog, and podcast * The Plutarch Podcast by Tom Cox * Spiritual Friendship by Aelred of Rievaulx
Featured Opportunities: * The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)
Also on the Forum: * Living the Teaching Vocation by Michael Moynihan * Teaching and the Vocation to Fatherhood featuring Tom Steenson * On Preparation for Teaching: Six Attributes of Great Teachers featuring Colin Gleason * The Teacher as Liberal Artist featuring Tom Longano
In his address to the Forum’s Mentoring Workshop held in June, our Head of Lower School Colin Gleason helpfully reframed just what mentoring is—and what it can’t be. Though images of the sculptor, the director, and the master often accompany this rough term of “formation,” Mr. Gleason reminds us that we are really more akin to gardeners, who attend to a living creation with its own freedom and will. So, how can we appreciate this situation and best work with it for the good of our mentees?
Chapters: * 1:29 Neither the model nor the molder * 3:39 We cannot ‘do’ the formation * 5:56 Freedom to choose the good * 10:19 “Thou mayest” (not thou shalt) “triumph over sin” * 15:54 Exercising freedom requires formation * 16:49 Manners: what the act looks like * 18:57 Reasons: the intention behind the act * 21:38 Images: how a person chooses the act * 23:36 A mentor as such an image * 25:49 Loving the good * 29:51 Loving the person
References: * He Knows Not How: Growing in Freedom by Julio Diéguez * East of Eden by John Steinbeck * Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl * Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf by Ben Hogan * InSideOut Coaching: How Sports Can Transform Lives by Joe Ehrmann
Also on the Forum: * Seeing Our Boys with Loving Eyes: Not Projects but Persons featuring Tom Royals * Why Boys Need Mentors featuring Joe Cardenas and Alex Berthé
In June, the Forum hosted a Mentoring Workshop for men across the country (and beyond) to consider the whys and hows of mentoring young boys into young men into men fully alive.
It’s always best to start by defining terms. And so, the opening lecture for the workshop weekend featured Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti, theology scholar and upper school teacher at The Heights School, explicating the kind of Christian anthropology that precedes a mentoring relationship. In other words, how are we to understand what man is before we try to help him grow? For our benefit, Dr. Lanzilotti maps out this profound philosophical concept using St. Augustine’s simple and most famous line: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
Chapters: * 2:07 St. Augustine’s “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you” * 4:56 What is man? Who is man? What is his telos? * 7:54 Pope St. John Paul II’s “adequate anthropology” * 8:38 Finding an adequate anthropology in St. Augustine’s restless heart * 10:05 Fecisti nos: you made us * 13:33 Ad te: for yourself * 17:27 Inquietum cor nostrum: our hearts are restless * 22:19 Donec requiescat in te: until they rest in you
Links: * Confessions by St. Augustine * I Burned for Your Peace: Augustine’s Confessions Unpacked by Peter Kreeft * Gaudium et spes by the Second Vatican Council, promulgated by Pope St. Paul VI * The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri * Address to the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” from January 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI * Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis
Also on the Forum: * Starting a Mentoring Program by Joe Cardenas and Nate Gadiano * Mentoring without a Program: On Teaching the Whole Person featuring Joe Cardenas
As we look forward to the wide expanse of summer, one thing certainly on our minds is how we can support our sons’ friendships in the absence of school. Turns out, we needn’t look further than our own living rooms. In fact, welcoming our children’s friends into our homes may be the healthiest place for authentic, lifelong friendship to grow.
In a timely rebroadcast from 2021, Assistant Headmaster Tom Royals helps parents to see their homes as a venue for hospitality—one that integrates our children’s social lives with the culture of the home. He especially highlights a vision for hosting teens, who often stray away from home-based gatherings just when it’s most beneficial.
Chapters * 01:45 Begin Interview * 02:28 Parents building a culture of home gatherings * 06:50 Hosting high schoolers, knowing your home * 11:24 Co-ed hosting * 12:56 Spontaneous hosting * 15:05 Parents working with parents * 16:12 Crucial years: establishing this culture before they launch * 18:14 Hospitality and the temperaments of your children * 20:24 The example of Fr. Robert Kimball * 25:28 The role of the father * 29:01 Parental presence at teen gatherings: freedom and formation * 33:07 Modeling friendship, hospitality
Also on the Forum: * Friendship and the 21st-Century Boy featuring Alvaro de Vicente * Family Culture featuring Alvaro de Vicente * On Friendship after Senior Year featuring Dave Maxham
Where to begin with the lofty, almost nebulous virtue of magnanimity—what St. Thomas Aquinas called “stretching forth of the soul to great things”? Of course we want to raise great-souled children, who even outstrip us in their vision of the good and their commitment to serving it. But words alone will fail to impart such a personal and complex mission.
At last April’s Fatherhood Conference at The Heights, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente tackled the challenge of how to teach magnanimity to our children. Following Fr. Carter Griffin’s keynote address, Mr. de Vicente laid out the map: the obstacles we must navigate, the targets of opportunity we must seize, and the tools to pack for the mission.
Chapters * 4:30 Defining magnanimity: a vision of and commitment to the good * External challenges to teaching magnanimity: + 6:37 Identity culture + 7:43 Sexualized culture + 9:09 The “second-hand smoke” of culture + 10:20 Materialism and affluence + 13:18 Entertainment culture + 16:01 Moral relativism * Internal challenges to teaching magnanimity: + 19:23 Selfishness, “I deserve” + 22:33 Anxiety + 24:26 Personal weakness + 26:26 Playing the wrong role: acting coach, not director * Opportunities for teaching magnanimity: + 28:08 Dealing with our own anxiety + 31:32 Communicating with God and spouse about each child + 33:42 Emotional presence at home + 37:50 Expressing affection * Ways to discuss magnanimity with your child: + 40:00 Positive framework for “the talk” + 40:52 Examples of virtue + 44:36 Through sports + 47:00 Dependable routines + 47:50 Financial awareness + 48:59 Forming a boy’s intellect with conversation * Your best resources: + 51:38 Friendship with like-minded parents + 52:14 Online resources, podcasts + 52:52 Spiritual direction53:46 Hope in God’s grace
Also on the Forum: * Magnanimity and the Great-Souled Man featuring Fr. Carter Griffin
Featured Opportunities: * Mentoring Workshop at The Heights School (June 13-14, 2024) * The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024) * Leaders Initiative now accepting applications
The modern instinct with free time is to fill it. Whether in our own lives or in the lives of our children, we imagine that something productive or mindless is the antidote to an uncommitted hour. Middle school teachers Kyle Blackmer and Shane O’Neill encourage us to think differently.
This week on HeightsCast, the duo shares practical reasons and methods for protecting our family’s free time, which helps to cultivate interests, relationships, and the wellbeing of the whole person. They speak especially to our role as parents, teachers, and coaches: to clear the way of obstacles and model our own good use of free time.
Chapters: * 3:27 Good free time * 5:33 Role of parents in a child’s freetime: not entertaining but spreading a feast * 7:34 Sunday as the day of rest * 10:03 Leisure not as a thing “to do” * 12:17 The Sabbath and sports * 17:10 Overscheduling as an obstacle * 22:42 Wasting time vs. free time * 25:57 Cultivating interests, fostering friendships * 30:53 Consumerism as an obstacle * 35:20 Why free time is ultimately valuable * 42:06 Modeling healthy free time
Links: * Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper
Also on the Forum: * Leisure and Acedia: Contemplative Homes in a Frenetic Age featuring R. J. Snell * A Summer Fully Alive by Nate Gadiano * What Is the Difference between Free Time and Leisure? by Joseph Bissex * Friendship for the 21st Century Boy featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Today we talk to Dr. Peter Kilpatrick, President of the Catholic University of America, who offers our graduates advice about how to make the most of college. He shares his thoughts on civic discourse, selecting a major, affording college and more. In addition he roots the entire college experience in the bigger quest to know one's self; but is that possible in a dorm? Our guest today answers "yes" and makes suggestions about how to advance in this life-long quest. Finally, Dr. Kilpatrick also highlights the value of leadership and engagement in campus life, encouraging students to take on leadership roles while balancing their commitments. He emphasizes the significance of mentorship and self-reflection in personal growth, urging students to seek out meaningful connections and opportunities for development.
In this episode, our headmaster explores the relationship between freedom and obedience. The former is a hallmark of our school and the ideal destiny of each graduate. But is it a contradiction to suggest a link between obedience and authentic freedom? To view obedience as a guarantor, even an amplifier of freedom? Our headmaster resolves the paradox and offers a synthesis of these two concepts that ultimately resolve in a man fully alive who finds freedom in embracing all that he is given.
In this episode Dr. Kevin Majeres offers his thoughts on two recent books: Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, and Bad Therapy by Abigail Shrier. Both books seek to tackle major questions such as screens and socials, overprotective parenting, anxiety and depression, and the appropriate response to those conditions. Dr. Majeres optimistically offers helpful and poignant suggestions to parents fully aware seeking to mindfully raise mindful children.
Links:
Optimal Work
Optimal Work: How to Help an Anxious Generation Thrive
Optimal Work: Is All Therapy Bad Therapy?
Optimal Work: How to Discipline Your Children While Deepening Your Bond with Them
Anxious Generation
MIT Study on Facebook and Anxiety
One, Two, Three Magic “Thomas Phalen”
No Drama Discipline
The Gardner and the Carpenter
On McGilchrist and the Left Brain
Bad Therapy
Leonard Sax on Bad Therapy
This episode explores the theory and the practice of the Polis Method of language instruction which relies on a variety of methods to offer students an immersive experience of second language acquisition. We are joined by Dr. Christophe Rico, Dean of the Polis Institute, and Mr. Guillermo Dillon, Latin teacher at the Northridge Preparatory School in Chicago, Illinois.
This week we feature a lecture by Fr. Carter Griffin, rector of the Saint John Paul II Seminary in Washington, D.C., to Heights Fathers on magnanimity. This virtue calls us to stretch forth towards greatness, but with humility; to have an unshakable confidence in the victory of good over evil, but to walk slowly; to know ourselves to be loved by an all powerful father, but to be unmoved by either praise or slander. As we help our sons to grow in virtue, Father Griffin encourages us, as fathers, to foster in ourselves this, the jewel of all the virtues which gives us confidence and certainty that God has a plan, and that we have a role in it. Father Carter Griffin St. John Henry Newmann:
Warfare the Condition of Life
St. Thomas Aquinas on Magnanimity
https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3129.htm
Teaching Through Immersion Workshop at Northridge Preparatory School June 17-21, 2024 Alexandre Havard on Magnanimity and Great Hearts
In this week's episode, Mr. Michael Moynihan discusses freedom in education. Michael traces the development of our philosophical understanding of freedom through the centuries, starting with the Greeks and moving into the modern age. Next he presents the Christian ideal of freedom as a resolution and expansion of these conflicting understandings, along with some implications of this new freedom for our work in the classroom.
This week's episode features Mr. Alexander Havard, an internationally recognized authority on leadership and virtue. Mr. Havard gives us, as parents and teachers, a beautiful introduction to the virtue of magnanimity. In addition, Mr. Havard helps us understand the critical role of the human heart in the process of first embracing and then living a life of virtue. A good education shapes not only intellect and will, but heart as well. Listen in to hear why that is the case, and how we can go about offering a great education to the great souls entrusted to us. Links: * AlexHavard.com
Books: * Free Hearts: Understanding Your Deepest Motivations * Created for Greatness: The Power of Magnanimity * And more...
This week's episode features Chris McKenna, founder and CEO of Protect Young Eyes (ProtectYoungEyes.com), who discusses the challenges and opportunities of raising sons in a digital age. Our guest has been on the frontlines of the current battle to protect children from digital exploitation, both criminal and corporate. As we form sons into men of freedom, it is grossly negligent to lack awareness and plan in this domain. Chris provides both. Listen in to hear more about how parents can flip a challenge into an adventure by accompanying their sons through a digital world where pornography and distraction saturate the landscape. As always, the obstacle becomes the way, and by keeping our sights set on the good while fearlessly walking with our sons, we can rely on grace to help our boys grow into men with hearts capable of profound and lasting love.
For many people today, avoiding existential despair is like shoveling water from a damaged ship: the effort, no matter how valiant, is ultimately futile. Stuck in an immanent frame, a frame which lacks any real transcendence, one is left without a substantial source for hope.
The above remains true, though in different ways, even for believing and practicing Christians. As children of our current culture, that culture shapes even our faith.
This week on HeightsCast, we welcome back Dr. R. J. Snell, the Director of Academic Programs at the Witherspoon Institute and the editor-in-chief of Public Discourse. In the episode, Dr. Snell discusses his recently published book, Lost in the Chaos, in which he offers an examination of the theological virtue of hope and an application of that virtue to our current times.
More than an optimistic personality trait, more than a virtue that looks forward to a time in which all shall be made right, and more than a nostalgia that pines for a past in which all is thought to have been right, R. J. encourages us to see hope as a supernatural gift whereby we trust now in the agency of God even while evil perdures around us.
Chapters
- 2:55 What is hope?
- 7:30 The “in the end” attitude
- 11:00 Job and hope in the darkness
- 14:00 The metaphysics of despair
- 18:55 Safety-ism
- 21:55 Despair as the desire to disappear
- 24:30 How immanence affects even the believer
- 26:46 Temptations of believers and non-believers
- 31:40 The twin dangers of utopianism and fundamentalism
- 36:35 The small teams and the little flocks
- 42:20 The importance of loving people as they are
- 44:15 Re-evaluating our approach to reason and our capacity to see reality
- 50:50 Expanding reason
- 54:35 Feelings as hooks into reality
- 1:01:00 Towards a more human way of seeing
- 1:02:00 Take-aways
- 1:05:05 A parting blessing
Also on the Forum
Work and Acedia: On Our Original Vocation with R. J. Snell
Leisure and Acedia: On Contemplative Homes in a Frenetic Age with R. J. Snell
This week we feature a lecture offered by Head of Upper School, Michael Moynihan, at the most recent Teaching Vocation Conference. In his presentation, Michael encourages us as teachers to engage our students as free and rational agents, even when they don't want to be engaged as such. Michael offers us some helpful insights into the principles that should guide our teaching, as we lead our students to becoming seekers of truth, rather than consumers of information produced by others.
Many of us assume that college will inevitably follow on high school's heels, but why? Why go to college, and, once there, how do we make the most of the "college experience?" University of Dallas' President, Dr. Jonathan Sanford, shares his thoughts on these questions and offers guidance as to how this experience should be different at a Catholic liberal arts university. Our approach to friendship, study, and reality is shaped by our university years. But so too are our university years shaped by our expectations heading into it. Higher ed is a place where most of us can find whatever it is we are looking for. Dr. Sanford's conversation calibrates our students to make sure they are looking for the right things.
Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente discusses the importance of "imperfect parenting.' Ours is an age of external perfection, but when our son's fail to achieve the standards we set for them, our own anxiety can be the chief obstacle to our boys' thriving. Emotional presence in an imperfect parent facilitates a child's thriving by subsuming him into that of his mother and father. Hear our headmaster explain the importance of "quantity time," and the internal emotional disposition that can make this time a win, even if imperfectly.
While most professions work on an object which is ultimately transient—a doctor, for example, works to heal the body which will ultimately die, an engineer to design a bridge which will deteriorate over time, an entrepreneur to start a business that will likely persist at most a handful of generations—the object of a teacher’s work is a human person, whose ultimate destiny is eternity. His work reverberates not only in this life, but echoes into the life to come.
In this way, the work of a teacher is a natural extension of the work of parents, who cooperate with the Creator in not only welcoming souls into their own homes, but in stewarding them back to their heavenly Father’s eternal homeland. Indeed, the work of a teacher is essentially an extension of the work of parents, who are the first and primary educators of their children.
To explore the ways the vocation of fatherhood harmonizes with the vocation of teaching, this week on HeightsCast we share a lecture given by Tom Steenson at our recent Teaching Vocation Conference. In his talk, Tom discusses the ways that being a teacher helps one to be a better father, as well as the ways being a father helps one become a better teacher.
Dr. Scott Crider of the University of Dallas introduces us to Rhetoric, an art of persuasion that allows our future leaders to lead souls (and themselves) to the good. Dr. Crider discusses the nature of rhetoric, its place in the tradition of liberal learning, its role in a technologically advanced society (and classroom), and how it can be practiced by our students, not only later in life but now, in the context of the academic essay.
In a HeightsCast episode released in September, headmaster Alvaro de Vicente offered guidance for parents on how to understand, interpret, and respond to their sons’ grades while also nurturing strong and lasting bonds. This week we welcome Tom Steenson to HeightsCast to discuss grading from the teacher’s perspective.
Tom offers practical advice to teachers, framing grades as a means to helping students learn, whether they are relatively strong in a subject or struggling through a class. Approaching grading more as an art than a strict science, Mr. Steenson encourages teachers to be realistic without crushing a student and to challenge students to think beyond the grade, helping them find a real joy in learning.
Chapters
- 2:10 Introduction: Grading from a teacher’s perspective
- 3:00 How to think about grades
- 5:05 Dealing with a strong student
- 7:45 Should you grade different students differently?
- 10:53 The grade-monger: Kids who are hyper focused on the grade
- 14:20 Online gradebooks?
- 16:20 Practical advice for students struggling with grades
- 20:00 Grading fairly without crushing the student
- 21:45 Advice for the art of grading
- 28:10 Closing thoughts
Mentioned in the episode
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
The book of Genesis tells us that God made man ut operaretur—that he may work. Far from a punishment for the Fall, work is an essential part of man’s original vocation. Indeed, it is precisely as a craftsman—a tektōn, in the Greek—who does his work well (cf. Mark 6:3) that Jesus was identified in the Gospels. Education, therefore, even a liberal arts education, ought to take into account this important aspect of man’s nature.
This week on HeightsCast, we welcome John Paul Lechner and Dr. Joseph Haggarty to discuss how a craftsmanship class can fit into the education students receive at a liberal arts school. Both teachers at Sparhawk Academy in Millis, Massachusetts, Lechner and Haggarty explain how students at Sparhawk engage reality through their unique craftsmanship curriculum. They give examples of the ways even their younger students learn to craft meaningful works for their families and community while gaining skills that will serve them for life.
Mr. Lechner and Dr. Haggarty help us see the ways craftsmanship class contributes to the formation of these boys so full of energy and budding strength.
Chapters
- 2:25 Introduction
- 3:10 Origin of Sparhawk’s craftsmanship courses
- 6:15 Craftsmanship in the younger years
- 7:19 Craftsmanship and the liberal arts
- 12:30 A brief history of craftsmanship
- 15:10 The dignity of working with one’s hands
- 16:20 Examples of projects
- 23:20 Learning to use energy and strength well
- 26:35 Getting started with craftsmanship
Recommended Reading
Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford
“I’m a big believer in boredom…. All the [technology] stuff is wonderful, but having nothing to do can be wonderful, too.” Thought-provoking words from the man whose company produces one of the most powerful tools for distracting ourselves from any feelings of boredom. Not only Steve Jobs, but seventeenth-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal, too, understood the dangers of perpetual entertainment, the inability to sit alone in a room by oneself.
Given the current cultural moment, a particular arena in which children—and, indeed, parents too—need to grow in self-mastery is that of screens and technology. This week on HeightsCast, we feature a talk given by Colin Gleason, head of lower school. First given at last Saturday’s Parenting Conference, this talk addresses how parents can foster the interior dispositions their sons will need to use technology well, and not to be used by it. He encourages parents to train their young sons in other arenas in order to prepare for healthy use of technology. Moreover, he speaks to the need for parents to model the virtues they’d like to see, and accompany their boys in a close and intimate relationship once they begin their digital journey.
Colin underscores that trust is not merely a result of but rather a means to achieving peace. If parents want their children to grow in virtue, they need to first trust that they can do so; for an intimate and personal relationship provides the proper culture for the growth of virtue. While external guardrails can be helpful and are at times necessary, in the end, virtue will be the best defense against evil and the strongest guarantee of the good.
Chapters
- 3:30 A common sense convention
- 6:30 Fostering internal guides
- 9:20 Trust
- 10:25 Training
- 11:45 Let him be hungry
- 15:35 Let him be bored
-
19:30 Let him stay outside
-
23:15 Modeling
- 24:05 Detachment
-
25:15 Manners
-
26:00 Establishing an intimate and personal relationship
- 26:39 Freedom
- 32:45 Ownership
- 33:50 Learning from mistakes
- 34:20 Encouragement
- 37:50 Trust
Missed the conference but don’t want to miss out on the content? Check out the Freedom and Technology Collection.
“Man He made to serve Him wittily,” said Thomas More in Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons, “in the tangle of his mind.” To serve God wittily requires an orderly mind, one capable of parsing through truths and falsehoods, able to string together arguments. Thus, the trivium endures: grammar, rhetoric, and logic.
To discuss teaching logic to high school students, we welcome to the podcast Mark Grannis, Heights teacher, attorney, father, and author of The Reasonable Person: Traditional Logic for Modern Life. In this episode, Mr. Grannis discusses what logic is, why it matters today, and how to teach it. Given man’s nature as a rational animal, Mark argues that the study of logic—what he refers to as the art and science of sound reasoning—can improve the daily lives of everyone, regardless of his professional or academic path. Moreover, as social animals, Mark explains how logic can be a powerful means to attaining consensus in the public arena.
In a world in which thinking has become an increasingly outsourced ability, learning the art and science of thinking well is perhaps more important than ever.
Chapters * 2:45 Introduction * 3:30 Law and logic: Mark’s path to the classroom * 5:40 Why (traditional) logic today? * 11:30 Symbolic and traditional logic * 14:30 Examples of traditional logic * 19:00 Practical benefits of logic * 22:55 Logic and writing * 24:40 Teaching logic to high schoolers * 26:40 Why write your own textbooks? * 28:40 What’s different about The Reasonable Person?
Recommended Resources The Reasonable Person: Traditional Logic for Modern Life by Mark Grannis
Logic and the Reasonable Person by Mark Grannis
AI and the Take-Home Essay with Matt Mehan
Why a Liberal Arts Education Today? with Michael Moynihan
This episode of HeightsCast features our Headmaster's Open House presentation, in which he shares our vision of education, along with the specific mission and concrete approach this vision animates. As you will hear, the Heights is informed by the timeless, yet vigorously engaged with the present, sinking its roots as a school and community into the soil of the 21st century. The Heights education, rather than seeking escape, strives to strengthen men who will, in turn, preserve, protect, and promote the good that is abundantly present in our modern world.
The real problem for many today is not ADD; it is, rather, what Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente refers to as IDD: intimacy deficit disorder. This problem is even worse for men, who on average have fewer close friends. Studies indicate that the percentage of males who report having at least six close friends has been cut in half since the 1990s. There is, it would seem, a recession in male friendships. While there is no easy panacea for this problem, as with most things, one’s education can have a lasting impact on how a child learns—or doesn’t learn—to relate to others.
This week we feature a recording of the annual Headmaster’s Lecture titled “Friendship and the 21st-Century Boy.” In the lecture, Alvaro discusses what friendship is and how to help children—and young boys, in particular—foster healthy friendships. He discusses contemporary obstacles to friendship and why growth in maturity is necessary for true, deep, and lasting friendships. He also offers a few words on what parents can do about bad friends—or, rather, friends with bad characteristics.
In the end, Alvaro gives some practical advice for how parents and educators can set the stage for the formation of what Cicero called “the greatest of all gifts from the gods,” friendship.
Chapters
- 4:42 Introduction
- 6:10 What is friendship?
- 8:47 Fostering friendship by common action
- 12:02 Intimacy
- 17:41 Why maturity is necessary
- 21:26 Characteristics of maturity in friendship
- 26:09 What to do about “bad friends”?
- 30:32 Should parents intervene in their children’s friendships?
- 32:17 How to separate your son from a bad influence
- 39:27 Specific challenges to boy friendship in the 21st century
- 50:50 Challenge of living in a hypersexualized environment
- 54:02 Practical ideas
Man is by nature made for movement. As a social-rational animal, he is not meant to live an angelic existence; his flourishing is embodied and, even more, it is familial.
