Heightscast

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 Berr

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 fir

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 worl

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 c

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 s

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 b

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 l

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

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 hel

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 memorizat

In this week's episode, Mr. David Maxham discusses how we, as parents and teachers, can better mentor struggling students by focusing on the basics. He offers three very 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.

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 mento

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: How can parents discern if a smartphone would be beneficial for their son?  When is the right time to entrust him with this powerful tool? Under what circumstances?  Will waiting to give your son a smartphone render him ill-prepared for college and beyond? 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

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: How a traditional approach t