HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

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.