Though we all know this intuitively, living a healthy life can be difficult in practice. Not only does personal experience tell us this, data suggests it: life expectancy in America is dropping. How is such a downward trend possible given the advances in medicine and technology? What humans have done since the dawn of time, and what they have stopped doing in the past fifty, Is to move on a daily, hourly basis.
To speak about the importance of movement for human flourishing and family life, we welcome to HeightsCast our athletic director, Mr. Dan Lively. Keeping an eye on the development of the whole young person, Dan discusses the problem of sedentarism, a lack of movement, which plagues many people’s lives.
Rather than focusing on one-off exercise, Mr. Lively suggests we think about our overall relationship to movement. Living a healthy lifestyle involves more than checking a box; it involves developing habits of movement—low intensity, high volume, enjoyable movement that everyone can do for his whole life.
Chapters
- 2:00 Introduction: On Movement
- 2:45 What is movement?
- 6:20 The sedentary person
- 8:25 Keeping it personal
- 11:00 VO2 max and life-expectancy
- 19:00 Healthspan: Peter Attia and the art of longevity
- 23:10 Zone training and movement culture
- 25:55 Movement and the liberal arts
- 28:04 Building a culture
- 30:55 Movement vs. exercise
- 39:43 Step-counters
- 43:00 Movement in the winter
Recommended Resources
Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia
Alan Couzens
Also on the Forum
Character Formation in Elite Athletics with Brad Soderberg
Systems for Athletic Success with Dan Lively
According to Aristotle (and Aquinas and others), the human person is essentially rational and social; man thinks, and he thinks best in the context of friendship. As such, at the very heart of man’s education ought to be learning to write effectively, for good writing is thought clarified and beautified which can be shared with others. Recent developments in Artificial Intelligence, however, seem to pose a formidable challenge to teachers who wish to help their students grow in this most human of crafts.
To help us think through how we as teachers should approach this challenge, this week on HeightsCast we welcome Dr. Matthew Mehan, Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Government for Hillsdale’s Steve and Amy Van Andel Graduate School of Government on Capitol Hill.
Despite the risks and challenges associated with it, Dr. Mehan argues that teachers should not abandon the at-home long essay. Indeed, as he points out, the creativity and thoughtfulness required by teachers who still wish to utilize the at-home essay, while mitigating the risks of cheating, may even make them better at their own art. As it becomes increasingly easier for a student to cheat his way through simplistic prompts and an outcome-focused approach to writing, teachers must now think more deeply about the kinds of written assignments they give their students and the process they use to guide them along the way.
All this extra effort is well worth it. As Dr. Mehan reminds us: “If you cannot order your thoughts beautifully and rationally, cogently and powerfully, in writing, you cannot clarify your own thinking, nevermind then share that thinking in the most brilliant and candid way.”
Chapters
- 0:55 Introduction
- 4:00 Artificial intelligence and teaching the craft of writing
- 7:20 Are at-home assignments worth the risk of cheating?
- 14:00 The real good of teaching writing
- 15:45 Strategies for mitigating cheating
- 19:30 The importance of writing to thinking and socializing
- 20:55 Imitation and the art of writing
- 21:50 More strategies
- 25:40 Summary of strategies for mitigating risk
- Pre-conversations
- Discussion of thesis statement
- Pre-writing process
- Refining your prompts
-
Imitation and style
-
27:00 A new era in education?
- 30:25 Will AI alter language more fundamentally?
- 31:50 Some ideas for essay prompts
- 37:12 Love, fear, and the stealing of ideas: the ethics of AI
- 44:05 Can AI really know anything?
- 46:15 How AI can make us better teachers
- 48:00 Cite your sources: the limitation of ChatGPT as a research tool
- 52:22 In-class vs. at-home essays
Also on the Forum
Writing from the Sentence Up by Joe Breslin
5 Don’ts and Dos When Teaching Writing by Joe Breslin
On Writing: A Personal Reflection by Michael Ortiz
Splashing in Puddles: Finding the Creative Writing Flow by Joe Bissex
Why Our Politics Needs Poetry with Dr. Matthew Mehan
In a culture where autonomy is often pursued as an ideal, it’s not surprising to learn that America is also experiencing a so-called loneliness epidemic. Together with loneliness, depression is also on the rise—a correlation that makes sense, given man’s nature as a social animal.
What is the solution to these problems? While there is perhaps no panacea, there is a particularly important starting point: the intergenerational family.
This week, we explore the idea of “intergenerational human flourishing” with Fr. Robert Gahl, long-time professor at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce in Rome, Italy, who was recently appointed Associate Professor in the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America.
In this episode, Fr. Bob weaves research from several disciplines—sociology, philosophy, theology, and neuroscience—together with his own personal and pastoral experience. All the data point to the same fact: if they are to flourish, our sons need to know themselves to be part of a bigger story which includes relationships with parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. Such strong intergenerationality will give our boys a sense that life is a total gift.
Our job as educators, then, is to free young people from an individualistic solipsism, in part by helping them discover the role they are created to play in an intergenerational ecosystem.
Chapters
- 3:30 Introduction: intergenerational human flourishing
- 4:55 Human flourishing
- 10:15 Intergenerationality
- 12:45 Protagonists of a story
- 17:30 The role of grandparents
- 22:30 Family in different cultures
- 27:05 Attachment and independence in the home
- 31:15 Cause for hope
- 37:15 Heroism transmitted in the home
- 42:15 Fr. Bob’s work at the Busch School
Mentioned in the episode
The Human Flourishing Program, directed by Tyler VanderWeele
Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI
Master of Science in Ecclesial Administration and Management at the Busch School of Business
Also from the Forum
Shaping Your Son’s Moral Imagination with Alvaro de Vicente
Be careful that in encouraging a grade, you don’t shortchange growth; for a grade ought to be a means to growth, helping students—and their parents—see where they are so they can know where to go. Ideally, grades are the beginning of a conversation about what lies underneath the surface: the “why” beneath the “what”.
In today’s episode, Heights Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente guides us through a nuanced discussion on how parents can understand, interpret, and respond to their sons’ grades while nurturing strong and lasting bonds. Acknowledging that grades serve as a judgment of the quality of a young man’s work at a given time, Mr. de Vicente sheds light on strategies to decipher the meaning behind the letters and numbers. Is it a problem of time, habits, or effort? Is it a helpful indicator of aptitude?
Regardless of the cause or cure, Alvaro reminds us that even more important than helping to raise a grade, is strengthening the bond parents have with their son.
Chapters
- 2:30 Defining grades
- 3:30 Grades: more than a necessary evil
- 5:00 How parents should approach grades
- 7:28 Digging into the “why” behind a grade
- 9:35 Elements of a grade: intelligence, time, habits, effort
- 14:45 Optimal Work and grades
- 16:55 Why boys need to own their grades
- 21:00 Evolving relationship with grades
- 24:00 Growth over grades
- 26:00 Respecting a school’s professional competence
- 29:35 What your tone communicates
- 36:35 Internal motivation
- 40:00 How to reframe as a parent
Recommended Resources
Punished by Rewards? from The Golden Hour Podcast
Also on the Forum
Handling Poor Grades: Steps to an Academic Reset with Michael Moynihan
Grinders Aren’t Heroes: On Student Motivation by Dave Fornaciari and Michael Hude
Motivation: Encouraging Reluctant Students by Tom Cox
Heights Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, addresses the 2022 Teaching Vocation Conference Attendees, introducing them to teaching: a vocation, and a profession. Mr. de Vicente offers his thoughts on what it means for work to be a vocation; what it means for work to be a profession; and why it is that teachers are called to work that is both professional and a vocation. Finally, our headmaster shares his thoughts on how we can tell whether the classroom is for us, or rather, whether we have been made for the classroom.
As we approach the beginning of a new academic year, Mr. Tom Royals helps us revisit the "why" behind our dress code. As parents and teachers, we work together to help our boys look sharp–buttons buttoned, ties up, shoes--yes, leather shoes–laced and tied. Our Assistant Headmaster reminds us that this work is worth the effort despite the repetitive and thankless nature of our stylistic exhortations. Listen in to learn more about what motivates us to keep the lads looking sharp.
What, you might ask, does cheese have to do with education? The answer is not that you may find holes in both, but rather that both require attention to the local culture to be made whole.
This week on HeightsCast, Mr. Tom Steenson shares his thoughts on the tone and culture of the classroom. Leaning on nearly twenty-five years of teaching experience, Tom encourages us as teachers to see our classrooms as second homes and our role as assisting their primary families. There are, of course, important differences between being a parent and being a teacher, yet the overlap between the two vocations is striking and worth pondering.
Listen to Mr. Steenson's ideas on how to shape the tone and culture of the classroom to be a place where students know they’re loved, love to learn, and therefore learn to know and love all the more.
Chapters:
- 2:15 Chesterton and cheese
- 5:07 Like father, like teacher
- 9:35 How teaching is an art
- 11:50 What is “tone”?
- 15:05 Externals that affect the tone
- 18:10 Classrooms as expressing the teacher’s personality
- 19:15 Differences between being a parent and a teacher
- 23:13 Overcoming first judgments
- 25:45 A key aspect of being an effective teacher
- 32:50 Recommended reading for teachers
- 35:15 On posters
Also from the Forum
School Tone, the Most Powerful Teacher with Alvaro de Vicente
Discipline in the Classroom: On the Art of Order with Colin Gleason
Artwork in Schools: On the Buildings that Build Us with Joe Cardenas
Creating a Culture of Learning in the Home by Alvaro de Vicente
John Paul II’s “Culture-First” Approach: The Pope-Saint’s Lessons for Parents, Teachers, and Leaders with George Weigel
Ways to Foster a Family Culture by Alvaro de Vicente
Upper School Head Michael Moynihan encourages teachers to view their students as sovereign knowers called to exercise agency in their learning. As teachers, we lead by walking backwards, but our students should provide the forward momentum. Yet this momentum must itself be fostered by a proper approach to the art of teaching. Mr. Moynihan shares ideas here about how teachers can create an environment conducive to this sense of agency.
In this episode, Heights Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente elaborates on his vision for our Heights Graduates as "Men Fully Alive." This vocation is a life-long pursuit. The closer we get, the farther we realize we have to travel. And yet, the calling to full and authentic manhood brings peace once embraced. This peace results from knowing who we are, thinking big, and realizing that we can pursue these ends with joy and friendship.
This week on HeightsCast we feature Tom Cox, Upper School Latin teacher and one of the architects of the Core Humanities Sequence. In the Episode, Tom explains what epic poetry is, where it fits into our curriculum, and why we teach it. Weaving together themes from Homer, Virgil, and Dante, Mr. Cox shows us how these epic poems shape the boys' moral imaginations at a time when they are first beginning to ask life's perennial questions: What is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of my life? Can I be a hero? If so, what is my quest? By way of epic poetry, as Tom explains, the boys can begin to see that some of the most epic of all journeys may be hidden in the most ordinary, quotidien activities of life.
"Have a great summer!" We hear it and say it incessantly, but what are we actually wishing for our boys? 21st Century America gives boys 3 months off--that is one quarter of the year and an enormous amount of time. Join Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, for a discussion of three ways that boys can fill their summer with healthy leisure and positive growth.
To learn more about the Summer Workshops, click here.
Dr. Matthew Mehan unpacks the liberal arts. We can throw the term around to describe our school, but do we really understand what we mean? Is it more than a list of good books? Dr. Mehan explores what it means to be a student of the “arts of liberty”–a life long pursuit. For all of us.
Show Notes * TheGuardian.com, Our Minds can be Hijacked * St. Basil the Great, Address to Young Men on the Right Use of Greek Literature * De Doctrina Christiana * Seneca’s Letter 88 * Pope Benedict’s Regensburg Address * Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri * Sirach 6:18
Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, discusses paternal patience and anger in this week's episode. If you, like so many dads, find yourself regretting the fact that you "lost it," listen in. Mr. Gleason discusses anger and the ways that we, as fathers, can direct this emotion towards the good.
This week on HeightsCast, Mr. Joe Cardenas shares insights for teachers interested in mentoring even though their school might not have a mentoring program. Mentoring is always crucial though never urgent, thus it can be neglected. Yet, in doing so, we neglect the full humanity of our students, and the full scope of our teaching vocation. Listen in to hear how all of us—regardless of where we teach—might expand the good work we do in the classroom and in the lives of our students.
For lyrics, translation, and history of Regina Caeli, please visit: https://adoremus.org/2007/09/singing-the-four-seasonal-marian-anthems/
“Education,” wrote G. K. Chesterton, “is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.” If Chesterton is right, then education is about transmitting a culture, for what is culture if not the embodiment of a society’s soul? And what “soul” can be passed on from one human to another if it is not first embodied?
To discuss the importance of culture both to society generally and education specifically, we welcome to HeightsCast George Weigel, a distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a New York Times bestselling author. In the episode, Mr. Weigel speaks about Pope St. John Paul II’s “culture first” approach. Contrasting the late pope’s view with Marx’s view of economics as the primary driver of history and the Jacobin view of politics in the driver seat, Weigel explains the historical and philosophical roots of John Paul II’s view of culture as the driving force in history.
Along the way, he discusses what culture is and what education has to do with it.
Recommended Resources
Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II by George Weigel
John Paul II and the Priority of Culture by George Weigel
Also on the Forum
Family Culture with Alvaro de Vicente
Creating a Culture of Learning in the Home by Alvaro de Vicente
In schools today, Shakespeare is often taught superficially. Students attempt to grasp the plot with the aid of their teacher, who helps them through the difficult Elizabethan English. At best they learn something about the beautification of language and the cultural significance of the Bard. But his work is not taught as it was written to be understood, that is, sapientially, for growth in practical wisdom and the ability to see more clearly the nature of man and the man’s relationship with both fellow man and God.
This week on HeightsCast, we welcome back Dr. Matthew Mehan for a discussion of Shakespeare and the education of leaders. Associate Dean and Assistant Professor at Hillsdale’s Van Andel Graduate School of Government, Dr. Mehan helps us see that there is more to Shakespeare than is immediately apparent from a surface-level reading of his plays. He explains how a deep reading of the Bard offers a training in that nimbleness of mind—a good mother wit—without which, St. Thomas More said, all learning is half lame.
To do this, Dr. Mehan walks us through the opening of Hamlet, Act V. Not only does he offer an example of Shakespeare’s genius, he also gives an example of how to teach Shakespeare as not only aesthetically delightful but also morally instructive and useful—the ideal companion to theology and philosophy.
For educators interested in learning more about Shakespeare and how to teach him as a teacher of wisdom, check out the Forum’s summer workshop on Shakespeare.
Chapters
- 1:00 How Shakespeare is taught in schools today
- 3:00 Why and how to study Shakespeare
- 6:03 Polysemy and the good mother wit
- 10:13 Literature as experience
- 12:55 Mirror neurons and man as mimetic
- 14:10 Ethical gyms and ethical gems
- 16:25 Shakespeare as Socrates, Nester, and Virgil
- 19:00 How to approach Shakespeare for the novice
- 23:10 Opening up the text: Hamlet, V.1
- 33:40 Shakespeare as teacher of self-government and liberty
- 35:00 Shakespeare and the American tradition
- 36:40 Advice for teachers
- 39:00 Shakespeare as a companion for life
Also from the Forum
Summer Workshops for Teachers
Why Our Politics Needs Poetry with Dr. Matthew Mehan
On Reading Literature by Joe Bissex
Five Fruits of a Poetic Education by Nate Gadiano
In Real Time: The Temporal Order of the Liberal Arts by Dr. Matthew Mehan
On Pieper’s Prudence: A Virtue for the Great Souled with Colin Gleason, Tom Cox, and Austin Hatch
In G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, he tells a sort of parable in which children are given space to play on a mountain top surrounded by steep precipices on all sides. At first the children are left to play on the mountain top without any walls. Fearful of falling off one of the edges, they all huddle up in the middle. Then, walls are erected, and the security that such walls provide gives the children the confidence they need to play without fear of falling.
A father’s loving presence can act like such walls in the lives of his children. Yet, at times, the practical realities of life make it difficult for fathers to be fully present in such a way.
This week on HeightsCasts, we feature a talk given by headmaster Alvaro de Vicente on the topic of paternal presence, originally offered at our recent fatherhood conference. Although there are no set manuals for successful parenting, in his talk Mr. de Vicente suggests four areas that fathers can consider as they examine the ways they may or may not be present in their children’s lives:
- The importance of paternal presence
- The obstacles to paternal presence
- Professional work
- Personal interests
- Difficult children
- The types of presence
- Physical
- Intellectual
- Moral
- Spiritual
- The stages of presence
- Holding the hand
- Holding the back of the bike
- Holding the second steering wheel
- Holding the phone
In the end, Alvaro encourages fathers to behave as they would wish their sons to behave when they reach their own age. But when they fail, he also reminds them of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s words: “God doesn't ask that we succeed in everything, but that we are faithfull.”.
Chapters
- 0:14 WelcomeStart
- 2:15 The importance of presence
- 5:00 Some challenges to being present
- 11:40 DSuggestions for dealing with those challenges
- 12:50 Types of presence
- 13:00 Physical
- 18:55 Intellectual
- 27:35 Moral
- 29:00 Spiritual
- 33:10 Stages of presence
- 37:40 Takeaways and concluding thoughts
Also on the Forum
Friendship for Fathers: On Living and Teaching the Art with Prof. John Cuddeback
The Bedrock Principle of Fatherhood with Andy Reed
The Father and His Family: On Fatherhood with Michael Moynihan
Parenting from Fear: On Reasons for Confidence with Alvaro de Vicente
Parental Authority: On Our Role with Dr. Leonard Sax
As the world of academia becomes increasingly polarized, parents may be concerned about sending their children off to colleges where the general culture and ethos of campus are less than favorable to the worldview and way of life found in their own homes. Yet, many of these institutions are also prestigious and hold promise for success in one’s professional career.
How, then, should parents think about sending their children to such institutions? How should students, who have decided to attend them, approach their time there? Fly under the radar? Be an argumentative warrior for what they think is true?
To help us think through some of these questions, we welcome Nate Gadiano, Executive Director of The Heights Forum. Drawing on his experience as an undergraduate at Princeton and a graduate student at Notre Dame, Nate shares his thoughts on engaging with academic communities and cultures that differ from one’s own upbringing.
This podcast discussion was occasioned by a recent talk given by Mr. Gadiano for a group of parents, in which he discussed how parents can prepare their children for different college environments. In that talk, Nate gave seven principles for engaging with others in a fruitful and friendly manner:
- Go where you are not welcomed.
- Make your beliefs normal and attractive.
- Don’t argue with strangers; discuss with friends.
- Prepare more than you plan.
- Find the heart of the disagreement.
- Think long term.
- Approach souls on your knees.
In the end, Nate’s message to students as they prepare for college is contained in these words: be careful that in winning an argument you don’t lose a soul; be careful that in winning a friend you don’t lose your soul.
Chapters
- 1:15 Introduction
- 3:35 Sending your children to universities with antithetical worldviews
- 4:32 A caveat: know yourself
- 5:30 Digging into the why: service of souls
- 6:08 In Our Lady’s secret service
- 7:10 Advice for high school seniors
- 8:10 Go where you are not welcomed
- 10:50 Make your beliefs normal
- 11:48 Answer contempt with compassion
- 14:00 Finding a coach and a team
- 16:40 Advice for difficult conversations
- 17:20 Prepare more than you plan
- 18:05 Have more than you show, speak less than you know
- 19:45 On preparation
- 22:10 On friendship with people who disagree
- 22:45 Discovering the hidden good
- 28:00 Is it possible for people to change their mind?
Also from the Forum
Parenting from Fear: On Reasons for Confidence with Alvaro de Vicente
The Man Fully Alive: On Our Vision with Alvaro de Vicente
When to Fight: On Fistcuffs and the Peacemaking Protector with Kyle Blackmer
Finding Mentors After Graduation: On Find Your Six with Pat Kilner
On Preparing for Bad News: Raising Men Who Can Handle It with Dr. Matthew Mehan
Parents love their children and desire the best for them. Yet at times the world seems full of dangers and obstacles to a child’s ultimate good. Because of this, a certain fear may cast a shadow on the ways parents relate to their children.
To discuss parenting and fear, we welcome back Mr. Alvaro de Vicente to HeightsCast. In the episode, Alvaro explains some of the dangers of being overprotective and parenting from a sense of fear. Rather, he encourages parents to prudently discern moments to give their children the space for making the right choice on their own, which of course means that they also have the freedom to make a mistake. At the same time, Alvaro offers advice on optimistic and formative ways to say “no” to one’s children, when such is necessary.
As Alvaro reminds us, gratitude for the good received helps one to make positive decisions about the good to be done. If families make intentional time to remember and give thanks to God for the goodness in the world, parents and children alike will be naturally drawn to that Goodness from which the world came.
Chapters
- 0:40 Introduction: fear based parenting
- 2:15 Why we fall into parenting with fear
- 3:50 Manifestations of parenting with fear
- 9:05 How and when to say “no”
- 11:58 The middle class myth and parental anxiety
- 14:05 Why parents should avoid this mode of parenting
- 17:20 Rebellious children
- 19:05 Why we shouldn’t be afraid
- 21:40 Practical considerations
- 27:12 The unexpected, difficult questions
- 30:30 Parenting with optimism
Also on the Forum
Parental Authority: Our Role with Dr. Leonard Sax
Discipline in the Classroom: The Art of Order with Colin Gleason
Friendship for Fathers: Living and Teaching the Art with Prof. John Cuddeback
Parenting: Patience or Optimism with Andy Reed
His Anxiety and Ours: Confessions of an Anxious Parent Who Happens to Be a Therapist with Alex Berthé
In the past twenty years, research suggests that parents are worrying more about their children and spending more to provide them with comforts. In spite of such worry and wealth, the past twenty years have also seen an increase in these same American-born children from well-to-do families being diagnosed with various psychiatric disorders. Meanwhile, parents tend to swing from overly strict to overly lenient. Balancing love, both tender and tough, is a difficult art.
To help us dive deeper into this parental task, we welcome Dr. Leonard Sax to HeightsCast. In the episode, Dr. Sax discusses his book, The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups. Drawing both from the wisdom of the ancients and the insights of modern science, Dr. Sax explains the importance of parental authority in raising children. Besides discussing parenting authority, he also offers thoughts on the importance of culture and schools, urging parents to consider carefully and choose prudently the school to which they will send their children.
As Dr. Sax reminds us, authentic freedom is not mere license, and if children are to be free in the end, they must, at the start, have the right amount of parental guidance. To give too much freedom too soon may end in the very loss of the freedom which one would have hoped to give.
Chapters
- 0:30 Introduction
- 2:15 What is parental authority?
- 11:00 Parental worries
- 19:05 Some statistics on psychiatric diagnoses in America
- 21:30 Parents and the transmission of culture
- 23:35 The middle class myth
- 27:52 “Elon Musk” schools vs. “Mother Theresa” schools
- 32:20 Shifts in American culture from 1967-2017
- 34:40 Approaching difficult grades as a parent
- 38:25 Too hard, too soft, or just right: should parents negotiate?
- 45:50 Advice for single parents
- 49:10 Fake it until you make it
- 53:45 The importance of intergenerational bonds
Recommended Resources
Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men by Dr. Leonard Sax
Why Gender Matters, Second Edition: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences by Dr. Leonard Sax
Also on the Forum
Discipline in the Classroom: The Art of Order with Colin Gleason
Carpool: Making Commute Time Good Time with Kyle Blackmer
Friendship for Fathers: Living and Teaching the Art with Prof. John Cuddeback
Hell, Dante expresses, is being trapped by our false attempts to be free. Thus, the Comedy’s Satan is forever stuck in the ice of a lake made frozen by the beating of his wings as he attempts to “free” himself from the reality of God. Education, on the other hand, frees us from such a lake by leading us to embrace, with the fullness of our being, the Truth which sets us free.
This week on HeightCast we welcome Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti for a discussion of what Pope Benedict XVI can teach us about such an education. Drawing especially from the late pope’s 2008 address to educators at The Catholic University of America, Dr. Lanzilotti explains how hope and the beauty which engenders it rests at the heart of Pope Benedict’s response to what he called a crisis of education in the modern world.
Moving between theology and praxis, Dr. Lanzilotti focuses our attention on the nature and calling of educational institutions, both as they relate to the Church and to the world at large. Beyond places of data transfer or ready-made success measurable by test scores, such institutions are meeting places that reverberate with the life of the Church. They are places where students encounter the truth and especially that Truth which is found in prayer. They are places where beauty—the splendor of truth—can reverberate first in the hearts of students and then in the families and communities where they are called to serve after graduation.
Chapters
- 1:23 Introduction: Pope Benedict XVI’s address to educators
- 2:40 The virtue of hope and education for the future
- 6:22 What does it mean to be a Catholic educator?
- 11:00 Restoring the fullness of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
- 13:30 The importance of why questions
- 14:30 The communal dimension of education
- 19:10 Egalitarian elitism and intellectual charity
- 21:35 The intellect and the will
- 25:15 The will and our heart
- 28:25 The interaction between affectivity and the human heart
- 30:50 Moral truth
- 33:55 The adventure of education
- 37:53 Both for Catholic institutions and Catholic teachers who are not in Catholic schools
- 40:15 Concluding thoughts: more than a facade
Additional Resources
Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief and World Religions by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
"Joseph Ratzinger as Doctor of Incarnate Beauty" by Tracey Rowland
"Address to Educators at The Catholic University of America" by Pope Benedict XVI
"Letter on the Urgent Task of Educating Young People" by Pope Benedict XVI
"General Audience on Prayer and the Holy Family of Nazareth" by Pope Benedict XVI
"Message on Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization" by Pope Benedict XVI
Also on the Forum
Order and Surprise: On Beauty and the Western Tradition with Lionel Yaceczko
Artwork in Schools: On the Buildings that Build Us with Joe Cardenas
On the Education of the Human Heart with Anton Vorozhko
What does it mean to be “civilized”? What is justice? What is a citizen? Given the opportunity, would you have killed Julius Caesar? Was Nero inevitable, or is it possible to keep one’s wits while running such a powerful empire?
These are a few of the questions that eighth graders at The Heights are challenged to ponder together in their core class. With the help of their teachers and a new history textbook, the boys not only consider these questions amongst themselves but do so in dialogue with some of the greatest thinkers of the Western tradition.
This week on HeightsCast, we discuss Tom Cox and Bill Dardis’s new book, Becoming Rome: Foundation, Republic, and Empire in the Words of Eminent Romans. In addition to sharing the story behind their writing, Tom and Bill introduce us to their method of teaching history at the primary and secondary school levels. Drawing on fourteen years of experience in the classroom as well as graduate studies in the liberal arts, Tom and Bill offer practical insights for teachers who hope not only to bring history to life in the classroom but also to prepare their students to bring those lessons into their own lives.
Chapters
- 0:32 Introduction
- 2:00 A better approach to the history textbook
- 4:50 The big questions hidden in the narratives of history
- 7:00 The contemporary approach to history lessons
- 9:56 Receiving tradition and engaging it
- 11:00 Why study history at all?
- 15:50 A roadmap to history
- 19:15 Method of the book
- 24:23 Seminars and discussing difficult topics
- 28:15 Why write a book?
- 31:32 The book’s target age level
- 32:45 The relationship between Christianity and the book
Also on the Forum
The Importance of Ugly History by Mark Grannis
Keeping the Story in History by Mark Grannis
Seeing History: On Using Images in the History Classroom by Kyle Blackmer
Hillsdale’s M. Spalding on the Importance of History Pt. I with Dr. Matt Spalding
Hillsdale’s M. Spalding on the Importance of History Pt. II with Dr. Matt Spalding
Plutarch’s Lives Teach: Character Education through Story with Tom Cox
History the Way it Was…and the Way it Should Be by Bill Dardis
Writing and Thought; Oratory and Ethics: What We Give Our Seventh Graders in the Core with Tom Cox
This week on HeightsCast we feature a presentation by Mr. Colin Gleason at our recent Art of Teaching Conference. He spoke to 70 men from across the United States and beyond about how we, as teachers, can foster an environment of respectful dominion in the classroom. Colin offers a wonderful list of 12 principles along with a great many practical pointers.
Ave Regina Caelorum
For lyrics and history, please visit adoremus.org.
It’s not merely where you are going, but how you get there, that matters. And as we often find ourselves going places in cars, it is worth stopping to consider how we spend our car rides.
In this week’s episode, we welcome back to the podcast Mr. Kyle Blackmer for a discussion of the daily commute. Whether we carpool or ride solo, Mr. Blackmer helps us to reframe how we approach this daily endeavor which can easily become, at best, dead time and, at worst, dreaded time.
Kyle shows us how the car, with the right attitude and a little creativity, can become its own classroom. He encourages us to think about how we can best use this time by praying, engaging in good conversation—at times mere fun, at other times more formative–, listening to good music and books, and celebrating.
Chapters
- 00:45 Introduction: reframing the daily commute
- 3:20 How can we make carpooling more fruitful for our sons?
- 5:43 The car as a classroom: the first and last period of the day
- 6:22 Four modes of teaching in the Car
- 6:45 Prayer, especially the Rosary, especially in the morning
- 9:28 Car as a place for friendship, shared life
- 10:55 Conversation in cars
- 16:20 The art of asking good questions and listening
- 17:15 Tuning into the boys in front of you
- 19:16 Setting guidelines for your carpool
- 21:10 Being intentional about what you listen to
- 25:35 Audiobooks and classic rock
- 27:50 Celebrating the in little ways
- 31:20 Finding moments for little points of correction
- 33:30 Advice for solo commuters
- 35:50 The last three minutes: preparing for your return home
Recommended Audiobooks for the Road
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Seabiscuit by Charles Rivers Editors
Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Treasury for Children by James Herriot
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingallas Wilder
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
The Complete Father Brown Collection by G.K. Chesterton
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller
Also on the Forum
On Home as Social Hub: The Importance of Hosting Our Sons and Their Friends with Tom Royals
Friendship for Fathers: John Cuddeback on Living and Teaching the Art with John Cuddeback
Sarah Mackenzi on the Read-Aloud Family with Sarah Mackenzi
In a recent national survey of adults in America, a striking sixty-one percent of young adults (age 18-25) reported feeling serious loneliness. Such feelings of loneliness were also accompanied by anxiety and depression. Although humans are by nature social animals, it would seem that forming deep friendships may not always come so naturally.
How do we form friendships? How do we help our sons form friendships? What even is friendship?
To help us answer these questions, we welcome to HeightsCast John Cuddeback, professor of philosophy at Christendom College and Life Craft writer and speaker. In this episode, Professor Cuddeback helps us understand what friendship is, how to practice the art of friendship, and how friendship goes hand-in-hand with happiness. As he explains, friendships do not merely happen. Rather, they require intentional cultivation and sustained effort. Indeed, like any art, the art of friendship requires discipline and practice. Specifically, Professor Cuddeback focuses our attention on how a husband can form a deep friendship with his wife and a few male friends, as well as how he can help his children to grow in their own friendships. Being a father first, he may one day become a friend of his adult children.
As Professor Cuddeback explains, true friendship is the only way to overcome loneliness in life. And, in the end, it will be in sharing our lives with friends that we come to find the ultimate meaning of our lives.
Chapters
- 1:25 What is friendship?
- 4:15 Different kinds of friendship
- 9:05 Friendship and human flourishing
- 11:05 Happiness today
- 14:00 The activities of friendship
- 19:40 The number of friends
- 24:40 Friendship for the twenty-first century father
- 28:00 Selecting friends
- 33:30 Friendship with your spouse
- 41:10 Friendship with other men
- 44:30 How to prioritize relationships
- 47:15 Parenting and friendship
- 50:47 How to coach our children in forming friendships
- 55:37 Advice and encouragement for single mothers
Resources
Life-Craft.org
True Friendship: Where Virtue Becomes Happiness by John Cuddeback
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
Spiritual Friendship by Aelred of Rievaulx
Treatise on Law by Thomas Aquinas
Also on The Forum
Cultivating Friendship in the Classroom by Austin Hatch
On Friendship after Senior Year: Higher Stakes and Beautiful Opportunities with Dave Maxham
Friendship for the 21st Century Boy with Alvaro de Vicente
On Home as Social Hub: The Importance of Hosting Our Sons and Their Friends with Tom Royals
With another year having passed—perhaps even sped by—and a new one underfoot, HeightsCast returns with a discussion of time and solitude with Mike Ortiz and Rob Greving. Together, Mike and Rob invite us to slow down as they unpack their two recently published articles on the Forum.
Mr. Ortiz dives into Henry David Thoreau’s cabin life and the importance of intentional times of solitude in our lives, while Mr. Greving considers our often uneasy relationship with time and the good of slowing down, even as the world speeds up.
As we look forward to the new year with hope and anticipation, let us not forget to slow down and, in Mr. Greving’s words, listen for the present moment. After all, you can’t read a poem in a hurry. And if you are always in a hurry, you might miss the poetry of life.
Chapters * 1:45 Background to the articles * 5:43 Thoreau’s way of solitude: the path to a greater appreciation of the world * 10:15 Never less alone than when alone * 13:30 Time alone and listening for God * 15:55 Silence and the capacity to attend * 20:55 Having more that is worth less * 22:55 Handling time gently * 30:08 Times of leisure in the life of a school * 32:30 Beyond life hacks: cultivating a disposition * 40:56 Poetry, solitude, and time * 45:13 You can’t read a poem in a hurry * 48:02 Slowing down in family life * 53:00 The importance of not over-scheduling kids * 57:15 Conclusion and a closing poem
Recommended Resources Walden by Henry David Thoreau
The World of Silence by Max Picard
Living in Liturgical Time by Terence Sweeney
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost
"Mossbawn": Two Poems in Dedication by Seamus Heaney
Also on The Forum Thoreau’s Cabin Life: Why It's Not Anti-Social to Savor Solitude by Mike Ortiz
Handling Time Gently by Rob Greving
The Freedom to Form Bonds: Kevin Majeres on Mindfulness and Attention with Kevin Majeres
Forming Deep Workers with Cal Newport
What Is the Difference between Free Time and Leisure? by Joe Bissex
From the very start, the founders of The Heights understood education to consist in the communication of a culture. As culture often enters a boy's mind through his senses, an important means of this transmission is the art and architecture of a school. Indeed, in many ways buildings embody the ideals of an institution.
This week Joe Cardenas, head of mentoring and long-time art history teacher, joins us for a conversation on the importance of beauty in education. Rooting the conversation in the American tradition, Joe helps us see why and how the art and architecture of schools is as important as the books in its curriculum.
As we hear from Joe, the art on a school’s walls become the images adorning a student’s soul. If we want to help our boys be at home in their very selves, the art of schools is an indispensable means to this end.
Chapters
- 1:25 An evening of art for parents at The Hawthorn School
- 4:40 Art and beauty in the American tradition
- 5:35 Washington’s leadership at Valley Forge
- 7:23 Why does beauty matter?
- 9:00 The museum of our soul and the archive of our experiences
- 10:43 What is the role of beauty in a school building?
- 14:13 Pope Benedict XVI on Beauty
- 16:00 Cardinal Newman on Beauty
- 17:22 Beauty and the daily reality of boys
- 21:25 Beauty in business
- 24:00 Robert Jackson and the early years of The Heights
- 28:30 Churchill’s speech on rebuilding the House of Commons
Additional Resources
Adoremus.org's explanation of the Four Seasonal Marian Anthems (includes history and translation)
PDF of Music and Lyrics to Alma Redemtoris Mater from gregorian-chant-hymns.com
Speech on the Rebuilding of the House of Commons by Winston Churchill
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of Beauty by Joseph Ratzinger
A Catholic Eton? by Paul Shrimpton
Also on the Forum
School Tone, the Most Powerful Teacher with Alvaro de Vicente
Building Little Houses: Why Random Art Projects Are Awesome by Joe Bissex
Manners: The Art of Happiness by Robert Greving
Why Our Politics Needs Poetry with Dr. Matthew Mehan
Five Fruits of a Poetic Education by Nate Gadiano
In many schools, education is understood in reductively intellectual terms. The point of teaching, it would seem, is merely to inform, to fill the mind with data, to train the intellect to perform tasks and solve puzzles. To be sure, information and intellectual virtues are essential aspects of education; but they are not the whole, and to make them so would be to reduce the person to his mind.
In this talk, taken from our recent Art of Teaching Conference, Anton Vorozhko helps us understand the role of the heart in the education of the whole human person. Starting with a reflection on the greatest of teachers, Christ—the one to whom all other teachers ought ultimately to point—Anton offers advice at once practical and personal. His talk centers on three areas, or apostolates, which he suggests teachers should consider: presence, correction, and prayer.
In the end, considering these three apostolates will help teachers turn their daily work into what St. John Henry Newman called a cor ad cor loquitur—a heart speaking unto heart—making his task not only to inform the mind but equally to move the heart.
Chapters
- 0:05 Other men are teaching!
- 1:00 Looking to the ultimate models: Our Lord and many of the saints
- 3:40 The dream of Don Bosco and the Preventive System
- 7:20 Conquer through love: seeing Christ in our classroom
- 10:03 Not a job, a vocation
- 11:24 Three apostolates of the teacher: presence, correction, prayer
- 11:40 Apostolate of presence
- 15:30 Apostolate of correction
-
17:48 Suggestions from Don Bosco
-
19:05 Apostolate of prayer
-
21:45 St. John Paul II as a university professor
Additional Resources
Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco: From St. John Bosco’s Biographical Memoirs by St. John Bosco
Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II by George Weigel
Also on The Forum
The Art of Teaching: On Forming Contemplative Souls with Rich Moss
Developing Your Son’s Will with Andy Reed
The Freedom to Form Bonds: Kevin Majeres on Mindfulness and Attention with Dr. Kevin Majeres
The Talk and Beyond with Michael Moynihan
In this episode, we feature a recorded lecture given by Rich Moss in his introductory presentation at the Art of Teaching conference hosted by The Heights Forum last week. In this talk, Rich explains why teaching is an art, what that art is, and what are the tools utilized by the teaching artist.
Boys love concrete details and, even more, they love when those concrete details form the fabric of a hero's tale. Indeed, as Aristotle himself knew, better than telling adolescents merely about virtue is giving them examples of heroes, for good men are not made in theory, but in practice and boys need to see virtues practiced to be inspired themselves.
What better place to turn than an author who has taught generations of leaders, not least of which were our own country’s founders. That man is Plutarch and our guide is Tom Cox, one of the architects of the eighth grade core humanities class and current upper school classics teacher.
In this episode, Mr. Cox shows why and how we teach Plutarch to our boys. He explains why it is important to find the good even in heroes that are less than saints and helps us understand that education is more than something that merely happens; it requires a boy’s freedom.
Although heroes may not be saints, they are good starting points. It is perhaps not mere happenstance that Plutarch wrote his biographies as the Evangelists were writing their lives of life’s Author. As the Greek philosopher was a master at portraying those little details which form a hero’s character, it is the man from Nazareth who teaches us to turn them into heroic verse—and that is the beginning of holiness.
Chapters
- 1:15 How did you find Plutarch?
- The eighth grade core
- A biographical approach to history
- 4:20 Why read Plutarch?
- A good storyteller
- An inspiration to Shakespeare
- 6:10 What does Plutarch tell us about being a good man?
- The peak of a mountain of tradition
- Seeing the goodness first: heroes and saints
- 13:10 What are some of the best lives to take a look at?
- Alcibiades
- Mark Antony Publius
- Cicero
- Cato the Younger
- 19:54 Connecting pieces of the curriculum with Plutarch
- Government and Literature
- 20:20 Gospels
- 22:35 On the formation of leaders
- 24:20 Connecting to the American leadership
- 28:10 Plutarch and the education of citizens
- 33:04 Where to start?
- Alexander the Great and Pompey
- Brutus and Caesar
- 36:09 How to teach Plutarch
- Difficulty of translations
- A little at a time
- 38:15 The Plutarch Podcast and Grammaticus.co
Additional Resources
The Plutarch Podcast
Grammaticus.co
Lives by Plutarch
Also on The Forum
Writing and Thought; Oratory and Ethics: What we Give Our 7th Graders in the Core with Tom Cox
History the Way It Was… And the Way It Should Be by Mark Grannis
Aristotle on the Student’s Job by Tom Cox
Seneca on the Teacher’s Job by Tom Cox
This week on HeightsCast, we feature headmaster Alvaro de Vicente’s open house speech on the mission and vision of The Heights School. In the speech, Alvaro helps parents discern the right school for their son. Understanding education to be essentially about partnering with parents to transmit a culture, he encourages parents to thoughtfully consider the culture of our school and how it relates to the culture of their own homes. In addition, Mr. de Vicente offers a few words on our vision of manhood, suggesting that to be a good man, one must also be quite dangerous: powerful enough to do damage, but with the moral character to do great things.
Chapters
- 1:17 How to discern the right school for your son
- 1:45 Education as transmission of culture
- 2:46 Our vision
- 3:20 Dangerously good: what it means to be a man
- 6:15 Our goal
- 6:50 How to make this vision a reality
- 6:57 Partnership with parents
- 8:35 Growth in virtue
- 11:40 Model the culture and counsel your sons
Additional Resources
Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro’s Gulag by Armando Valladares
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Also on The Forum
The Man Fully Alive with Alvaro de Vicente
Self-Mastery: Alvaro de Vicente on Fostering Interior Freedom in Schools with Alvaro de Vicente
Who Am I?: The Question of Persona with Alvaro de Vicente
Our Little Protectors: How Do WE See Our Boys? with Alvaro de Vicente
Forming Wise, Courageous Risk-Takers with Alvaro de Vicente
This week on HeightsCast, we feature a recording of the 2022 Headmaster’s Lecture on the man fully alive. In this lecture, Mr. Alvaro de Vicente helps us understand what we mean when we use St. Irenaeus’ oft-quoted though seldom understood words that gloria Dei est vivens homo: the glory of God is living man.
Mr. de Vicente shares his thoughts on the destination and the road ahead, suggesting that to live fully on earth we must understand that the fullness of life is found only in heaven. And if we are to reach this destination which is our destiny, we should see this life as practice for the next.
In particular, he offers three actions that are the best practice for heaven:
- To play
- To see
- To commit
Taking us through each of these, Mr. de Vicente helps us to approach life in a playful way, taking ourselves lightly and others seriously; to discover the beauty of the world, contemplating with loving eyes and a grateful heart; and to commit fully, passionately persevering in our love for others. Our boys will not live these ideals perfectly—we will not live them perfectly—but if together we begin and begin again often, we will be well on the way; and that will be a taste of heaven.
Chapters
- 2:43 Origins of the tagline “Men fully alive”
- 4:01 Man fully alive: what does this mean?
- 4:14 Common notions
- 5:18 Man as the masterpiece of God
- 7:56 What is man?
- 9:01 Crisis of masculinity: either brutes or wimps
- 9:45 Life on earth as a preparation for heaven
- 11:07 What is heaven?
- 12:36 Practice for heaven
- 13:16 A man with a mission
- 16:31 To play
- 16:33 Physical play
- 19:06 Approaching life in a playful way
- 22:31 A game with two halves
- 26:09 To see
- 27:56 Blindness as an illness of the soul
- 29:36 The Little Prince and our inability to see beauty
- 30:54 When the truth complicates my life
- 32:48 Who you are and what you are here for
- 33:32 On contemplation
- 34:36 Finding beauty
- 36:47 Life as a museum
- 37:21 Seeing with the mind’s eye
- 39:41 Seeing with the heart
- 41:33 To commit
- 42:11 The man in a wheelchair
- 43:40 Closing doors
- 45:20 On the passions
- 48:01 Commitment is different from a self-help book
- 48:41 Screwtape on love and marriage
- 51:58 Faithfulness over time is the name of love (Benedict XVI)
- 52:41 The danger of overcommitting
- 54:26 Conclusion
Also on The Forum
Foundations of Hope: Raising Optimistic Men Fully Alive with Alvaro de Vicente
The Education of “Men Fully Alive”: The Mission and Vision of The Heights with Alvaro de Vicente
Who Am I?: The Question of Persona with Alvaro de Vicente
Our Little Protectors: How Do WE See Our Boys? with Alvaro de Vicente
Forming Wise, Courageous Risk-Takers with Alvaro de Vicente
In Defense of Victory by Kyle Blackmer
Additional Resources
Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus
In this week’s episode, we discuss science fiction with Mr. Joe Breslin, fifth grade teacher and soon-to-be published author of Other Minds: 13 Tales of Wonder and Sorrow. Surveying the wide umbrella of literature and film termed “sci-fi,” Mr. Breslin helps us understand what makes this genre of literature valuable, interesting, and beautiful.
As Mr. Breslin explains, science fiction done well offers a celebration of the human person, showing us in often strange ways what is possible for us as thinking beings. Moreover, by removing us from the humdrum of our ordinary lives and instilling a sense of awe as we experience another world, science fiction can provide new insights into old problems, helping us rediscover the wonder of our own everyday lives. And this is often much needed–for although our world may never be lacking in wonders, we may at times find our weary selves lacking in the wonder to see it.
Chapters
- 1:40 What is science fiction?
- 2:20 Science fiction vs. fantasy
- 4:30 Kinds of science fiction
- Space opera
- Hard sci-fi
- Dystopia
- Post-apocalyptic
- Steampunk
- Military
- Horror
- Classic
- 11:30 Insights from different genres
- 13:03 Personal favorites of Mr. Breslin
- 16:10 Why is science fiction valuable?
- 17:37 Perception vs. reality
- 18:27 Anthropology through another lens
- 19:19 Science fiction as a humanistic kind of literature
- 22:13 Challenges of writing science fiction
- 28:45 Mr. Breslin’s own writing
- 30:30 A common thread: strange encounters
- 32:32 Self-publishing
- 34:35 Good fiction infused with Faith
- 38:38 Why read science fiction?
- 40:25 A caveat: the danger of focusing on man under a single aspect
- 42:43 Literature: utility and enjoyment
- 44:50 Learn more about Mr. Breslin’s work
Also on The Forum
Modern Literature: On Curating the Contemporary with Michael Ortiz
Guiding Our Boys through Modern Literature with Joe Breslin and Lionel Yaceczko
Exploring and Expressing the Human Condition through Literature with Michael Ortiz
Forum Reviews
Additional Resources
Joey Breslin Writes, Mr. Breslin’s writing website
From the boys’ choir in the lower school to the men’s chorus in the upper school, informal performances at faculty dinners to songs at the annual Maryland Day Gala, singing echoes throughout the whole of The Heights experience. This week, we sit down with Mr. Patrick Love, music teacher at The Heights since 2004, to discuss not only when and where we sing at The Heights but why we love to sing so much.
As you’ll hear, singing—broadly understood—is at the heart of our school's mission. Cantare amantis est, St. Augustine tells us: singing belongs to the one who loves. And as Arthur Clutton-Brock wrote, “education ought to teach us how to be in love always and what to be in love with.” In educating our boys to become men fully alive, then, we are ultimately helping them to love, to find their voice, and to fall in love with One who sings them into existence.
Chapters * 3:40 Where does singing happen at The Heights? + 4:30 A musical history of The Heights * 8:00 Where does singing happen amongst the faculty? * 12:27 What motivates us to sing? Why do we sing? + 13:45 Only the lover sings + 15:30 From The Magician’s Nephew + 18:40 Singing: the real deal * 21:00 Love, education, and singing at the crossroads * 22:23 Fr. Luigi Giussani and the CL Songbook + 23:30 Singing in the home + 25:28 John Senior + 29:45 Cal Newport on technology fasts * 31:10 On iTunes * 32:46 Singing in the homeroom: teaching as singing * 39:00 Singing and silence
Also on The Forum * Leisure and Acedia: R.J. Snell on Contemplative Homes in a Frenetic Age with R.J. Snell * Digital Minimalism: Creating a Philosophy of Personal Technology Use with Cal Newport * What Is the Difference between Free Time and Leisure? by Joe Bissex * Fall Poems We Love to Memorize by Tom Cox
Additional Resources * Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation by Josef Pieper * In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festivity by Josef Pieper * The Risk of Education: Discovering Our Ultimate Destiny by Fr. Luigi Giussani * The Restoration of Christian Culture by John Senior * Education at the Crossroads by Jacques Maritain * The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis
This week on HeightsCast we talk with upper school head, Michael Moynihan, about a new initiative of his on the Forum: the Initiative for the Renewal of Science Education. In the episode, Michael discusses the need for a new synthesis in the liberal arts, combining the best of modern science with the wisdom of ages. In particular, he explains how the recent tendency in science education to begin with theory and then proceed to phenomena is unscientific, producing students with a habit of intellectual surrender, rather than the inspiration to become great scientists.
In this week’s episode, we talk with headmaster Alavaro de Vicente about a central theme from our faculty workshop: self-mastery. As Alvaro explains, self-mastery is a certain integration of action, words, thoughts, and desires that gives one the interior freedom to not only do the good but to want to do the good.
What does this self-mastery look like for teachers, for students, and for parents? How do we help our boys develop self-mastery? What is the role of a school in assisting parents with this great endeavor?
As man is not made virtuous in a day, Mr. de Vicente encourages us to think long term. At the same, he reminds us to focus on the little things, those small, daily realities where aspiration becomes actuality. In particular, he suggests dress code, punctuality, and language as three battlefields on which we can wage war alongside our sons—not against them—as they grow in interior freedom.
Self-mastery, Alvaro explains, is not about mastering the world or others. It is rather about mastery of oneself so as to be able to steward the little piece of creation which the Creator has given us. For some, this may be a team. For others, it could be a whole company or even a country. For most, this will be a family, for whom the father has a special kind of care—a care which is best lived out when he recognizes that he is both a father and the Father’s son.
Chapters
- 0:57 What is self-mastery?
- 2:30 The role of the school in developing self-mastery of students
- 5:00 Practical advice for developing self-mastery in students
- 6:23 Dress code
- 9:35 Punctuality
-
10:30 Language
-
13:12 School tone and self-mastery
-
14:54 Advice for teachers
-
15:45 Armando Valladares and interior freedom
- 19:20 Trusting our students
- 22:52 John Henry Cardinal Newman and the education of boys
-
23:30 Two applications of Newman’s educational philosophy
-
26:45 Self-mastery and the order of creation
- 30:00 Living life to the fullest: how self-mastery can help us enjoy life more
- 31:15 Advice for parents
-
35:20 Implementing change in the home
-
39:38 Stories from Alvaro’s upbringing
- 42:20 Recommended reading
- 43:50 A question to spark discussion
Also on The Forum
Respectful Dominion: Colin Gleason on Discipline with Colin Gleason
Learn to Turn: Tom Royals on Parental Prudence with Tom Royals
Manners: The Art of Happiness by Robert Greving
Why My Computer Science Students Should Master the Guitar by George Martin
Training the Hand to Train the Mind by Robert Greving
Additional Resources
A Catholic Eton? Newman’s Oratory School by Paul Shrimpton
Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro’s Gulag by Armando Valladares
In this week’s episode, we talk with headmaster Alavaro de Vicente about a central theme from our faculty workshop: self-mastery. As Alvaro explains, self-mastery is a certain integration of action, words, thoughts, and desires that gives one the interior freedom to not only do the good but to want to do the good.
What does this self-mastery look like for teachers, for students, and for parents? How do we help our boys develop self-mastery? What is the role of a school in assisting parents with this great endeavor?
As man is not made virtuous in a day, Mr. de Vicente encourages us to think long term. At the same, he reminds us to focus on the little things, those small, daily realities where aspiration becomes actuality. In particular, he suggests dress code, punctuality, and language as three battlefields on which we can wage war alongside our sons—not against them—as they grow in interior freedom.
Self-mastery, Alvaro explains, is not about mastering the world or others. It is rather about mastery of oneself so as to be able to steward the little piece of creation which the Creator has given us. For some, this may be a team. For others, it could be a whole company or even a country. For most, this will be a family, for whom the father has a special kind of care—a care which is best lived out when he recognizes that he is both a father and the Father’s son.
Chapters
- 0:57 What is self-mastery?
- 2:30 The role of the school in developing self-mastery of students
- 5:00 Practical advice for developing self-mastery in students
- 6:23 Dress code
- 9:35 Punctuality
-
10:30 Language
-
13:12 School tone and self-mastery
-
14:54 Advice for teachers
-
15:45 Armando Valladares and interior freedom
- 19:20 Trusting our students
- 22:52 John Henry Cardinal Newman and the education of boys
-
23:30 Two applications of Newman’s educational philosophy
-
26:45 Self-mastery and the order of creation
- 30:00 Living life to the fullest: how self-mastery can help us enjoy life more
- 31:15 Advice for parents
-
35:20 Implementing change in the home
-
39:38 Stories from Alvaro’s upbringing
- 42:20 Recommended reading
- 43:50 A question to spark discussion
Also on The Forum
Respectful Dominion: Colin Gleason on Discipline with Colin Gleason
Learn to Turn: Tom Royals on Parental Prudence with Tom Royals
Manners: The Art of Happiness by Robert Greving
Why My Computer Science Students Should Master the Guitar by George Martin
Training the Hand to Train the Mind by Robert Greving
Additional Resources
A Catholic Eton? Newman’s Oratory School by Paul Shrimpton
Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro’s Gulag by Armando Valladares
In this week's episode we discuss fights. Most boys, especially at a young age, have a beautiful need for rough and tumble physical play. But what happens when it's not play? What happens when egos are insulted and the fists go up? Or when there's an unjust aggression? At what point is a young lad–or an older one–justified in puttin' up his dukes? Teacher and Coach, Kyle Blackmer, gives us some points for consideration as we coach our sons on the use of physical force. In the end, this is another one of those areas where parents–most often, but not always, dad–are the primary educators of boys learning the proper employment of one of God's great gifts: their strength.
In this week's episode we discuss fights. Most boys, especially at a young age, have a beautiful need for rough and tumble physical play. But what happens when it's not play? What happens when egos are insulted and the fists go up? Or when there's an unjust aggression? At what point is a young lad–or an older one–justified in puttin' up his dukes? Teacher and Coach, Kyle Blackmer, gives us some points for consideration as we coach our sons on the use of physical force. In the end, this is another one of those areas where parents–most often, but not always, dad–are the primary educators of boys learning the proper employment of one of God's great gifts: their strength.
In many quarters of contemporary society, busy-ness has become a sort of cliche greeting. To the question “How are you?”, the response, “So busy,” is often automatic. To borrow the words of Dr. R.J. Snell, many of us are conspicuously busy; and we wear our busy-ness as a sort of badge of honor, rooting our worth in our work.
In last week’s episode, we talked with Dr. Snell about work and acedia. This week, we round out that episode with a discussion of what is ultimately the point of work, namely leisure. While we may often think of leisure as ordered toward work—we rest so that we may work more—Dr. Snell explains how the reverse is nearer the truth, not only etymologically but also metaphysically. Work is for the sake of leisure, as instrumental goods are for the sake of intrinsic goods.
As you’ll hear, if we take the Eucharistic feast seriously on Sunday, then the rest of our days will be caught up into that Eucharastic feast. Monday will be different, for though we may be just as busy as before, our activity will no longer be so frenetic. It may even take on the mysterious rhythm of a divine dance.
- 0:20 Relationship between leisure and acedia
- 0:35 Acedia as frenetic busy-ness
- 1:05 Total work and workaholism
- 1:44 School as leisure
- 2:30 Leisure is not an absence of activity
-
3:02 Sabbath work and goods for their own sake
-
5:04 Modern education and its discontents
- 5:52 Education as the feast
- 6:35 Mistake 1: Not respecting students as sovereign knowers
-
7:56 Mistake 2: Olympian vision of education
-
10:55 Overscheduling as a form of acedia
- 12:05 Conspicuous busy-ness
- 12:45 A culture of having and doing, rather than being
- 13:35 Sin as loving a lower good at the expense of a higher good
-
14:40 Sloth as a flattening of the Sabbath
-
14:56 Where do we begin?
-
15:40 Suggestions for the Sabbath
-
17:00 Sabbath overflowing into the work week
- 17:30 A Eucharistic life
-
18:25 Another sort of leisure
-
18:50 Leisure and contemplation in the work-a-day world
- 19:20 Living in and approving of the good
- 20:11 Dance as contemplation
-
21:53 Backyard sports as contemplation
-
23:50 A good question for conversation
- 24:10 What can we do to enjoy our time with each other more?
- 24:25 Catching the little foxes
Also on The Forum
- Work and Acedia: R.J. Snell on Our Original Vocation with R.J. Snell
- OptimalWork series with Kevin Majeres
- What Is the Difference between Free Time and Leisure? by Joe Bissex
Additional Resources
- Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper
- In Tune with the World by Josef Pieper
- Portsmouth Institute
- Family, Leisure, and the Restoration of Culture by R.J. Snell
- Acedia and Its Discontents: Metaphysical Boredom in an Empire of Desire by R.J. Snell
- Summa Theologiae, II.2.35: Sloth by St. Thomas Aquinas
In many quarters of contemporary society, busy-ness has become a sort of cliche greeting. To the question “How are you?”, the response, “So busy,” is often automatic. To borrow the words of Dr. R.J. Snell, many of us are conspicuously busy; and we wear our busy-ness as a sort of badge of honor, rooting our worth in our work.
In last week’s episode, we talked with Dr. Snell about work and acedia. This week, we round out that episode with a discussion of what is ultimately the point of work, namely leisure. While we may often think of leisure as ordered toward work—we rest so that we may work more—Dr. Snell explains how the reverse is nearer the truth, not only etymologically but also metaphysically. Work is for the sake of leisure, as instrumental goods are for the sake of intrinsic goods.
As you’ll hear, if we take the Eucharistic feast seriously on Sunday, then the rest of our days will be caught up into that Eucharastic feast. Monday will be different, for though we may be just as busy as before, our activity will no longer be so frenetic. It may even take on the mysterious rhythm of a divine dance.
- 0:20 Relationship between leisure and acedia
- 0:35 Acedia as frenetic busy-ness
- 1:05 Total work and workaholism
- 1:44 School as leisure
- 2:30 Leisure is not an absence of activity
-
3:02 Sabbath work and goods for their own sake
-
5:04 Modern education and its discontents
- 5:52 Education as the feast
- 6:35 Mistake 1: Not respecting students as sovereign knowers
-
7:56 Mistake 2: Olympian vision of education
-
10:55 Overscheduling as a form of acedia
- 12:05 Conspicuous busy-ness
- 12:45 A culture of having and doing, rather than being
- 13:35 Sin as loving a lower good at the expense of a higher good
-
14:40 Sloth as a flattening of the Sabbath
-
14:56 Where do we begin?
-
15:40 Suggestions for the Sabbath
-
17:00 Sabbath overflowing into the work week
- 17:30 A Eucharistic life
-
18:25 Another sort of leisure
-
18:50 Leisure and contemplation in the work-a-day world
- 19:20 Living in and approving of the good
- 20:11 Dance as contemplation
-
21:53 Backyard sports as contemplation
-
23:50 A good question for conversation
- 24:10 What can we do to enjoy our time with each other more?
- 24:25 Catching the little foxes
Also on The Forum
- Work and Acedia: R.J. Snell on Our Original Vocation with R.J. Snell
- OptimalWork series with Kevin Majeres
- What Is the Difference between Free Time and Leisure? by Joe Bissex
Additional Resources
- Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper
- In Tune with the World by Josef Pieper
- Portsmouth Institute
- Family, Leisure, and the Restoration of Culture by R.J. Snell
- Acedia and Its Discontents: Metaphysical Boredom in an Empire of Desire by R.J. Snell
- Summa Theologiae, II.2.35: Sloth by St. Thomas Aquinas
A certain distinguished school leader, when asked when he would retire from his work, replied, “the day that I wake up and do not want to go to work.” A reply such as this perhaps strikes the modern ear as senseless. For many of us, work fills the greater portion of our daily lives, but do we feel ourselves thereby fulfilled? Especially today, we may often feel trapped in what seem like unspectacular sisyphean cycles.
This week, R. J. Snell, editor-in-chief of Public Discourse and director of the Center on the University and Intellectual Life at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey, talks to HeightsCast about the virtues of work and its opposing vice, acedia. Drawing on insights from his book, Acedia and Its Discontents, R. J. helps us think through how these concepts are realized in the context of family life and life on campus.
As we will hear, our everyday work is the ordinary means by which we participate not only in the perfection of God’s creation but also in the perfection of our very selves. Our work is where the rubber meets the road; it is where mere aspiration is turned into actual reality. Ultimately, work is where heaven and earth merge. In realizing this often hidden truth, we may thereby discover that divine drama which is not a sisyphean cycle, but a spiral staircase.
Chapters
- 1:17 Work as a gift
- 2:22 Error of thinking that work is a result of the Fall
- 3:23 Garden of Eden as in a state of potency: Adam and Eve are called to fill it
- 5:30 Work as part of being made in the image of God
- 7:15 How work fulfills us
- 7:35 Husbandry of the self
- 8:25 God’s rule through our own self rule: participated theonomy
- 10:08 Work as the primary way of exercising self-governance
- 12:50 Cultivating the soil: on the way to beauty
- 14:25 The friendly universe
- 15:50 Grace perfects nature
- 16:41 The three tests of good work
- 18:45 The integrity of work and the worker’s integrity
- 19:30 Bright-eyed children
- 21:25 Work as furnishing God’s house
-
24:03 Education as cooperating with Grace
-
26:07 Acedia: a hatred of reality
- 27:05 Judge Holden and the desire for radical self-autonomy
- 30:00 Desert Fathers on acedia and the refusal of God’s friendship
- 31:00 Sloth as the vice of our age
- 31:36 Natural history as the counter to acedia and reductionism
- 35:03 The little foxes: recognizing acedia creeping in
- 35:55 What you are doing now is where God is calling you
- 37:40 The divine drama of the most mundane things
- 38:50 Sabbath and rest
Also on The Forum
- OptimalWork series with Kevin Majeres
- Why We Need Exposure to Nature by Eric Heil
- What Is the Difference between Free Time and Leisure? by Joe Bissex
Additional Resources
- Portsmouth Institute
- Family, Leisure, and the Restoration of Culture by R. J. Snell
- Acedia and Its Discontents: Metaphysical Boredom in an Empire of Desire by R. J. Snell
- Summa Theologiae, II.2.35: Sloth by St. Thomas Aquinas
This episode features Mr. Michael Moynihan's lecture at last year's Teaching Vocation Conference. Our Upper School Head shares why a liberal arts education is needed more today than in times past. And the reasons are not simply that classics majors can code too. To the contrary, an authentic liberal education gives us not only truth, but also a ground upon which to stand. Many of our current social crises are rooted precisely in such a poverty: we mistrust much of our ability to know, and consequently we don't know much of what gives life purpose and meaning.
Michael goes on to share four characteristics of a good liberal arts education. According to our Upper School Head, such an education:
- Teaches the right use of reason (grounding empirical sciences in realism at the bottom, and opening them to philosophy and transcendence at the top. In this vein, Michael challenges the current trends that simply limit the liberal arts to the humanities);
- Conveys meaning through a narrative approach, and in particular, meanings that offer a foundation resistant to materialism;
- Connects us to our tradition in such a way that facilitates authentic freedom; and
- Is firmly rooted in a realism that allows students to engage the real in a meaningful way.
More on the Forum:
- “Fact or Opinion?”: Roots of Relativism in an Ethical Dilemma
- Freedom in Quarantine: Daniel Bernardus on Leonardo Polo
In last week’s episode, we considered how beauty is a special combination of order and surprise. To behold beauty, we learned, is to contemplate the dynamism of a being on the way to its perfection. It is to see the rose emerging from its seed.
This week we talk with assistant headmaster, Tom Royals, about learning to see the beauty—albeit often messy beauty—of our own growing children. To be sure, in this adventure, we may find more surprise than order. Nevertheless, in learning to see our children with loving eyes, we learn to better understand them. And in better understanding them, we are better able to accompany them along their paths, each of which has its own peculiar order.
In this episode, Tom encourages us to avoid thinking of our children as projects and instead to learn to contemplate them as free persons. For it is only in becoming contemplatives of our children that they will know themselves to be understood and loved, as they are. This knowledge, more than anything, will become the basis of their growth. Like Chesterton said of Rome, they are not loved because they were first great; they will become great because they have first been loved.
Chapters
- 4:00 Not projects, but persons
- 5:43 To be seen and known
- 6:25 To be accompanied, not managed
- 7:20 To be contemplated
- 7:45 Charity as seeking to understand
- 9:30 Only the beloved sings
- 10:30 Accompanying as flowing from contemplating
- 11:50 The importance of knowing our stress points
- 13:08 We are always teaching
- 15:30 Why we should “waste time” with our children
- 16:35 The importance of being available
- 19:15 The need for simplicity when attending to our children
- 21:00 The dangers of “search and destroy” mode
- 25:00 Why we should welcome guests into our homes
- 26:20 Storytelling around the dinner table
- 27:05 Limiting corrections at the dinner table
- 28:20 Parents and teachers are always learning
- 28:55 The long view in parenting and education
- 29:30 Loving your children as a manifestation of loving your spouse
- 31:12 Parenting and teaching: overflows of the interior life
Also on The Forum
20 Ways to Improve the Family Dinner by Rich Moss
Against Indifference by Tom Longano
Ways to Foster a Family Culture by Alvaro de Vicente
On Home as Social Hub: The Importance of Hosting Our Sons and Their Friends with Tom Royals
Learn to Turn: Tom Royals on Parental Prudence with Tom Royals
Cultivating Friendship in the Classroom by Austin Hatch
Our Little Protectors: How Do WE See Our Boys? with Alvaro de Vicente
In last week’s episode, we considered how beauty is a special combination of order and surprise. To behold beauty, we learned, is to contemplate the dynamism of a being on the way to its perfection. It is to see the rose emerging from its seed.
This week we talk with assistant headmaster, Tom Royals, about learning to see the beauty—albeit often messy beauty—of our own growing children. To be sure, in this adventure, we may find more surprise than order. Nevertheless, in learning to see our children with loving eyes, we learn to better understand them. And in better understanding them, we are better able to accompany them along their paths, each of which has its own peculiar order.
In this episode, Tom encourages us to avoid thinking of our children as projects and instead to learn to contemplate them as free persons. For it is only in becoming contemplatives of our children that they will know themselves to be understood and loved, as they are. This knowledge, more than anything, will become the basis of their growth. Like Chesterton said of Rome, they are not loved because they were first great; they will become great because they have first been loved.
Chapters
- 4:00 Not projects, but persons
- 5:43 To be seen and known
- 6:25 To be accompanied, not managed
- 7:20 To be contemplated
- 7:45 Charity as seeking to understand
- 9:30 Only the beloved sings
- 10:30 Accompanying as flowing from contemplating
- 11:50 The importance of knowing our stress points
- 13:08 We are always teaching
- 15:30 Why we should “waste time” with our children
- 16:35 The importance of being available
- 19:15 The need for simplicity when attending to our children
- 21:00 The dangers of “search and destroy” mode
- 25:00 Why we should welcome guests into our homes
- 26:20 Storytelling around the dinner table
- 27:05 Limiting corrections at the dinner table
- 28:20 Parents and teachers are always learning
- 28:55 The long view in parenting and education
- 29:30 Loving your children as a manifestation of loving your spouse
- 31:12 Parenting and teaching: overflows of the interior life
Also on The Forum
20 Ways to Improve the Family Dinner by Rich Moss
Against Indifference by Tom Longano
Ways to Foster a Family Culture by Alvaro de Vicente
On Home as Social Hub: The Importance of Hosting Our Sons and Their Friends with Tom Royals
Learn to Turn: Tom Royals on Parental Prudence with Tom Royals
Cultivating Friendship in the Classroom by Austin Hatch
Our Little Protectors: How Do WE See Our Boys? with Alvaro de Vicente
It sounds nice to say, using Dostoevsky's words, that beauty will save the world. But is this claim true? If so, in what sense is it true? What even is beauty? And what would it mean for it to save the world?
This week, we welcome Dr. Lionel Yaceczko back to HeightsCast to discuss beauty: what it is and what the Western tradition can tell us about it. Today’s episode is rooted in a previous discussion we had with Dr. Yaceczko, in which he spoke with us about Western civilization. In that episode, we considered what Western civilization is and why it is still worth studying today. This week, we look at one reason why the study of the West is a fruitful endeavor: it can help us better appreciate beauty.
As we hear from Dr. Yaceczko, beauty consists in the marriage of order and surprise. It is the fruit of keeping the commandments and breaking the conventions. As such, seeing part of a beautiful work of art first invites our prediction—there is order and we can discern it—and then astounds our expectation—but that order is not mere slavish repetition.
Whenever we find beauty in this world, we glimpse eternity. Each glimpse spurs us on to find the fullness of that beauty, which is our perfection and which will surpass all predictions: eye has not seen, nor ear heard what has been prepared for those who truly love. And when, God-willing, we find that Beauty—or perhaps, better yet, when He finds us— we will finally be at home. And yet, if our intuition about beauty here is on track, then we will forever be astonished with Whom we find.
Chapters
- 2:33 What is the classical style?
- 2:53 From the web
- 2:43 Neoclassical architecture in D.C.
-
6:33 Balance and classical architecture
-
8:15 What is beauty?
-
11:44 On forms and the form
-
13:18 Can we have a common conception of beauty?
- 14:07 Subjective aspects of beauty
- 15:00 Beauty as movement toward the final cause
- 16:10 Use and abuse
-
17:28 Personal taste and beauty
-
19:17 What is nature?
- 20:18 Ancient philosophers against nature
-
21:38 Beyond mere accidental arrangement: objective nature
-
23:08 Beauty: the balance of order and surprise
-
24:05 Chesterton’s Manalive
-
27:03 How does beauty relate to happiness?
- 28:11 The philosopher as teacher of happiness
-
29:38 The spontaneity of beauty
-
31:00 Lessons from Classical sculpture: a brief introduction
- 32:14 Contrapposto and the movement toward perfection
- 34:23 Verism
-
35:03 Architecture
-
38:43 Beauty and the liberal arts
Also on The Forum
A Study for All Seasons: Lionel Yaceczko on the Western Tradition with Dr. Lionel Yaceczko
What Is the Difference between Free Time and Leisure? by Joe Bissex
Five Fruits of a Poetic Education by Nate Gadiano
The Way of Encounter by Joe Breslin
Matter and Form, Substance and Accidents by Michael Moynihan
Additional Resources
The Making of Europe: An Introduction to the History of European Unity by Christopher Dawson
Beauty: What It Is and Why It Matters by John-Mark L. Miravalle
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Manalive by G. K. Chesterton
In this week’s episode, we continue our conversation with Dr. Kevin Majeres, turning our attention to the importance of setting challenges and the way actions shape emotions. Drawing on these two topics, Dr. Majeres helps us think through how parents can best help a son that is struggling with an addiction of any sort.
In particular, Dr. Majeres responds to the following questions:
- What is addiction?
- What is the neuroscience behind addiction?
- How does the particular addiction of pornography tie into this general understanding of addiction?
- How can we—or our sons—set challenges?
- How is flow the ultimate in self-mastery?
- For the adolescent boy struggling with addiction, what sorts of challenges are we trying to help him craft? How do we help him frame out the sort of challenge that will free him?
As we hear from Dr. Majeres, true freedom consists in the ability to form a deep bond and faithfully maintain it over time. Rather than a mere negation—a freedom from some outside force—the deepest freedom lies in a freedom for, the ability to give of oneself to another. We might well say, then, that there is no greater freedom than the freedom of friendship, and that the greatest of friends is He who leads us in libertatem gloriae filiorum Dei: into the glorious freedom of the sons of God.
Chapters * 3:22 Defining Addiction + 5:40 The Neuroscience of Addiction and the Divided Brain + 8:12 When the Left Hemisphere Takes Over * 9:15 Neuroscience and The Virtues * 10:11 Addiction to Pornography + 11:35 The Danger of Responding with Mere Rules + 12:30 Freedom as the Ability to Form Faithful Bond + 13:10 Growing Up Brave + 14:27 How Goods are Communicated through Bonds * 16:18 Parenting and Growth + 17:18 Controlling the Controllable * 18:54 The Physiology of Bonding * 19:10 The Neuroscience of Ends and Means + 19:55 Order in the Home + 20:37 Focus on the Bond: People are not Projects * 21:52 Growth in Mastery: Endless Dopamine * 25:30 Types of Challenges and the Divided Brain + 26:25 Quality Challenges + 28:04 Left Brain and Addictions * 30:12 Flow as the Ultimate in Self-Mastery + 30:48 Love as a Form of Flow + 31:20 Contemplation as a Form of Flow + 32:25 Contemplation and Work * 33:40 Helping Our Sons Craft Challenges + 34:20 The Importance of Deep Listening + 35:50 The Danger of Problem Solving for Our Sons * 38:34 How Should Parents Approach Challenges? + 39:23 Outcomes vs. Growth * 41:10 Classical Virtue Theory and Neuroscience * 48:05 OptimalWork Resources
Additional Resources The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist
Growing Up Brave by Donna Pincus
OptimalWork on YouTube
OptimalWork MasterClass
Also on The Forum On Freedom and Phones with Alvaro de Vicente
Why Boys Need to Be Given Freedom by Andrew Reed
Freedom in the Upper School by Rich Moss
We have all experienced moments in which we are so immersed in a task that we lose track of time and performance feels effortless. For some, this may occur on the sports field; for others, in the classroom; and still, for others, in the performance hall.
Yet, we have likely also experienced the opposite. For many children, the struggle for concentration is probably more prevalent.
Last week, we began a three-part series with Dr. Kevin Majeres. We discussed what anxiety is and how parents can help their sons—and themselves—turn occasions of anxiety into opportunities for growth. This week, we are back with Dr. Majeres to discuss attention and mindfulness.
In the episode, Dr. Majeres helps us begin to answer the following questions:
- Although we all may know the symptoms, what really is at the heart of attentional issues?
- What is a distraction? How does it differ from an interruption?
- What is occurring physiologically when boys experience attentional difficulties?
- What are ways to develop the muscles of attention?
- What are common practices that cause attention to atrophy?
- Is medicating a good way to approach attentional issues?
- What is mindfulness? What are ways for younger children to practice mindfulness?
- How does freedom relate to mindfulness?
In the end, mindfulness offers us a doorway into two aspects of freedom that are at the heart of human flourishing. Learning to attend to our work at school helps us to attend to others in society. And, in both instances, learning to attend well is a pathway to love; for what we love captures our attention — what lover does not often find his mind turning to his beloved? — and that to which we attend, we can begin to love.
If education is the turning of a mind, as we hear in the Republic, then mindfulness may well be fundamental to its success. For when one turns toward the truth, he will thereby be ready not only to recognize it but, even more, he will be prepared to fall in love with it.
Chapters
- 2:05 Introduction and Review of Episode 1
- 3:55 What is ADD and ADHD?
- 4:38 The Two Halves of Attention
- 6:28 Training the Default Mode Network
- 7:28 The Neuroscience of Attentional Difficulties
- 7:53 Theta Waves and the Muscle of Attention
- 9:05 The Three Movements of Attentional Training
- 9:55 Medication and the Gray Matter
- 11:13 Are Attentional Difficulties a Fixed Trait?
- 12:02 What Weakens the Attention
- 12:45 Video Games
- 13:25 How Music, Reading, and Work are not like Video Games
- 14:53 Passive Attention
- 15:30 Memory and Attention
- 16:35 The Importance of Imagination
- 18:01 Strengthening Attention
- 19:15 Slowing Down and Mindfulness
- 20:08 The Importance of Order and Predictability
- 22:15 Silence and Work
- 22:50 How distractions differ from Interruptions
- 26:00 Mindfulness for Young Children
- 30:18 The Golden Hour
- 31:33 Strategies for a Helping a Reluctant Boy
- 33:16 Forming the Perimeter
- 37:33 Mindfulness and Interior Freedom
- 38:50 The Freedom for Personal Bonds
Additional Resources
What is a Golden Hour? with Dr. Kevin Majeres and Sharif Younes
Back to the Basics: An Intro to OptimalWork with Dr. Kevin Majeres
OptimalWork on YouTube
Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies by Simone Weil
Also on The Forum
From Anxiety to Adventure with Dr. Kevin Majeres
Why We Need Exposure to Nature by Eric Heil
Training the Hand to Train the Mind by Robert Grieving
Three Guiding Principles for Homework by Rich Moss
Adorning our school’s main hallway is a sort of charter for the Heights graduate which designates him as a man who is “optimistic toward life’s challenges,” as one who “sees freedom as an opportunity to choose the good.” Fostering these ideals in each student is a central aspect of the school’s mission. But, in a world that is increasingly filled with children suffering from anxiety, how—in very practical terms—can we help our students develop such an outlook on life?
Last month, we heard from Mr. Alex Berthé on how parents can find peace in an anxiety ridden world. This week on HeightsCast, we begin a series of discussions with Dr. Kevin Majeres, lecturer at Harvard Medical School and Founder of OptimalWork.
In this three-part series, we take a deep dive into three sets of challenges which are becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s youth, and three mindsets or skills that can help us as parents and teachers to help our boys help themselves:
- Anxiety
- Attention
- Addiction
Our first discussion with Dr. Majeres focuses on anxiety. Combining years of experience as a psychiatrist and drawing on research in cognitive behavioral therapy, Dr. Majeres teaches us both what anxiety is and what we can do about it.
In the episode, we learn:
- The Foundation of Growth
- The importance of having a growth mindset—seeing yourself as capable of real improvement.
- Learning to reframe out of a fixed mindset.
- Anxiety
- Anxiety is adrenaline with a negative frame.
- Adrenaline is a performance-enhancing hormone, which is meant to improve one’s capacities, whether physical or cognitive.
- All anxiety disorders come from seeing anxiety as a disorder; they are the fruit of seeing the effects of adrenaline as a problem.
- Children’s preferences are often manifestations of anxiety coupled with avoidance; it is crucial to help people from a young age to stay with a challenge and not flee from anxiety.
- Reframing
- Reframing is deliberately finding the opportunity for growth in a challenge that one had previously viewed negatively.
- The way the body utilizes hormones depends on how we frame them; reframing is not mere wishful thinking.
- Start small; don’t tackle the biggest challenge first.
- Cheerfulness
- Cheerfulness is often synonymous with courage.
- The family is where we first learn to see challenges as opportunities.
- If parents foster a smiling approach to challenges, then even a quick thought of them can become a reframe for their children.
An essential component of The Heights School’s mission is to help students discover the adventure hidden in every challenge they face. Having spoken with Dr. Majeres, we might phrase this skill as the ability to turn the adrenaline of anxiety into the adventure of everyday life.
Chapters
- 2:35 Introduction to Possible Solutions
- 3:55 A Snapshot of Mindfulness
- 5:08 A Snapshot of Addictions
- 6:45 A Quick Biography of Dr. Majeres
- 9:55 What is Anxiety?
- 13:34 Helping Young People with Anxiety
-
16:58 Parents as Savvy Exposure Therapy Coaches
-
19:12 The “A” Word: Should We Name It?
-
20:06 Safety Training
-
23:23 Reframing from a Parent’s Perspective
- 25:21 What is Reframing?
-
26:28 Game Theory
-
28:13 Double Exposure, Double Mastery
- 30:01 Breaking a Fixed Mindset
- 34:18 The Importance of Being Cheerful
- 36:50 Why Not to Complain
- 38:23 Learning to See Challenges as Opportunities
-
39:10 The Importance of Role Models
-
42: 55 Reframing Parental Anxiety
Additional Resources
The Golden Hour with Dr. Kevin Majeres
Turning the Knots in Your Stomach into Bows by Jeremy Jamieson, et al.
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
Also on The Forum
“Learn to Turn”: Tom Royals on Parental Prudence
Parenting: Patience or Optimism with Andrew Reed
The Stressed Son: The Causes of Adolescent Anxiety with Alvaro de Vicente
Be the Rock: Fatherhood During Times of Crisis by Kyle Blackmer
Toughness for the Adolescent Boy by Kyle Blackmer
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us that he has “become all things to all people,” so that he might better share the blessings of the Good News with more people. To become such a man who can be for all seasons, however, one must have been educated for all seasons. A preparation of this sort is precisely what the Liberal Arts, rooted in the Western Tradition, afford those who wish to pursue them. In Cicero’s own words, these arts are apt for both all seasons and all settings:
Though, even if there were no such great advantage to be reaped from [the study of literature], and if it were only pleasure that is sought from these studies, still I imagine you would consider it a most reasonable and liberal employment of the mind: for other occupations are not suited to every time, nor to every age or place; but these studies are the food of youth, the delight of old age; the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity; a delight at home, and no hindrance abroad; they are companions by night, and in travel, and in the country. (Pro archia poeta, 7.16)
Today we talk to Dr. Lionel Yaceczko about all things Western: Western Civilization, the Western Tradition, Western Culture. We discuss just what we mean by “the West," and why it has become so controversial in recent years. With Dr. Yaceczko’s guidance, we consider why a deep study of The West is still worth protecting and promoting, beyond nostalgia and mere academic interest.
In this week’s episode, Dr. Yaceczko sets the stage by offering a high level definition of these concepts, and then arguing that there is, indeed, something worth protecting in our tradition. This is especially true if we are interested in critiquing events of our own time and of times past, because the Western tradition is the source of so many of the commonly accepted standards now used to evaluate human conduct. Important concepts such as equality under law and justice for all are born of this culture, extending roots into both Rome and Christianity, and growing in the rich soil of both Roman and non-Roman peoples alike.
We might disagree about what they mean or how we use them, but perhaps that's a good place for us to start. And, if so, let's start at the very beginning: there was Rome, the Church, the Romans, and the Gentes.
Chapters
- 2:39 Introduction
- 3:12 What do we mean by “The West”?
- 4:20 What is Paedea and in what does it consist?
- 6:46 Why should we care so much about the Western Tradition?
- 8:11 A poet on trial: Cicero’s Pro archia poeta
- 16:50 A study for all ages
- 19:48 Why has the West become so controversial?
- 34:01 The most egalitarian form of elitism: Sharing the benefits we have received
- 36:27 Being just judges of the tradition: recognizing both the good and the bad
- 41:50 Righting wrongs from within: how the tradition gives us the very tools we use to critique it
Suggested Reading
The Making of Europe: An Introduction to the History of European Unity by Christopher Dawson
Pro Archia Poeta by Marcus Tullius Cicero
Also on The Forum
On Christianity and the Classical Education with Dr. Lionel Yaceczko
History the Way it Was by Bill Dardis
Defining the Liberal Arts with Dr. Matthew Mehan
Is The Heights a Classical School? with Michael Moynihan
In the opening paragraph of his Confessions, St. Augustine writes, “our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” For many, the first half of this famous line is a well-known feeling; it is, in many ways, “the feeling of actual life,” to put it in Hemingway’s own terms. Indeed, there lives deep down a desire in all of our hearts for some mysterious reality — a green light across the bay — which seems to forever escape our grasp. Many are dreamers; fewer have found an object worthy of the greatness of their yearning.
What do we do about a situation such as this? And what, if anything, can modern literature do to help us?
This week, we sit down with Mike Ortiz to discuss one of the Upper School’s new courses in the English Department. The course we discuss considers two men who, though both great American authors of the first half of the twentieth century, differed greatly in both their lifestyles and their styles of writing. The authors are the effervescent and romantic F. Scott Fitzgerald and the macho, realist Ernest Hemingway.
For all their differences, however, both men shared at least one trait: a taste for the tragedies of life. Although their styles may diverge syntactically and verbally, the substance of what they express hits the reader with an equally direct force.
In this episode, Mike helps us approach some of the darker aspects of these two men’s lives and literature, seeing their works in the broader context of their lives and their lives in the broader context of our liberal arts curriculum at The Heights.
It’s difficult, Mike’s interlocutor reminds us, to be truly a man fully alive and not feel much pain, for to have lived fully is to have loved with a full heart; and, on this side of paradise, to have loved means to have suffered much. But, as we hear in the episode, reading and studying great authors such as these and, what is more, learning to see the tragic characters of their works in a broad context may be more than a little help in preparing our students to face the many tragic romances of a dreamer and encounter the realism of true Romance.
Chapters
- 2:17 Background to Hemingway’s Good Friday
- 5:55 A New Model for English Classes
- 10:44 The Great Contrast: A Romantic and A Realist
- 16:05 The Iceberg Theory
- 23:13 How to Read Modern Literature without Becoming a Cynic
- 26:35 The Danger of Cynicism
- 28:00 To Get the Feeling of Actual Life
- 30:05 From The Sun Also Rises
- 35:04 The Loneliness and Inadequacy of Promiscuity
- 37:38 From The Great Gatsby
- 41:14 A Dreamer without an Object
- 43:30 From My Lost City
- 44:30 Called Back to Love: Dante and Fitzgerald
- 45:40 From Troubled Lives to Decline and Death
- 50:15 The Tragedy Behind the Tragedy
Further Reading
Today is Friday by Ernest Hemingway
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
My Lost City by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Hemingway’s Brain by Andrew Farah
On Stories by C.S. Lewis
The Troubled Catholicism of Ernest Hemingway by Robert Inchausti
Also on The Forum
Hemingway’s Good Friday by Mike Ortiz
Modern Literature: On Curating the Contemporary with Mike Ortiz
Exploring and Expressing the Human Condition through Literature with Mike Ortiz
Growing up is, at least in part, a process of learning to ask, and learning to answer, certain fundamental questions. These include timeless queries such as “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” Our sons, in particular, might ask themselves, “What does it mean to be a man?” and “What is the point of my life right now, given that I’m not a man yet?”
Our boys’ attempts to answer these questions, along with the answers those efforts yield, will lead them to a certain self-awareness—an identity of sorts. Ultimately, we want our boys to know themselves as they are: beloved sons of a Creator God who loves them deeply as a Father. Their lives, then, become an adventure of deepening in that awareness and of living accordingly. The earlier our lads can start down this path, the better.
In this episode, our headmaster explores:
- How we all develop self-awareness
- How our boys, in particular, do this, especially by means of a “persona”
- How we, as parents, can foster a healthy persona in our sons.
As the great sage, Yogi Berra, reminds us: you've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going, because you might not get there. This advice is true enough, but we can add that if you don’t get going, you never will. So, let us not be paralyzed by perfection. As we help our sons sail out of port, we can trust that with the help of good friends, good teachers, and the Good God Himself, it won’t be too long before he finds himself—and, even better, gives that self away out of love for the other.
Chapters
- 2:50 Introduction
- 5:44 The Anxiety of Not Knowing Where to Go
- 9:22 Lecture Outline
- 10:15 How Your Discover Your Who Your Are
- 11:10 The Inward Way: Learning About Ourselves by Self-examination
-
16:35 The Outward Way: Learning About Ourselves by Interacting with Others
-
20:45 How a Young Man Navigates Identity Today
- 20:58 Comfort in Numbers
-
29:21 Developing a Persona
-
32:51 What Parents and Teachers Can Do to Help Boys Develop a Healthy Sense of Self
- 33:05 Identify and Guide the Persona
- 39:29 Show Boys Their Deeper Layers
-
47:52 The Power of Example
-
52:56 Conclusion: Why You Should Not Worry
Also on The Forum
Mr. Alvaro de Vicente on Moral Imagination: Part I
Mr. Alvaro de Vicente on Moral Imagination: Part II
The Issue of Identity: Who does your son think he is? By Mr. Rich Moss
As parents, we cannot help but yearn for our child's success. Obviously this is rooted in a beautiful and healthy love. But sometimes that love can give way to fear, and that fear leads to anxieties that are unhealthy, not only for us, but for our children as well. What can we do about this? How can we care deeply about our children, without worrying so much that our worrying actually begins to weigh on the little guys we’re worrying about?
This week, we bring to you a recent Heights Lecture given by Mr. Alex Berthé, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and former Heights teacher/mentor. Blending clinical expertise with his own personal experiences, Alex helps us unpack the forces—rooted in love, though often expressed in fear—that are feeding our anxieties. In particular, Alex offers reflections on four key areas:
- The importance of delighting in your children and really getting to know them, as they really are and not as you wish they were.
- Why it is essential to put the relationship with your spouse first and to find trusted partners in parenting.
- The need to leave behind perfectionism: good enough is enough to move our children toward the good.
- The necessity of deepening our faith in God and respecting the freedom of our children.
Anchored in hope and optimism, Alex shares how we, as parents subject to these powerful yet often subconscious forces, can reinforce our boys' confidence in their identity as children of God through rediscovery of our own.
As we hear, wisdom in parenting often consists in learning what things to ignore. If wisdom begins in wonder, as we hear from Socrates, then perhaps our worries will end when we learn to view our children—even at their lowest points—with the wonder with which our heavenly Father views us.
Highlights
- What causes parental anxiety?
- The stages of child development and how parents respond.
- Striking the balance between demanding too much and letting too much pass by.
- Why comparisons in parenting can be detrimental.
- How much energy are you putting into achieving a particular outcome for your son?
- The importance of reframing in parenting.
- Why Charity must be our number one priority: don’t cry over spilt milk.
- Wisdom in parenting is learning what to ignore.
- How our own fears and anxieties can manifest in our anxieties about our children.
- The importance of being vulnerable.
- We don’t always need a solution; sometimes accompaniment is enough.
- Love the child that you actually have.
- Faith and freedom: your child is not you and you are not God.
- How parents themselves develop, even as their children do.
- What is the root of parental frustration?
- Why you should let your child make decisions for himself, even if he may err at times.
- People over papers: setting priorities straight.
- More than they show: why we must be attuned to what is occurring beneath the surface.
- Name it to tame it.
Further Reading
Compass: A Handbook on Parent Leadership by James B. Stenson
Also on The Forum
Toughness for the Adolescent Boy by Mr. Kyle Blackmer
Learn to Turn: Tom Royals on Parental Prudence
In this week’s episode, we sit down with Mr. Michael Moynihan to discuss his new book, The Talk and Beyond. In the book, Michael shows parents how they can best communicate to their children God’s plan for human love. The book offers insights on how parents can comprehensively form their children to embrace the beauty of marriage. In this episode, we speak with Michael about:
- The significance of the title: why the beyond part is crucial.
- What “the talk” is and how parents can approach it.
- Why his book is especially relevant in today’s current culture.
- The broader context—both historical and philosophical—for his book’s insights.
- Some key messages that his book seeks to convey.
As we hear from Michael in the episode, it is not enough to present God’s plan for human love as a series of negative rules. What is needed, rather, is to form men and women who are prepared to embrace the positive adventure that love entails. We need to help our children be daring so that, when they are sent into the world, they will be prepared to live out that crusade of manliness which our world needs, and to undo the savage work of those who see man as merely a beast.
“To be happy,” wrote St. Josemaria, “what you need is not an easy life but a heart which is in love.” And, we might add, to have a heart in love is not the work of a single moment, but the task of a whole life. Indeed, this is the task of each day: to grow ever deeper in love.
Show Highlights
- The meaning of the title
- The talk: what it is and how to do it
- Why the beyond part is more important
- How to communicate the beauty of God’s plan for the love between a man and a woman
- Why both indirect and direct means of formation are necessary
- Why it is not enough to just have the talk and then move on
- Importance of the book in today’s culture.
- How this book relates to Michael’s other projects
- Why a child’s identity ought to be rooted in God
- On the broader context for navigating cultural trends
- What is the role of educators in these matters?
- How literature, movies, and other forms of entertainment shape our children’s notion of love
- The importance of telling the love story of mom and dad
- How do you prepare kids to enter a wounded world
- Why we need to set our sights very high
Further Reading
Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier
Decisive Parenting by Michael Moynihan
The Father and His Family by Michael Moynihan
On this week’s episode, we discuss technology with Mr. John Beatty, IT director at The Heights School. While in past episodes we have spoken about smartphones, social media, and other forms of digital technology, in this episode we turn our attention particularly to the use of the internet on desktop computers.
As always, our aim is not merely to put up walls and make rules, but rather to help our sons grow in freedom. Our sons are not machines to be programmed, but rather humans to be formed; and this means that their intellect and will must be engaged. In the end, we want to graduate men who are prepared to embrace all that is good in the modern world, and so it is important that they be capable of using technology well.
To this end, Mr. Beatty offers advice that is not only technical, but also human:
- What are some overarching themes parents should keep in mind as they begin to introduce their children to technology?
- Computer security is not perfect; a filter is insufficient.
- It is important to consider the human aspects of technology use.
- A relationship of trust is fundamental.
- All things in due time; it is important to consider the age of our children.
- What age would you begin to introduce your child to the internet?
- Need to see the internet as a tool, not a toy; introduce it according to need, not whim.
- Important to keep the computer in a public place
- Important to help them to use this machine, just as we do when teaching our children to drive.
- It can be helpful to have different accounts.
- How would you introduce more freedom when the child reaches middle school?
- Use parental controls as guard rails to help them, as they grow in virtue.
- Teach them to use their time well.
- Helpful to have the default setting be more locked down and then add things as needed.
- How do you approach the transition from middle to upper school?
- Remember that filters and walls will only prevent around 80% of negative content.
- Parents have the responsibility to be attentive to their children’s computer use.
- As they grow, you can increase their freedom, just as one does with driving a car.
- Is checking our child’s accounts a breach of trust?
- It is important to build relationships outside of negative rules.
- Think of the internet as analogous to eating.
- How should parents who are not technologically savvy approach these questions?
- Helpful to use physical metaphors.
- Google is your friend.
- Ask other parents for help!
Also on The Forum
Virtuous Use of Technology with Mr. Joe Cardenas
Digital Minimalism with Cal Newport
Computers and Technology in Education at The Heights by Michael Moynihan
When is Your Son Ready for a Smartphone with Mr. de Vicente
When is He Ready for a Smartphone with Mr. Alex Berthe
We have often heard it said that parents are the primary educators of their children. Among others, we find the seeds of this idea in Cicero, for whom nature herself has instilled a “strangely tender love” for one’s children. It is likewise hinted at in Aquinas, who referred to the parental care of young children as a sort of “spiritual womb”. More to the point, just over half a century ago The Church herself, in Gravissimum educationis, has reminded us of this fundamental fact: “since parents have given children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognized as the primary and principal educators.” For this reason we view education as a partnership and as a co-conspiracy for the good of the boy.
In other episodes we have discussed the role of parents as educators of their children. Similarly, we have considered the school’s side of the great conspiracy for the good of the boy. We are aware of our duties, of how we sometimes fall short as teachers, and of our obligation to rise and fight to the end for the good for the good of our students.
In this week’s episode, we shift our focus to the role of parents and their duties towards school and community in the educational partnership. Alvaro responds to the following questions:
- What is some general advice for parents when they enter into partnership with a school?
- Enter the partnership wisely; know what the school is about.
- Enter the partnership fully, without eroding any piece of what the school has to offer both curricularly and extracurricularly.
- Stay on task when your child encounters a difficulty; the goal is education, not pain-free comfort.
- What is the general relationship between parents and their child viz. the school?
- The formation of the whole person
- Avoid advocating and over-protecting
- Conspire with the school for the good of the child
- Match the culture of school and the culture of the home.
- What is the task of parents as co-partners with the parents of their children’s friends?
- It is important to know the parents of your children’s friends
- Take an interest in your son’s friends not merely as a group, but as individuals.
- Work together with your son’s friends’ parents
- What is the role of parents viz. their child’s teachers?
- Be a matchmaker: strengthen your son’s relationship with his teachers, just as his teachers should support a child’s relationship with his parents
- Clarify with a teacher if there any question about what is happening at school
- Be honest with teachers, providing information that you think would facilitate his work in the formation of your child
Show Highlights
- Parents and teachers: the conspiracy for the good
- What a school can hope for from the parents in this benevolent conspiracy
- What is the general role of parents?
- What does that actually mean for parents to be primary educators?
- Parents’ task with regard to their relationship with son
- Parents as co-partners with other parents
- The role of parents as partners of their son’s teachers
Also on The Forum
Family Culture with Mr. Alvaro de Vicente
On Home as Social Hub with Mr. Tom Royals
Ways to Foster a Family Culture by Mr. Alvaro de Vicente
Creating a Culture of Learning in the Home by Mr. Alvaro de Vicente
Parents as Primary Educators by Mr. Michael Moynihan
“The Talk”: On the Role of Schools and Fathers with Mr. Michael Moynihan
It is not on bread alone that man lives, but also on every word that he receives. And just as one's diet shapes his bodily growth, so too does one’s verbal digest contribute to his interior development. Of course, not every sort of bodily growth is good; and, likewise, not every slogan that one receives is in itself spiritually salutary.
In this week's episode, Mr. Kyle Blackmer considers the ways in which phrases, lyrics, mantras, slogans—in a word, the words we hear repeatedly—shape the imagination, at times for good and, at other times, for ill.
In the context of education and parenting, it is particularly important that we attend to the ways in which these oft-repeated lines may subtly influence our children. Even more, it is crucial that we help our children think actively for themselves about what they consume; for without the engagement of one's own mind, a child remains deprived of that precious fruit, from which a liberal arts education derives its name: freedom.
Surrounding our children with words both wise and witty, not only will their minds be directed to what is true, their hearts will not be far from what is good.
Show Highlights:
- How phrases, mantras, slogans, commercials, advertising, lyrics influence our thoughts.
- From thoughts to words, words to action, and action to character
- Why we should be thoughtful about what we and our children consume
- From where do these phrases come?
- Is it all bad? The reason for hope
- How to help your child be an prudent listener
- The power of repetition
- What is the impact of these messages on boys?
- Maria Montessori and the absorbent mind
- How the young mind is particularly impressionable and why this matters
- Striking a balance between lecturing and letting it all in
- Beyond negation alone: the importance of drowning evil in an abundance of good
- How to turn slogans to the good
- We are always learning; the question is what are we learning?
- Why you should make a family motto
Also on The Forum
- Creating a Culture of Learning in the Home by Alvaro de Vicente
- Ways to Foster a Family Culture by Alvaro de Vicente
- "Learn to Turn" with Tom Royals
- Forming Your Young Son's Conscience with Colin Gleason
- Shaping Your Son's Moral Imagination with Alvaro de Vicente
This week on HeightsCast, we bring to you a lecture from the 2022 Teaching Vocation Conference. In this lecture, Head of Lower School, Mr. Colin Gleason, offers advice on how to prepare for the teaching profession. Although the ultimate preparation for teaching is teaching itself, he nevertheless offers us six verbs—actions—that great teachers do well and that aspiring teachers would do well to work on.
- A great teacher speaks
- Teachers communicate their ideas primarily through words. In order to do this well, the ability to speak publicly is a sine qua non. and to draw out from students ideas of their own
- Teaching is more than the delivery of information. A teacher must first win over his students. Speaking well—holding a student’s attention like a preacher does his congregation or a singer her audience—is necessary to this end.
- Concrete suggestion: tell stories. Even in the maths and sciences, good teaching is animated by good storytelling. Practice with friends and family.
- A great teacher listens
- Teaching does not consist in simply signaling what is on a page. It is a two way street. A teacher is like an orchestral conductor, who moves between score and sound, adjusting as needed.
- A common bad habit of teachers is over-taching, that is: talking too much. In order to gauge students’ reception, a teacher must be attentive to them in real time.
- Teaching is personal, so the teacher should seek to listen not only to the group as a whole, but also to each student as an individual.
- Teaching is, at root, assisting parents. A great teacher listen also to parents, who are the primary educators.
- Concrete suggestion: find a good mentor. In order to listen well, we need personal guidance and someone, who listens to us.
- A great teacher sees
- Seeing is paramount to the personal approach.
- A crippling bad habit: prejudice, that is to judge too soon, before one sees the actual reality of the student before him. Judging quickly blinds a teacher.
- One of the beauties of the teaching profession is seeing the growth of a student.
- Concrete suggestion: we need to be artists, which, in the first place, means seeing. Teachers mold souls and to do this, they must have the intention of seeing as an artist. In our daily lives, now, in our families and at work, are we attentive to the people around us?
- A great teacher laughs
- A teacher ought to enjoy being with his students, to be caught up in the sense of awe and wonder at the student he serves.
- Teachers need to have a sense of humor. Taking oneself too seriously could be a death nail as a teacher.
- Although we are grown up, we need not have grown old.
- Concrete suggestion: remember the art of play. A teacher should remember that he is still part boy; his job is a joyful one.
- A great teacher studies
- A teacher must be continually learning.
- Study fuels the teacher, keeping his mind fresh.
- A teacher models study for his students; they see his actions and draw lessons therefrom.
- Concrete suggestion: read and study, even apart from any degree programs. What a teacher needs is two-fold: to know his subject well and to love his students even more.
- A great teacher explores
- Education is an adventure, which means that a teacher should be in the trenches alongside his students.
- Teaching comes from the person; it is an overflow of his own sense of adventure.
- Adventure does not mean haphazard. It takes work to be creative. Spontaneity in the moment is often the fruit of diligent planning before.
- Concrete suggestion: exercise prudence in choosing what school you work at. Three aspects to consider in a school:
- Cohesive spirit and identity; imagine yourself living that spirit.
- Content of the curriculum (especially books taught).
- Freedom
There are many mediocre teachers in the world, so if you are going to be a teacher, become a great one. This, of course, does not mean perfection, but rather continual improvement. To be a great teacher is not to have made it, but to be continually on the way. In Mr. Gleason’s words, a teacher is like the guide on a white water rafting expedition. Indeed, we are all in the same boat and, not only are we learning, we are laughing.
Also on The Forum
Guidance for Aspiring Teachers with Alvaro de Vicente
Seneca on the Teacher’s Job by Tom Cox
The Teacher as Liberal Artist with Dr. Matthew Mehan and Mr. Tom Longano
Cultivating Friendship in the Classroom by Austin Hatch
Aristotle on the Student’s Job by Tom Cox
Further Reading
The Art of Teaching by Gilbert Highet
Only the Lover Sings by Josef Pieper
Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf by Ben Hogan
A teacher is one who leads while walking backward. Even more, he is one who leads with the humble hope that he will one day be surpassed by those who are following him; for while a teacher may have traveled down the proverbial path a time or two before, he must nevertheless rediscover it with each new student.
In this week’s episode we sit down with Mr. Joe Bissex to discuss the importance of humility in the classroom. In the episode, we consider the following questions:
- What is humility? What is it not?
- What are some markers of humility?
- What is the role of a teacher in the classroom?
- What does it mean for a teacher to point the way?
- As a teacher, how do you admit failure? Why is it important to do so?
- What is the connection between generosity and humility in the classroom?
As you’ll hear, if a teacher remains humble and sincerely elicits his students’ contributions, it does not infrequently happen that what he had missed on his first ten treks, he may—with the fresh insight of a new student—discover on the eleventh. And in this discovery, both teacher and student will have the joy of knowing that both are disciples of the one Teacher, who is the Truth itself, and whose way makes all things new.
Show Highlights
- What is the role of the teacher in the classroom?
- How does a teacher lead?
- Why a teacher should hope his student will one day surpass him
- Humility as rejoicing in the ways one’s students will–or already have–surpassed you
- Why it is important for a teacher to humbly recognize his failures
- How sincere questions can lead to the greatest of discoveries
- The need to petition for student’s help
- Why a teacher should be open to the changing his mind
- Teaching and the unexpected
- Teaching is modeling a way of thinking, not the mere conveyance of facts
- Why a teacher does not need to have all the answers ahead of time
- Humility in testing: how to assess students in a way that goes beyond fact checking alone
- Joy as the fruit of humility
- The importance of having the generosity to pray for one’s students, and the humility to ask one’s student’s for prayers.
Also on The Forum
Guidance for Aspiring Teachers with Alvaro de Vicente
Seneca on the Teacher’s Job by Tom Cox
The Teacher as Liberal Artist with Dr. Matthew Mehan and Mr. Tom Longano
Cultivating Friendship in the Classroom by Austin Hatch
Aristotle on the Student’s Job by Tom Cox
While we often speak of the virtues we wish to see in our children, it is perhaps less common that we reflect on the particular virtues that we need to foster in ourselves. In this episode Mr. Tom Royals, 40+ year teaching veteran and Assistant Headmaster of The Heights, discusses the importance of parental prudence and its progeny: meekness, patience, and humility.
In this week’s episode, we sit down with long-time Heights father and Assistant Headmaster, Mr. Tom Royals, to speak about the virtues of parenting. From his wealth experience, Mr. Royals shares with us practical advice on the habits to make the home bright and cheerful schools of virtue. Beyond mere theorizing about virtue, Tom’s anecdotal approach in this episode gives us concrete insights into how each moment in the home, whether a setback or a success, can be an occasion for growing in virtue.
Parenting may at times be a messy affair, but as we hear from Mr. Royals it is also a joyful one. In his own words, it is a dance. If we want to help our children mature into men and women of character, then we ourselves need to learn to be childlike, which means always beginning again no matter how old we may—always finding new ways to grow in those virtues which make us not only into mature adults, but also keep us young at heart.
Show Highlights
- The virtues that parents of older need to live
- Often talk about virtues needed in keds, but can forget about virtues that we need to foster in ourselves
- The family is the first school: parents cannot abdicate their call to be educators
- It is a journey and a messy affair; no thornless roses here.
- How we can learn to turn all circumstances into occasions for loving God
- Parents cannot hide: kids seeing everything
- The adventure of the evening and the importance of leaving one’s anxieties at the door
- Handling the little things of the day
- Kids model our manner and our conduct
- Need to keep resetting the button with children
- The importance of being present and accompanying our children
- The art of fatherhood in three movements: be there, show love and interest to your wife and each child, you’re gonna make mistakes: laugh at them.
- Prudence requires you to know your children in their particularity
- Parenting is often preparing for the future; we are parenting future forty year olds
- Prayer and self-knowledge are indispensable
- How do you get children out of themselves?
- The romance of daily life in the home
- Need to be attentive to the time and place of corrections
- Propose, don’t impose.
Also on The Forum
- Parents as Primary Educators
- Decisive Parenting
- Parenting: Patience or Optimism?
- Respectful Dominion: Colin Gleason on Discipline
- Family Culture with Mr. Alvaro de Vicente
Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente helps us examine our own perception, a parents and teachers, of our boys. If we view them as budding protectors, we'll treat them one way; if we see them as future "compliers," it will be another. But what happens when we want to see them as protectors but treat them as compliers subconsciously? Alvaro helps parents and teachers form a vision of boys befitting their nature, and offers a road map to make that vision a reality in the lives and identities of the boys now in the process of becoming the men we need.
In the first talk of the 2022 Teaching Vocation Conference, Rich Moss describes some of the joys and travails of teaching, as he seeks to answer the question, "why teach?" In short, because we are called to it, because we love reality, because we love teaching, and because we love our students.
This week, we sit down with Dr. Lionel Yaceczko to discuss his new book on the fourth century Roman grammarian, Ausonius of Bordeaux. In looking at his life, we dive deeper into various aspects of classical education. As Ausonius lived through an important period of religious, political, and cultural change, considering his life also affords us the opportunity to think about how the advent of Christianity affected (and continues to affect) classical education.
With Christmas fast approaching, perhaps this discussion may serve to remind us that teaching is pointing and that its ultimate purpose is to point us to the Teacher.
Show Highlights
- Who is Ausonius and why should educators study him?
- The life and times of a Roman teacher, beaurocrat, and Christian convert
- What Ausonius’s life can teach about classical education
- What is a Quaestor?
- What is a grammaticus? A rhetor?
- Education in Late Antiquity
- The most egalitarian form of elitism? How the liberal arts can liberate
- The importance of memorization in education
- How the advent of Christianity changed classical education
- A new canon for education: introducing Sacred Scripture to the liberal arts
- May I be so bold? Rhetoric and persuasion in Late Antiquity
- What is a litterator? On the stages of education before the grammaticus: Abecedarium, elementa, and the road to the masterpieces
- On the importance of study for teachers, and teaching for researchers
- Augustine and the vir perfectus as vir sapiens in the service of the Word
- From philologoi to theologoi: how Revelation changes everything
Suggested Reading
Ausonius Grammaticus: The Christening of Philology in the Late Roman West by Lionel Yaceczko
Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire by Peter Brown
The World of Late Antiquity by Peter Brown
The Regensburg Address by Pope Benedict XVI
Also on the Forum
Defining the Liberal Arts
What’s in a Name? Shedding Light on the Dark Ages
History the Way it Was… and the Way It Should Be
Continuing with the theme of mentoring, this week Mr. David Maxham discusses how we, as parents and teachers, can better mentor struggling students by taking a step back and focusing on the basics. He offers three practical guideposts for these wonderful guys to strive for as they take steps toward becoming the man they were made to be. We remain, as always, optimistic.
After establishing a relationship of trust with your mentees, Mr. Maxham recommends helping our boys structure their days around the following three key moments:
- Waking up in the morning
- Midday break
- Going to sleep at night
Anchoring resolutions to these three moments, Mr. Maxham explains, helps the boys to achieve their goals. As half the battle in achieving a goal lies in being mindful of it, attaching them to parts of the day that occur without fail can be a strategy for success.
A good place to start when building the foundation could be: a morning offering after waking up, a brief moment of recollection at midday, and an examination of conscience before going to bed at night. As the boys develop more goals, having this framework in place will be a helpful support.
Moreover, as parents, we can help our sons develop these habits by practicing them both ourselves and together as a family. A quick morning offering at breakfast or a brief moment of family prayer in the evening are excellent ideas. And asking our children to pray for us is a great way to not only help them pray, but also to help each of us, who, as we all know, need all the grace we can get. Although there are many things that a six year old boy may not be able to help his parents with, he can pray for them; and that is worth the whole world.
Show Highlights * Where to begin with a mentee who is struggling * The dangers of overwhelming mentees with too much * How to help your mentee develop goals * The importance of framing questions with the right language * How you son can put a structure in place to get to the root of problems * Why parents and educators need to have long-term vision * Habits are not things that you just turn on and off * Keep it simple: the three key moments in the day and how to anchor resolutions to them * How many goals should a mentee work on at once? * How parents can coach their sons in the foundations * Ask your children to pray for you
Also on The Forum * How to Help Your Son When He Struggles Academically: Part I * How to Help Your Son When He Struggles Academically: Part II * Baby Steps: Heights Mentors Goals for Mentees in the New Year * Why do Boys Need Mentors? * Finding Mentors After Graduation: Pat Kilner on Find Your Six
What's your approach to discipline? This week we feature a lecture delivered at The Heights by Mr. Colin Gleason, Lower School Head offering his thoughts on this question. He can't answer for us as parents, but he can share his own philosophy as a teacher and school head. Regardless of whether you are thinking classroom or kitchen, Mr. Gleason encourages us to foster a culture of respectful dominion. And this respect relates to our son's disposition towards us. But it also has import for our respect toward them--towards their dignity and their nature, both as humans and as human boys. Please include links to books:
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
In this week’s episode, we sit down with Pat Kilner, a graduate of The Heights, former Heights teacher, Heights dad, and now Chairman of the Board of Directors to discuss his new book, Find Your Six: Stop Lead Generating and Start Building Influence. Whether you are in college or high school, a young professional or a seasoned veteran, this week’s conversation centers on something that is crucial for everyone: mentorship.
This mentorship is something that we sometimes take for granted as Heights students, but what happens after The Heights, when your mentor is no longer hunting you down after 3rd period for a check in? How do you find good counsel then, on foreign turf and starting from ground zero?
Drawing on both his personal experience and formal research for the book, Pat encourages us to find and foster relationships with influencers. As the conversation continues, Pat explains that influencers are really nothing other than great mentors and that perhaps more than anything else, it is finding good mentors that will help one be successful both in his professional career and in his personal life. To this end, he offers advice to college students and young professionals about how to find possible mentors, secure meetings, and approach that first conversation with sincere curiosity and a desire to learn from the wisdom that the other has to offer.
In the end, Pat shares that these relationships should grow into life-long friendships of mutual benefit. The aim is not to pull mere facts and data points, as one does from google, but to develop an authentic relationship with someone who is a living source of wisdom and to whom one can turn throughout the course of his life. Moreover, once we have benefitted from this wisdom, it’s our turn to pass it on. Way leads on to way and the tradition continues.
Show Highlights
- The importance of mentoring both at the Heights and beyond
- Is it necessary to be excited about what you are doing on a daily basis?
- Why treating people as commodities is not only bad ethics, but also bad business
- How to find mentors and influencers
- Three characteristics to look for in a mentor: longevity, implicit trust, ownership mentality
- What is needed in a mentor is wisdom, not mere data points
- Reframing the college years: what would look like if by the end of college, you had acquired 4-6 deep mentorship relationships?
- What are good ways for college students to find mentors?
- How mentors can help you find mentors in new places.
- Why students should ask their professors out to lunch or coffee
- What is means to form your own “personal board of directors”
- How to find mentors, even if you are unsure of your professional path
- Why parents ought to let their children take ownership of their school work early on
- How to approach the art of the meeting
- What can parents get from the book?
- How do influencers and mentors relate to vocation?
Recommended Reading
Find Your Six: Stop Lead Generating and Start Building Influence
Also on The Forum
Mentor’s Compass
Why Boys Need Mentors
The Odyssey, Mentors, and Humanitas
How to Guide Conversations with a Mentee
In this episode of HeightsCast, we feature the speech delivered by Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, to attendants of The Heights School's 2021 Fall Open House.
This week on HeightsCast, we feature a recording of the first Heights Lecture event of the new school year, featuring Alvaro de Vicente:
What is optimism? Is it naive to be optimistic? How is optimism related to hope? How, in the end, do we raise sons who can look life's challenges squarely in the face with the the hint of a smile on their lips, knowing that all is in good hands? Join our Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, for an evening lecture on how to raise optimistic, hopeful young men.
Our time, like most all others, has its challenges. Spend an evening with fellow parents interested in keeping their sons' visage fixed firmly on the fullness of reality, and the opportunities of the present moment.
Bad news is all around us. It always has been. It always will be. As if personal and family challenges weren’t enough, we have an attention economy that seems dead set on giving a generation of young people chronic anxiety about seemingly cataclysmic events. How can we prepare our children to handle bad news? Quite simply, by handling it well ourselves, remaining saintly and cool under fire. How do we do that? Listen in to learn more.
Additional Resources:
- Mr. Mehan’s Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals
- Dr. Mehan’s piece in the Washington Examiner
In this week’s episode, headmaster Alvaro de Vicente helps us develop a philosophy of technology. Building off previous conversations on The Forum with Cal Newport, Mr. de Vicente takes a deep dive into the topic of smartphones. In particular, he helps us answer the following questions: 1. How can parents discern if a smartphone would be beneficial for their son? 2. When is the right time to entrust him with this powerful tool? Under what circumstances? 3. Will waiting to give your son a smartphone render him ill-prepared for college and beyond? 4. More provocatively, is it correct to assume that holding off on the smartphone is merely delaying the inevitable?
As Mr. de Vicente explains, parents’ discussions of these questions ought principally to consider their son’s level of self-mastery. Like any tool, if a smartphone is to be of help rather than harm, the user must be prepared to use it and not be used by it.
On a practical level, the two basic questions to be asked are:
- What are my son’s current needs?
- Can my son master this piece of technology?
To answer the first question, Mr. de Vicente suggests that parents consider:
- The purposes of technology: communication, information, organization, and entertainment.
- The possible (objective) needs of the boy: calling, texting, GPS.
- What tool--whether a smartphone, flip-phone, or some other device--will satisfy the specific needs without being detrimental to the boy’s ultimate good.
In order to answer the third point, it is helpful to look at whether a boy has demonstrated self-mastery in the following areas:
- Property: clothes, school materials, sports equipment.
- Spaces: room, bed, closet, desk.
- Time: morning and evening routines, weekends and holidays.
- Urges: speaking, food, desire to have a phone.
While no-one is perfect, if a child has not displayed a certain level of self-mastery in these areas of his life, it will be hard for him to use a smartphone well. Indeed, it is far easier for a boy to put a shirt on a hanger or make use of a calendar than it is for him to resist the algorithms of technologies whose aim it is for him to be unable to. If he does not do the former, one ought not assume he will do the latter.
In the end, using smartphones well is not a matter of learning how to navigate technology per se, which is a skill that is not learned with much difficulty. It is, rather, a matter of developing self-mastery, which is a virtue that requires both time and perhaps more than little toil.
Show Highlights
- How to develop a personal philosophy of technology
- In general, what is a good approach to smartphones?
- Questions parents should ask themselves when deciding whether their child needs (and is ready for) a smartphone
- What are the purposes of a phone?
- Are all needs equal?
- How do you know if your child is capable of mastering a smartphone?
- What parents can do to limit bad uses of technology
- Does a high schooler need a smartphone in order to be prepared for college?
- Is there a right age to give your child a smartphone?
- Challenge the assumption that the smartphone is inevitable for everyone
- Some alternative phones to the traditional smartphone
- What to do if a parent has mistakenly given their child a smartphone
Also from The Forum
Digital Minimalism: Creating a Philosophy of Personal Technology Use
Digital Minimalism: Creating a Philosophy of Personal Technology Use, Part II
Like a tree, whose roots are firmly planted in the ground and whose branches reach toward the sky above, education at The Heights is at once traditional and forward looking. While drawing liberally from the western canon and “the best that has been thought and said,” to borrow Matthew Arnold’s phrase, a Heights education is nevertheless at home in the modern world. Neither the buried archives of special collections, nor the high-rising offices of enterprising tech start-ups are uncharted waters for Heights alumni. Because of the double-nature of our approach to education, the question of how The Heights fits into the classical school movement produces an interesting and important conversation. To help us think through the ways in which The Heights is in dialogue with both the classical and contemporary worlds, we welcome Head of Upper School, Michael Moynihan, back to HeightsCast. With over twenty-five years of experience as a teacher, Michael offers us a nuanced discussion of: 1. How a traditional approach to education can embrace the advances of modernity without losing its roots. 2. The ways in which modernity, properly contextualized, can help correct certain biases latent in classical thought. 3. The role of professional preparation in a liberal arts education.
Whether or not one’s work is clearly connected to the classical ideal of contemplation, the goal of education converges in the heart of a man who knows he is a son of God; and who, like the Son of God, sanctifies his ordinary work.
Show Highlights
- Is the Heights a classical school?
- How does the Heights fit into the classical school movement?
- The role of professor John Dewey in progressive educational trends.
- How Dorothy Sayers’ speech on “The Lost Tools of Learning” sparked a revival in traditional education.
- Ought from an is? How our anthropology informs our education
- The baby in the bathwater: some positives of mainstream education today viz. the acquisition of professional skills.
- How modern thought corrects some shortcomings of the classical tradition.
- The vision of St. Josemaria and what this means for education at The Heights.
- How education can help students to passionately love the world.
- Sanctification of ordinary work and divine filiation.
- Work as a sharing in the home of Nazareth.
- Is professional work a distraction from contemplation?
- The teaching vocation
Suggested Reading
The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy Sayers
Passionately Loving the World by St. Josemaria Escriva
In certain school systems, it is perhaps more common to find students dissecting samples and diagraming abstractions. The boys in the Lower School at The Heights, however, begin their scientific formation not in a lab, among dead specimens, but in nature, among living creatures. Their text book is not full of paper, but of paper’s source, trees; for their primary text is the book of nature itself.
In this week's episode, Eric Heil takes us outdoors--so to speak--for a discussion of natural history. With over fourteen years of experience teaching at The Heights, in addition to having spent time as a researcher both for at the Bronx Zoo and the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park, Eric offers us thoughts both practical and lofty.
First, Eric explains what natural history is and how it differs from other ways of approaching science at the elementary level. Then, he considers what a typical natural history lesson might look like. Next, Eric expounds the elements of nature journaling, a typical exercise for a natural history class. In particular, he explains John Muir Laws’ three step framework for nature journaling:
- Explain what you see.
- Expound on what the observed reality makes you think of.
- Wonder about what you do not yet know.
Lastly, the discussion takes a turn for the transcendental, as Eric considers some of the existential fruits of natural history.
Beyond books and diagrams, and indeed even the boy’s own words and sketches, the study of natural history draws students into that mystery which moves those animals they have found. Perhaps this is the reason why natural history has been deemed the most important subject taught in the Valley: the silence that it instills is the beginning of a prayer; indeed, the greatest prayer, which is gratitude.
Show Highlights
- What is natural history and why does it matter?
- Campus as the textbook itself
- How is a natural history class different from other ways of teaching science at the elementary level?
- Jean-Henri Fabre and the importance of direct observation
- The parts of a typical natural history lesson
- What is a nature journal and how do you make one?
- The benefits of studying natural history
- How natural history integrates into an education for realism.
- Existential goods of natural history
- Why is natural history the most important subject taught in the Lower School?
Suggested Reading
Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock
A Natural History of North American Trees by Donald Culross Peattie
Nature’s Events: A Notebook of the Unfolding Seasons by John Serrao
Observing Insect Lives by Donald Stokes (and several other Stokes Nature Guides)
Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth
Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification by Thomas J. Elpel
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling by John Muir Laws (and www.johnmuirlaws.com)
The Naturalist’s Notebook by Nathaniel T. Wheelwright & Bernd Heinrich
natureoutside.com nature journal website by Steven Stolper
The Forest by Roger Caras
The Tree Identification Book by George W. D. Symonds
Sketching Outdoors in Autumn by Jim Arnosky
Find the Constellations by H. A. Rey (of Winnie-the-Pooh fame)
Insects (A Golden Guide from St. Martin’s Press) Revised
Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America, 6th Edition (Peterson Field Guides)
Also on The Forum
Webinar: How to Keep a Nature Journal
On Nature Journals and Observant Souls
“Can I catch it?”: On Handling Wildlife
Reading Recommendations for Keeping a Nature Journal
Why We Need Exposure to Nature
Nature Deficit Disorder: The Importance of Green Time
Ray Bradbury once remarked that, to destroy a culture, burning books is not necessary; all that is needed is to convince people to stop reading them. And, of course, the easiest way to sway people from reading is to keep them illiterate. Indeed, this is also the best way to rob them of their liberty. Frederick Doublas once remarked that “once you learn to read you will forever be free.”
Now, it may be true that more people are literate today than ever before. Some statistics indicate that around eighty-six percent of adults in the world can read and write at a basic level. Compare this statistic to data from the early nineteenth century, when only twelve percent of people in the world could read, and there is indeed much to celebrate.
But, what about other forms of literacy? Are people more culturally literate now? Can they read deeply, for understanding and not merely for a surface-level comprehension? What does it even mean to be literate? As educators--and particularly educators drawing from and adding to the liberal arts tradition--it is paramount that we consider such questions.
Here to talk about reading and its many forms is Dr. Lionel Yaceczko, lover of languages and teacher of Classics at The Heights School. In this episode, Dr. Yaceczko sits down for a discussion of Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book. Using Adler’s book as a springboard, we first run through the three kinds of reading, specified by the end to which they aim:
- Reading for information
- Reading for entertainment
- Reading for understanding
Second, Dr. Yaceczko helps us tackle what he calls the perennial problems that can make reading difficult, namely vocabulary and syntax, as well as some of the stumbling blocks that are particular to contemporary readers. Third, we consider Adler’s four levels of reading:
- Elementary
- Inspectional
- Analytical
- Syntopical
In particular, Dr. Yaceczko delves into the third level of reading--analytical--the preparation for which Adler argues ought to be the goal of a liberal arts education at the secondary school level.
To be sure, the development of the capacity for analytical reading is no small task, but it is well worth the effort; for the difficulty of the endeavor comes from the loftiness of the goal. Despite the ardor of the task, rest assured: with patience our sons--and ourselves--may little-by-little grow into better readers. After all, the attainment of any goal, no matter how lofty, begins with small steps; it is from the valley that one ascends to the heights.
Show Highlights
- What is the most controversial thing we teach at The Heights?
- How Classics are the most egalitarian form of elitism
- What is literacy?
- The three kinds of reading and what this means for literacy
- Why is reading great books so difficult?
- Two perennial problems for readers
- Adler’s four levels of reading
- Syntopical and Collocative reading
- What Analytical reading is and why liberal arts high schools should foster it
- How reading and writing inform each other
- What makes a work of literature beautiful?
- Can true beauty be popularized?
- The three steps to reading deeply
- What parents can do to help their sons overcome the challenges of analytical reading
- Love: the strongest motivator
Suggested Reading
How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
Aristotle for Everybody by Mortimer J. Adler
Also on the Forum
Forming Deep Workers with Cal Newport
Eulexia: The Goal of Deep Reading by Lional Yaceczko
Summer Reading with a Purpose with Tom Longano
How to Master the Art of Reading Outside by Tom Longano
Dr. Mehan on Children’s Literature and Human Flourishing: Introducing the Handsome Little Cygnet
Mentioned in the Episode
A Crack in Creation by Jennifer Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg
Timaeus by Plato
Great Expectations by Jane Austin
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
Dr. Matt Mehan introduces us to The Handsome Little Cygnet, a delightful book about a Cygnet growing up in the heart of the big apple. Our fluffy hero introduces his human counterparts to concepts of nature, mercy, and regaining the way after it's been lost. Parents, too, can see here an example of patience and optimism while guiding our cygnets towards flourishing, naturally.
The Handsome Little Cygnet (https://www.amazon.com/Handsome-Little-Cygnet-Matthew-Mehan/dp/1505120608/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=handsome+little+cygnet&qid=1627673893&sr=8-1)
What Winston Churchill once said of buildings, we too can say of family culture. Namely, that we first shape it, and thereafter it shapes us. Indeed, this is especially true for our children, who are particularly impressionable. Whether it is the artwork in a classroom, a coach’s demeanor on the sports field, or that stack of books in the living room, our children notice and are formed by everything that surrounds them.
Although summer break is now in full swing, parenting has no vacations. Rather, in many ways parenting intensifies during the breaks, for it is during these times that our homes are perhaps most full. As such, now is a fitting moment to consider the culture we are creating in our homes.
To this end, this week we revisit an episode from our archives. Based on a letter he sent to parents, in this episode, Mr. Alvaro de Vicente offers us seven ideas on how to foster a healthy and happy culture in the home:
- Have a Library at home.
- Establish and protect order in common areas of your home.
- Aim to have dinner together everyday.
- Engineer one common conversation during dinner.
- Dedicate a nightly time to family prayer.
- Spend time with the elderly and lonely.
- Give to charity.
As a school is like a boy’s second home, the home is his first school. And it is in this school that we, as parents, can help him cultivate those virtues, which he will carry with him throughout his entire life--and, God willing, into the next.
Show Highlights
- Why family culture is an important part of your children’s formation
- More than mere words: what you do is often more important than what you say
- Is an orderly home an unrealistic goal?
- How to improve family dinner time
- Thoughts on how to build a family library on a budget
- Why a brief time of family prayer can be better than a long time
- How can we reform a family culture gone astray?
- It’s not about perfection, but its pursuit
Also on the Forum
Creating a Culture of Learning in the Home
20 Ways to Improve the Family Dinner
If the recent pandemic has taught us anything, it is that the unexpected is to be expected. While certainly not always easy, we have also perhaps learned that the unexpected can be an invitation for adventure, if only we have the eyes to see it as such. Indeed, for many students around the country, the unexpected pandemic was a spur to the adventure of a gap year--or two.
Now, as many of our students will begin--or perhaps return--to college in the coming months, it is fitting that we revisit an old podcast, originally published in 2018, on life after high school.
In this episode, we sit down with Arthur Brooks, formerly the president of the American Enterprise Institute and currently a professor both at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, for a conversation about college and whether it is the right next step for every prep school graduate. In the episode, Dr. Brooks:
- Challenges the assumption that every prep school grad should attend college right away at any cost.
- Offers fantastic insights about the entire college experience–from college choice, to choice of majors, to engagement with students and faculty who think differently.
- Provides helpful guidance to families, as they prudentially discern what is best for each of their children.
Now is a perfect time for us--parents, teachers, and students alike--to think more deeply about what college is for; and, indeed, what life is for. In this way, if college is in our son’s path, he may thus make the most of his education. And regardless of if college is in his path, he will thus know that this life is best spent refreshing the souls of others and glorifying God in his daily work.
Show Highlights
- Arthur’s story and what we can learn from his non-conventional path
- What is really needed to succeed: hard work and personal responsibility
- Should everyone study the liberal arts?
- Is the value of college purely economic?
- Why all colleges are not equal
- Busting the myth that college is for everyone
- What are prep schools preparing students for?
- The dangers of identity politics in education
- Seven rules for highly effective college students
- Why you should go where you are not welcomed
- How to be on missions, whether on a college campus or in the working world
- Dissolving the stigma around not going to college
Suggested Reading
The Conservative Heart
Gross National Happiness
Resources
The Art of Happiness
In his famous intellectual and spiritual autobiography, Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton remarks that the main problem for philosophers is how they can “contrive to be at once astonished at the world and yet at home in it.” The attainment of this double need--for surprise and for security--is, he maintains, at the heart of human happiness.
Modernity poses similar questions to educators who, though at home in classical and medieval thought, nevertheless desire to prepare their students to live in the middle of the world. Namely:
- How can we root our students in those timeless truths, so prized by the ancients and furthered by the medievals, while preparing them to embrace the modern world?
- How can we form our students to be both contemplative and active, to be comfortable in the country and in the city, so to speak?
- In Biblical terms: how can we remain in this modern world of ours, and yet not be of it?
To help us begin to answer these questions, we welcome to HeightsCast Dr. Daniel Bernardus, a theoretical biologist by training, teacher and tutor at Amsterdam University College by profession, and a philosopher and author by passion. In this episode, Dr. Bernardus introduces us to the ideas of Leonardo Polo, a Spanish philosopher from the University of Navarre, whose work just might offer us a way forward.
Can we integrate the modern, the classical, and the Christian? Can we love the modern world and God first? Listen in and see for yourself.
Show Highlights
- Who is Leonardo Polo?
- How Polo’s philosophy can help educators
- Can modern philosophy be integrated with classical and Christian thought?
- What Freedom in Quarantine can teach you
- The roots of modernism and what they can teach us about the way forward
- The limits of classical thought
- How medieval monasteries were places of innovation
- Can anything good come from modernity?
- How modern science can harmonize with classical philosophy
- Consequences of modernism in education
- What is success? Can we measure it?
- How technological innovation can be pursued for love of God
- Why the family is essential to education
- What Leonardo Polo can teach those who are not educators
Suggested Reading
Freedom in Quarantine
Resources
Leonardo Polo Institute of Philosophy
Missed Part I? Click here.
Continuing last week’s conversation, in this episode Dr. Newport delves into two things that have become ubiquitous in our lives: texting and email. Whether it is logistical texts with our kids or emails for work, these two technologies can occupy a large portion of our days. Indeed, even a quick text or email can cost us time, as we shift our attention between different contexts.
While texting and email may by now feel like second nature, have we ever stopped to think about how best to use these technologies?
In addition to tackling these topics, Cal runs through three practices to help us better spend that treasure which is our time:
- Practice solitude
- Quit socials to foster authentic conversations
- Reclaim true leisure
To close, Cal offers some words of wisdom to our graduating seniors, as they head off to college. If they can learn to use technology well, in an integrated and intentional way, they will be at a tremendous advantage. Their time will double, their focus sharpen, and--what is more--they’ll form meaningful friendships along the way.
Show Highlights
- The necessity of times of solitude and self-reflection
- Why you should quit social media and become truly social
- Reclaim leisure to live more meaningful lives
- How to integrate texting into a purposeful life
- What psychology and brain science can teach about texting
- What the pandemic has shown us about the dual nature of technology
- The human brain is not a parallel processor and why this matters
- How companies can better use email to improve workflows
- The attention capital principle
- What graduating seniors can learn to make the most of technology in college--and beyond.
Suggested Reading
Leisure: The Basis of Culture
Digital Minimalism
A World Without Email
Additional Listening
Forming Deep Workers, Part I
Forming Deep Workers, Part II
For these next two episodes, we welcome back Dr. Cal Newport, professor of computer science at Georgetown University and New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including Digital Minimalism and A World Without Email.
In this week’s episode, we will focus on the first of these two books, Digital Minimalism, and how to go about developing a deliberate and purposeful approach to our use of technology. And remember, our children are always watching and learning. In next week’s episode, we’ll dive into a specific application of this philosophy to email and texting as well.
But for now, Digital Minimalism. It has been said in other contexts that the choice is not between philosophy and no philosophy, but between good philosophy and bad philosophy; having no philosophy is itself a philosophy, albeit a disastrous one. The same holds true for our philosophy or approach to technology which, although often vital in the modern world, can be dangerous if used mindlessly.
In this episode:
Learn about the history and psychology of smartphones and social media.
Listen to Cal discuss his philosophy of digital minimalism.
Hear about the thirty day “digital declutter” and why you should try it for yourselves--maybe even this July?
Gain some practical wisdom about implementing the philosophy in your homes including Cal's take on when our sons are ready for their first smart phone.
In all, Cal offers us a hopeful view for the future. With the shimmer of novelty beginning to fade, now is the time to think about how to integrate digital technology into our lives and into the lives of our children.
While summer is a time for rest and relaxation, it is also an opportunity for personal growth. Indeed, the increase in external freedom, which the summer months often afford our sons, provides an occasion for growth in interior freedom.
In this week's episode, Mr. Joe Cardenas, head of mentoring at The Heights School, discusses how you can help your son make the most of the summer months. To this end, Mr. Cardenas suggests looking at the summer from two perspectives: the bird's eye view and the daily routine. Looking over the summer as a whole--perhaps with a calendar in hand--we can help our sons set goals and make big-picture plans. But goals without effective systems are mere wishes, so we should also encourage our sons to develop a good daily routine that will help him to realize these goals.
In particular, Mr. Cardenas suggests five areas for routines:
- Waking-up and going to bed
- Reading
- Life of prayer
- Physical exercise
- Acts of service
Of course, and as always, encouragement should come in the context of freedom and in an age appropriate manner; we want to help our sons set goals and formulate routines for themselves, not impose our own ideas in an overly rigid manner. One of the great advantages of the summer is, after all, the opportunity for our boys to grow in the use of their freedom.
Stay tuned after the podcast for a few other resources that might be helpful as you plan your summer, including a summer-planning guide PDF now available on The Heights Forum. You don’t need to subscribe to anything to get it, we just want to help.
Also, join us for a follow-up Q&A webinar with Mr. Joe Cardenas and Mr. Bill Dardis (head of the Heights Internship Program). If you have questions about wake-up times, summer jobs, and chores, bring ‘em by and we’ll discuss. To register for the webinar, visit HeightsForum.org.
Show Highlights
-How summer can be a time of great personal growth
-Two perspectives on the summer: the birds eye view and the daily routine
-Ideas on helping your son make use of a calendar
-Why increased freedom during the summer is an opportunity for growth in virtue
-The importance of systems for success, not just goals
-Areas for daily routines: wake-up time, reading plan, life of prayer, physical exercise, service, bed-time
-How should parents discuss goals and routines with their son?
-Three ways to help your son develop a summer routine: know your son, engage his freedom, share your own goals
-Should my son get a job?
-Unstructured free time is just as important for older boys as it is for younger boys
-Why personal growth is ultimately oriented towards the service of others
Suggested Reading
Leisure: The Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper
Additional Listening
Three Components of a Great Lower School Summer
Systems for Athletic Success
Summer Reading with a Purpose
Heights Resources
Planning
Free Printable Summer Planner PDF
Fitness
Bodyweight Workout Plan
Reading
Heights Book Review (A review of contemporary literature for boys)
Heights Books (Books read for extra credit at The Heights)
Heights Summer Reading Books
What is present in every Platonic dialogue, the subject of one of Cicero’s famous letters, and the kind of relationship Christ wished to have with his twelve apostles and with each of us? It is friendship.
From facebook friends to philosophic treaties, 70’s songs to Tennyson poems, we hear about friendship in many different contexts. But what is authentic friendship? How do we foster it? How do we help our children grow in their friendships? And in the end, how do we help them grow in the friendship of all friendships, namely that with Our Lord?
In this week’s podcast, David Maxham discusses such questions as these. Based on a talk he recently gave to our senior class, David considers the lofty ideal of friendship and offers practical advice on how to make this ideal a reality. He first discusses why senior year is a fitting time for our students to think more deeply about their relationships, and how a few good friends can make all the difference during their college years (and beyond). He then dives into the importance of admonition and sincerity in authentic friendships, offering insights on the art of amicable correction and the necessity of being vulnerable for forming friendships. Lastly, David turns his attention to how parents can help their children grown in their friendships. As is often the case, here there can be no substitute for practicing what one preaches and patiently preaching what one practices.
- Show Highlights
Why senior year is a fitting moment to discuss friendship - What is friendship?
- Life is a training ground for friendship and growing in love
- Is this lofty ideal practically possible?
- The demands of friendship
- Why one can only have a few good friends in life
- Admonishing our friends? How to correct with charity and tact
- Truth is the thing: the importance of sincerity in friendship
- How our friendships can help us be better friends of Our Lord
- The importance of patience
You have to be a friend (for your children) to have a friend: why modeling good friendships is the best way to help your children grow in their own
Resources
Alasdair MacIntrye: True friendships are rare, but possible
Is Friendship Possible?
“We do not really want a religion that is right where we are right. What we want is a religion that is right where we are wrong. We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world.”
― G. K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens: A Critical Study
Mr. de Vicente concludes this three part series on raising iGen. Given the forces and impact of our digital world and general culture, our headmaster presents considerations and strategies for parents seeking to accompany their sons on the path to Christian Manhood.
Mr. de Vicente continues his discussion of iGen, turning from the protecting, distracting, unsettling forces that have affected our sons to the impact of those forces on their character.
Our headmaster begins a three episode series on iGen. In today's episode, Mr. de Vicente explores the influences and forces that have overprotected, distracted, and unsettled our sons.
In this week's episode Mr. Michael Moynihan discusses an exercise that allows teachers to isolate the relativistic variable in the moral minds of their students. What is relativism? What is the exercise? And why does any of this matter to those of us just trying to live the good life–however you define that?
Mr. Moynihan's article available here.
Mr. Tom Royals, Assistant Headmaster of The Heights, offers his thoughts on the importance of hosting our sons and their friends at home. Rather than being a place to be avoided, the home should be a social hub and a place of gathering for our boys. This takes work and investment, but the effort is worth the while when friendships flourish and our sons develop relationships informed by the culture of the home.
Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, offers some high level thoughts and general considerations for homeschooling families during this, a year that has seen an unprecedented number of new homeschooling families. In particular, Mr. Gleason bears in mind the 2nd graders who are soon to be Heights-bound. What are systems that can prepare our boys for the adventures of the Heights Lower School? Listen in! A huge number of parents are home schooling for the year. We offer some thoughts here for parents finding themselves in the teachers' seat. Generally: * Know your boy; know yourself; don't stress. Anxiety is the number 1 enemy of education. Don't let it creep into your homeroom. * Protect the process–don't worry so much about the product, and trust the system you put in place. * As far as processes and systems go: keep it simple!
Day in the Life of the Second Grader's Day * Enjoy that flexibility while enjoying your schedule! There is no "right" way for every boy; * But do set a schedule that is informed by your boy's natural strengths and rhythms; * In the 6 part cocktail: 3 parts reading, 1 part math, 1 part grammar, 1 part... other things (writing practice, art, etc...): * A second grader shouldn't be doing academic work for more than 3 hours a day, ideally broken into 30 minute chunks. * The 3 parts reading (1 part read to himself; 1 part read to you; 1 part--the most important part--YOU read aloud to him) * The Magic Tree House series is a great benchmark for the end of Second Grade–they should be able to read these to themselves and enjoy; * The Saxon Math approach has worked well for The Heights and for its incoming students–3rd Graders begin with Saxon 5/4, so Saxon Math 3 would work beautifully for a rising Heights boy. * Parents should not see home schooling as a means to "get their boys ahead"–there are pedagogical reasons for this (in addition to social/logistical). * There is no need to start cursive before starting at The Heights–by the time our 3rd graders get to Christmas, we'll get them there. Consider refining manuscript and print; cursive could be helpful, but in general there is no need to rush this. * Note, if you have given your sons enough time for free play, then they will want to be around you AND some of the things you do in the ordinary course of your day can be teaching without teaching.
Why all the tree climbing, virtue talk, and fancy old books? It's all part of our grand conspiracy to form wise, courageous, risk-takers. Hear our Headmaster, Mr. Alvaro de Vicente, discuss how The Heights goes about teaching boys to manage risk in a virtuous, intelligent manner. The process isn't mud-free, and we can guarantee mistakes–your sons' and our own. But the end result, with prayers and God's grace, is a "man fully alive," who understands that living isn't the sole purpose of life.
Dr. Jason Baxter, Academic Dean at Wyoming Catholic College and author of The Beginners Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy offers his thoughts on how to introduce students to the Divine Comedy. By forcing the Divine Comedy (and many other "Great Works") on our boys without the proper groundwork, we risk cheating them of a profound encounter. But there is value, and this is an introduction worth making. How do we go about it? Listen in and follow our guide.
Today we feature an interview with Tom Longano, author of two recently published books: The Blue Book of Stories and The Red Book of Stories. A Heights graduate and former lower school teacher, Tom offers his thoughts on children’s literature, reading for boys, and the importance of not just reading books aloud, but actually performing them aloud as well.
Heights Middle School Head, Mr. Andy Reed, discusses the middle school years. Drawing on his years of experience working with middle school boys and their families, Mr. Reed offers practical advice on how parents can best help their sons grow during these crucial years of formation. While we have often heard it said that parents should "cut the cord" and "let him leave the nest," in this talk Mr. Reed emphasises the importance of parents combining freedom with formation. He recommends parents keep their sons especially close during these critical years, even as they give them the genuine freedom to grow in virtue.
Our lives have been altered in ways few of us thought possible before March 2020.
As a school, we wouldn't presume to broadcast our opinions on matters of public policy or medical science. We can, however, at this point speak to the impact of closure and other preventative measures on our boys. No preventative comes without cost, and for a young man in the formative years of his life, these days have ceased being a brief episode, taking on an air of semi-permanence. How is this affecting our sons?
Alvaro de Vicente gives an evening lecture discussing the impact on young people of what has come to be known as the "new normal." More importantly and optimistically, Mr. de Vicente will discuss the ways that we, as parents and primary educators, can accompany our boys through the turbulent waters of Covid-19, building them into the "men fully alive" we hoped and prayed they would be, both before March 2020 and after.
Heights Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, shares his thoughts on friendship. We are told that friendship is one of the highest goods of human existence. Yet, despite our purported ability to find "friends" at the click of a button, building an authentic friendship takes time and effort, especially for our boys. Hear Mr. de Vicente discuss ways that parents can coach, manage, and accompany their sons through the selection or friends, and the building up of friendships that will last a lifetime.
Middle School Head, Andy Reed, offers helpful, practical, guidance for parents seeking to finish the academic year well under these historically challenging days. Mr. Reed offers advice derived from countless conversations with Heights parents striving to form "men fully alive" during a time more insular than days gone by, and days to come.
As parents, one of our primary duties is to help our children discover that gratitude is a path to lasting happiness. But where is the trailhead and how do we go about getting our boys on the right track, especially in a busy age of myriad privileges that are now assumed to be entitlements? In such an age, how can we foster a culture of appreciation and gratitude in our homes?
Mr. de Vicente offers his advice to students during these Corona months. Establishing and executing an ordered plan of life is critical for students wishing to grow intellectually, physically, morally, and spiritually. In this interview, our headmaster shares his advice for young men seeking to win in all aspects during this era of distance learning.
Dads, how often do we try to strong arm our sons into success? Is this the best way? Even if your son achieves success, is it his win or is it yours? Join Andy Reed for a discussion of fatherhood. Learn more about what our Middle School Head refers to as the “bedrock principle” of fatherhood, the notion that you, as a father, have to accompany rather than manage your boy, and that he will draw confidence for himself from your confidence in him.
This week on HeightsCast we feature a recording of our most recent Heights Lecture Series featuring Colin Gleason, who discusses the formation of conscience in the young boy. Though we focus, among other things, on the formation of the will at The Heights, the formation of a boy’s moral compass–his conscience–is equally important. The forming of a child’s conscience begins at a very early age. The peer group, school, and culture will all be factors in our children’s moral growth, but no environment will affect the bearings of conscience more than the that of the home. So how can we best train our young sons to have the knack of interpreting right from wrong, especially in today’s seemingly amoral climate? Tune in to hear Colin Gleason approach this important theme.
Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, addresses "bullying" in today's podcast. All across our fair land, schools feature "Say No to Bullying" posters in the same way that our public transit systems caution riders to "see something, say something." Our children have grown up on high alert that there is a troubled class of individuals out there--BULLIES--that is out to get them. That may be true in some sense, but Colin pushes back on the idea that every instance of aggression or lack of charity is "bullying." He offers advice for parents and schools working through tough social situations. Through out the conversation, our Lower School Head grounds his guidance in the goal of raising boys into protectors. Rather than telling young lads not to use their strength, we must channel that strength towards good, noble, and manly purposes.
Fr. Carter Griffin, Rector of the St. John Paul II Seminary in Washington, DC, shares his thoughts on vocation. Where are vocations coming from? What are the characteristics of homes that are conducive to our sons hearing the Lord's call? How has his approach to formation changed with the arrival of young men raised in a digital age? Fr. Griffin discusses all of this and more in today's podcast.
Our headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, offers a lecture on how to build a solid relationship of trust with your son. This relationship matters because it is the context within which you will form your boy's character.
Brad Soderberg, Assistant Coach for the UVA Men's Basketball Team, shares his thoughts on coaching and parenting character through athletics at a very high level.
Hear our Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, explain the mission and vision of The Heights. For 50 years, we have partnered with parents to form "men fully alive" by tending to the intellectual, moral, physical, and spiritual well-being of every boy.
Smart phones present unprecedented challenges to parents. Consequently, we are encouraged to "wait until 8th." Head of Heights Mentoring, Joe Cardenas, wonders whether we should hang in there just a little longer. Have Smart Phones Destroyed a Generation, Jean Twenge (TheAtlantic.com) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/
"Psychologically, however, they are more vulnerable than Millennials were: Rates of teen depression and suicide have skyrocketed since 2011. It’s not an exaggeration to describe iGen as being on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades. Much of this deterioration can be traced to their phones."
Teens find circumventing Apple’s parental controls is child’s play, Reed Albergotti (Washington Post) https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/10/15/teens-find-circumventing-apples-parental-controls-is-childs-play/ “These are not rocket science, backdoor, dark Web sort of hacks,” said Chris McKenna, founder of the Internet safety group Protect Young Eyes. “It blows me away that Apple hasn’t thought through the fact that a persistent middle school boy or girl can bang around and find them.”
In this episode, Mr. Kyle Blackmer explores the virtue of order and how we, as parents partnering with teachers, can share it with our middle school boys. It is entirely possible for a young man of 13 to appreciate an ordered life and an ordered mind. It is also possible to teach a young man lacking order to embrace a new virtue. Listen in to learn how.
Are manners stodgy vestiges of a bygone aristocratic age? At The Heights, we'd offer a resounding "no." Manners matter, and as parents and teachers, these "rules of civility" offer a great opportunity for teaching our boys virtue. Listen in to hear more.
Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente offers advice to individuals interested in stepping to the front of the classroom. What sort of temperament best suits a teacher? What ought one to study in order to prepare? Listen in to learn more about what Heights Headmasters, from Bob Jackson to Alvaro de Vicente, have looked for in their faculty for 50 years.
Dr. Matt Mehan explores the relationship between practical and speculative wisdom in the liberal arts education. He explains that "an education in the liberal arts must give pride of place to practical wisdom, to navigating the realm of becoming, while resisting the temptation to focus on speculative or contemplative Wisdom, that final rest and joy of the heavenly realm of being."
Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, offers a Heights Lecture on integrity. He shares how honesty requires far more than merely telling the truth; our boys must learn to live the truth.
In today's episode of HeightsCast, Heights Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente discusses hiring, the attributes of the teachers he hires, and where he finds them. A faculty is a School's most valuable resource. It is mission-essential to get hiring right; our headmaster discusses his approach here.
Newly installed University of Dallas President, Dr. Thomas Hibbs, discusses the challenges facing higher education in the liberal arts. How should parents approach the college decision? What are some of the strengths and weaknesses of high school graduates today? Is college for everyone? Tune in to hear Dr. Hibbs discuss these questions.
Newly installed University of Dallas President, Dr. Thomas Hibbs, discusses the challenges facing higher education in the liberal arts. These challenges are both financial and cultural, stemming not only from external threats, but arising also from a misunderstanding by universities themselves of the true nature of liberal studies. Dr. Hibbs explores the ideas underlying the liberal arts education, and then discusses their implications for various aspects of college life, such as formation in virtue and the study of the more practical arts.
In today's episode, Dr. Matt Mehan explores the virtue of patriotism. We forget that this is a virtue, especially in a digital age that unleashes and misdirects our lesser instincts. But gratitude is, in fact, due to our Founders and our Nation. How do we express this gratitude, and how, in light of that duty, do we handle the more difficult aspects of our nation's past?
In this episode, Mr. de Vicente: * Discusses the three prerequisites for a healthy young-adult relationship: Good Intentions, Other-Centric Worldview, Self-Mastery. * Discuses the three requisites for a healthy relationship: Rules, Communication, Accountability.
In this episode, Upper School Head, Michael Moynihan discusses how we as a School partner with fathers to help them share God's plan for marriage and human love with their sons.
- Each child has the right to a personal conversation with their parents about human love. To deal with this topic solely in an institutional way does not do it justice.
- The topic of human love is best addressed in the context of the home, in such a way that both respects the child's innocence and respects the metaphysical and spiritual realities of love, not just the physical.
- Schools do have a role to play in this education through an integrated curriculum offering, inter alia, examples of friendship and love in literature, a correct human anthropology through philosophy, and a love for the theological underpinnings of the sacrament of marriage.
- Schools also have a role to play in supporting parents as they educate and form their sons. This is especially true given that many parents are trying to offer their guidance to their sons in a way that is different from what they themselves received.
- The Heights offers a series of nights for fathers. In the 4th grade, we discuss with the fathers how to begin sharing with their sons God's plan for marriage; in the 6th grade, we discuss with the fathers how to begin to address the threats to God's plan, especially pornography; in 9th grade, we discuss the proper approach to courtship.
- Fathers must share with their sons the fact that God's plan for marriage are under attack, especially when it comes to pornography. Sons must be given the tools to confront this great evil when they are first exposed to it. Otherwise, interest may result from initial paralysis.
- These conversations are most effective when there is a good foundation in place, including (a) a developed appropriate friendship between father and son, (b) a home where modesty is observed, (c) a culture in the home that celebrates mom and dad's stories and marriage.
- An area to be aware of is the vice of curiosity, which is, properly understood, a dull boredom and disinterest in reality, the natural tendency of which is towards passive entertainment-seeking. This leads directly to dependance on pornography.
In Brief:
- Training in virtue requires attention not only to intellect and will, but to emotions as well. Complete virtue requires not only a knowledge of, and decision towards the good, but also the desire for that good. How do we instill in our boys this desire for the good?
- Example: The way we speak to, and speak about, others, is a key element of our children's emotional formation. We must showcase, for our sons, what it means to be a good man. In this context, we must showcase proper management of our emotions.
- Service: Providing your children with opportunities to serve will then elicit positive emotional responses towards the people they serve. These opportunities should be both internal and external to the house.
- Communication: Find ways to communicate to your boys that emotions must be directed, guided, and shaped. This is a countercultural message in an era of "you do you." Don't be overly didactic, but be ready to explore the proper role of emotions in conversations about culture, movies, art, and even ourselves. In this way we put the finishing touches on our boys' moral imaginations.
- Discipline: Our children will fail in this battle early and often. The art of teaching and parenting requires discipline, but we have to carefully consider our corrections. Consider how and when a boy will be most receptive to corrections.
Ultimately, virtue is not about pummeling our feelings into submission, but rather, orienting towards the good. As parents and teachers, the most effective ways to do this are by giving good example, communicating and naming them, and correcting at the right and for the reasons.
This week on HeightsCast, Dr. Lionel Yaceczko discusses the study of Latin as the best way to develop our students' "grindstone skills": the abilities to "think" and "communicate," which will allow them to both thrive in a constantly evolving job market, and to engage the greatest minds of their tradition.
This week on HeightsCast, Dr. Lionel Yaceczko discusses the study of Latin as the best way to develop our students' "grindstone skills": the abilities to "think" and "communicate," which will allow them to both thrive in a constantly evolving job market, and to engage the greatest minds of their tradition.
Every year, bishops around the country visit their flocks to offer the sacrament of Confirmation to young people. In this episode, Mr. Jeff Thompson shares how he, as a middle school religion teacher, teaches the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit to his middle school students, making them come alive in the hearts and souls of his boys.
In this episode, Head of Mentoring, Joe Cardenas, explains the importance of training the emotions of our aspiring "men fully alive." Often we see education as a matter of the head; but as teachers, we must be just as concerned with forming the heart.
We base much of this interview on this article from OpusDei.org.
Contemporary children's literature often celebrates children lying or worse to accomplish "good" ends. As parents of avid readers, we must be aware. Joe Breslin and Tom Cox take on perennial favorite, Harry Potter, which offers, as one of its many strengths, gripping portrayals of flawed heroes.
This week on Heightscast, an interview with Head of Upper School, Michael Moynihan, on his new book, Decisive Parenting.
For more information or to purchase Michael's book, click here.
Heights Teacher and Mentor, Alex Berthe, discusses the importance of proper praise in the moral development of boys. Our culture tends towards two extremes: we are either overly critical, or excessively flattering. Alex helps us walk the mean as we guide our sons to a solid confidence in our love for them, and in their rock solid understanding of their identity as sons of God.
As a community of believing parents and teachers, passing the Faith on to our sons' is mission essential. Heights Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, discusses how parents and teachers can model, explain, facilitate, and support the faith of our fathers in the next generation.
Join two Freshman Core teachers, Gerard Babendreier and Joe Cardenas, for a discussion about how high schoolers should approach their study. To simply call this homework is an unfortunate oversimplification.
David Maxham explores the role of Mathematics in a Liberal Arts education. Contrary to popular perception, the Liberal Arts include a robust commitment not only to mathematics, but to a mathematical way of thinking. We don't achieve this for our students, however, simply by slogging through the usual progression of math courses. The mathematical art of liberty must be nurtured, and Dave offers some thoughts on what that looks like here.
For Part 1, click here.
As boys grow into men they grapple with important questions: “who am I?”; “why am I here?”; “what is my purpose?” Mr. de Vicente takes on the question of persona and identity in the next two episodes of HeightsCast, addressing how we, as parents and teachers, can help our boys develop a healthy sense of self through an ordered process of reflection.
As boys grow into men they grapple with important questions: "who am I?"; "why am I here?"; "what is my purpose?" Mr. de Vicente takes on the question of persona and identity in the next two episodes of HeightsCast, addressing how we, as parents and teachers, can help our boys develop a healthy sense of self through an ordered process of reflection.
What is "tragedy"? Actually, it's not a bad thing happening to a good person. But what, then, is it? Join Dr. Yaceczko and Mr. Mehigan for a conversation about how this ancient art form was used thousands of years ago to prepare generations of heroes for life's difficult moments. At The Heights, we continue this tradition. Listen in to hear why.
As teachers, we sometimes succumb to the desire to be liked, or to the fear of being disliked, by our students. This disposition can cost our students one of the greatest benefits an education can offer: being called out for a consistent character flaw. If we don't call these things to our boys' attention, their dominant flaws may go unchecked, only to hurt them more in the long run. Joe Cardenas, Head of Mentoring at The Heights, offers his thoughts on how to show tough love through difficult corrections.
Heights boys enjoy three recesses daily in the Lower School. It's not just a chance to stretch their legs. To the contrary, recess is viewed as a class here. Our boys learn toughness, prudence, and how to evaluate risks. Listen in to learn more about the benefits of unstructured free play, and how you can bring this practice to your home or school... ideally both, because what we do at home affects our son's experience at school.
In this episode, Rich encourages 8th grade boys and their parents to think differently and bigger about the High School decision. "Differently" because primary educators should be the primary decision makers. "Bigger" because boys should not ask "what's in it for me?" when choosing a school; rather, they should ask "where can I best prepare to give?" The high school decision matters–it's a choice of worldview, friendship, faculty, faith. Listen in to hear Rich's thoughts on how best to approach the decision, no matter where your son wants to go, or where you will ultimately enroll him.
Bad news is all around us. It always has been. It always will be. As if personal and family challenges weren't enough, we have an attention economy that seems dead set on giving a generation of young people chronic anxiety about seemingly cataclysmic events. How can we prepare our children to handle bad news? Quite simply, by handling it well ourselves, remaining saintly and cool under fire. How do we do that? Listen in to learn more.
This week on HeightsCast we feature Sarah Mackenzie, an author and mother who is leading a movement to bring reading aloud back into our homes. When was the last time you read aloud to your children? Many of us really lost steam when our boys started reading to themselves. As Sarah explains in The Read Aloud Family, reading aloud has both academic and formational benefits for children of all ages. Moreover, it draws us closer together as families! To kick-start the revival, give this episode a listen.
Additional Resources:
The Read Aloud Revival
The Read Aloud Family
Tom Longano on Teaching Reading here and here.
Heights students are given the freedom to choose their outfits, so long as they adhere to the dress code. What are the virtues that our boys can build by dressing well, and how can we as teachers bring that growth about, one half-widsor and tucked in shirt at at time? Listen in to hear Mr. Joel Sellier address all of these questions in this episode of HeightsCast.
Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente addresses freedom and smart phones. These devices can be incredible tools, but only if used with a proper sense of self-mastery. Is there an age when boys are ready? No hard and fast answers to that question, but our headmaster is able to offer some helpful factors to consider.
Last episode we addressed the importance of properly and prudently handling wildlife. Once your boy has the prudence and courage needed to fully experience the wild, a nature journal is a great next step for our budding naturalists. Join Mr. Eric Heil for a conversation about how to keep a nature journal. Of course, this is only an introduction to what is covered in more detail here. Happy journaling to all youngsters of adventurous good will during these, the last two weeks of summer!
We've all been there. A boy in your care looks earnestly into your eyes, rabid with excitement; he's found a critter and he wants to catch it. What do you do? Eric Heil, Lower School Natural History teacher, offers his thoughts on how to guide our sons to both handle and appreciate the creatures they encounter in the wild.
We are a liberal arts school, but we embrace contemporary literature that leads our students to the good, the true, and the beautiful. Not all of it does, though. And, even those moderns that are positively formational often accomplish by leaning, in some way, on the older great authors of the older great books. Contrary to the notion that we are hiding great moderns from our students, we are, instead, curating a selection of books that liberates the mind in the tradition of the liberal arts. How do we pick our moderns? Why do we still favor the classics? Listen in to learn why from a man with over 30 years of experience teaching at The Heights.
Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute, joins us for a conversation about college that will benefit students, parents, and teachers. He challenges the assumption that every prep school grad should attend college right away at any cost, and he offers fantastic insights about the entire college experience–from college choice, to choice of majors, to engagement with students and faculty who think differently.
Our students and sons start learning the moment they set foot on campus. Every time we greet a boy in the hallway, we are teaching him. Every time we are late to class, we are teaching him. Tone is a powerful teacher, and Alvaro de Vicente shares his thoughts on how to foster a positive tone, both at school and at home. Your students will forget 90% of what you teach them, but will likely recall 90% of the tone you set. For schools, and school leaders, a good tone is both obligation and opportunity. Listen in to hear how to make the most of it.
Tom Longano spends an episode unpacking his recent webinar on how to anchor summer reading in leisure. Can a 3rd grader actually achieve this? Yes. How? Listen in. You might pick up a tip or two for your own reading as well.
Don't just make your son read to "get it done"; nurture his desire to read for living!
Happy summer, and if you'd like to view the webinar, click here.
American boys are failing to keep pace with their mathematical peers internationally. Our test scores aside–and we are skeptical of attempts at standardized measurement–there is the deeper problem of many boys hating math and failing to learn the skills they need for professional success, and the habits of mind needed to fully appreciate reality. Heights math teacher, Dave Maxham explores the causes for this visceral reaction that so many boys have. He sums it up in four causes: the problem of standards, the problem of common core (concepts vs. algebra), the problem of testing emphasis (data vs. algebra), and the problem of trust. Boys should love math. Here's a crack at identifying the problems.
Heights teacher, Joe Breslin, discusses the problems with the contemporary approach to writing, and offers his strategy for raising craftsmen of letters. By turning your classroom into a workshop, you can engage your boys and train them in the arts of observation and effective communication.
Lower School Head Colin Gleason continues a discussion with Tom Cox and Austin Hatch on Prudence, as presented by Josef Pieper. Often we understand this virtue as nothing more than a cunning tactic, when in reality, prudence is far more. The virtue encompasses a capacity for silence, a understanding of reality, and an ability to make right decisions. Prudence is a virtue for the magnanimous. Listen in to learn more.
Find out why Dr. Mehan believes that "a healthy politics requires a healthy poetics." He discusses the importance of poetry in the formation of leaders. It's not all fun and games, at The Heights, when our boys are memorizing. They are both memorizing and readying themselves for prudential statesmanship. Dr. Mehan pulls it all together for us, and offers an introduction to his forthcoming children's poetry book that Hamlet should have read.
To preorder your M5, visit:
www.mythicalmammals.com
Also, you can follow Dr. Mehan on Twitter here:
https://twitter.com/MTMehan
Lower School Head Colin Gleason leads a discussion with Tom Cox and Austin Hatch on Prudence, as presented by Joseph Pieper. Often we understand this virtue as nothing more than a cunning tactic, when in reality, prudence is far more. The virtue encompasses a capacity for silence, a understanding of reality, and an ability to make right decisions. Prudence is a virtue for the magnanimous. Listen in to learn more.
Tom Longano and Pat Love run a successful drama program for lower and middle school boys at The Heights. With their play coming up next week, they discuss the founding of The Tower Fools, what makes an effective show and what the fruits of drama are to the young liberal arts mind–and their audience.
Psychologists and social commentators are decrying the high levels of stress experienced by the typical American teen. By most reports, more than half of teens are suffering from excessive stress, and many of those young people are prone to slip further down this path into anxiety and depression. Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente draws on his decades of experience as a teacher and mentor to unpack some of the reasons why boys nationwide are "stressed-out." Turns out many of the factors are well within our parental control.
The prose is beautiful, but sometimes we gloss over the full impact of the Bard's writing. Join Mr. Joe Bissex and a few of his students for a discussion of what students can learn from a well-led production of Macbeth.
Heights Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente presents his vision of education for boys. Hear our headmaster discuss the role of parents, faculty, and school in the raising of "men fully alive." Sometimes we fall short, but this is our aspiration.
Join CFO Phil McGovern and Director of Annual Giving James Kolakowski for a discussion on smart giving. The new tax laws, stock market, and end of year present interesting opportunities for donors and schools alike. Listen in to hear more about how to make the most of your gifts!
Jeremy Tate, President and Co-Founder of the Classical Learning Test, and Kirby Hartley, Director of Outreach, join us for a conversation about the new SAT. The revised SAT is easier, aligns (and promotes) the Common Core, and has proven less helpful to top students than previous versions of the test. Learn how the CLT presents an alternative route to college entry that supports the mission of schools like The Heights.
Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, offers a Heights Lecture on integrity. He shares how honesty requires far more than merely telling the truth; our boys must learn to live the truth.
Boys need mentors. We know this intuitively from our observations of young and older boys alike. But why? Join Mr. Joe Cardenas (Head of Mentoring) and Alex Berthe (7th Grade Core Teacher) for a conversation on why boys–and their parents–need mentoring.
Hillsdale College Dr. Matt Spalding continues his conversation with us about American History, and the theory of education in 20th century America.
If you haven't listened to Part I of the episode, listen here.
- 3:28: Schools are trying to do too much in their study of History.
- APs and other similar courses and curricula force us to cover too much ground in a superficial way.
- The most important task for parents and teachers is to give students an imagination. Otherwise, history becomes flat and dry.
- We should be more simple in our approach; students can find data on their own with ease if they have basic skills.
- We have to break through the idea that there are no absolute truths.
- 8:28: American education shifted in the Progressive Era due to the influence of, among others, John Dewey.
- Classical and Medieval thought had a shared understanding of reality, which is why Shakespeare, Aristotle and Aquinas could all talk about the same things.
- In the modern world, there is a shift beginning with Machiavelli, and running through Hegel.
- This though enters the American context through the Progressive Era. There were two key assumptions to this line of thinking. (1) There are no permanent things, and everything is relative; thus the pursuit of truth and knowledge makes no sense. (2) All things change with time; they are historical. Past thinkers, including the founders, did not have a historical sense; all things are relative to their time.
- This yields an education system that is not about transferring knowledge, but about discovering ourselves through a deconstructive process. This is a departure from the world of Churchill, the Founders, the Classical and Ancient worlds, in which education served the process of "liberating" the mind to know these timeless truths.
- Progressive history is summed up in quote by Carl Becker, "Whether the Declaration of Independence is true is a meaningless question." To the contrary, that is the question. It was what Washington and Lincoln grappled with, as do we today.
- 17:19: What are colleges looking for in a high school graduate?
- Student who will flourish in college is the one who can do the basic human things as the "rational animal." The great gift is the gift of speech--articulating, communicating, reading, being able to discuss other things that others have communicated.
- Students must have a basic framework of history, along with the main aspects of character and human nature.
- This student will flourish if the objective of college is not necessarily a professional degree. To the contrary, college should be a time when you continue your thinking, with other people learning to think, guided by someone with years of experience guiding, such that one liberates his mind using the wisdom of the past. College is an organized experiment in thinking well about the true things.
- A young man's capacity to flourish and succeed is seen, more than anywhere else, in his character.
- High school should provide a good education: knowledge, yes, but also habits of thinking and doing that are rooted in more than mere technical knowledge.
Dr. Spalding's most recent book is We Still Hold These Truths.
Matt Spalding discusses the importance of studying history, and the problems with the contemporary approach.
Dr. Matthew Mehan unpacks the liberal arts. We can throw the term around to describe our school, but do we really understand what we mean? Is it more than a list of good books? Dr. Mehan explores what it means to be a student of the "arts of liberty"–a life long pursuit. For all of us.