Mark Ryland on Pragmatic Hope: Understanding AI and the New Economy
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
Release Date: 05/14/2026
Dr. Jonathan Buttaci on the Art and Act of Knowing—and What That Means for Teaching
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
by Dr. Andrew Abela, notes on a presentation by Dr. Jonathan Buttaci, papal encyclical by Pope Leo XIV by Josef Pieper by John Henry Newman Also on the Forum: by David Maxham featuring David Maxham featuring Tom Steenson by Michael Moynihan Featured Opportunities: Headmaster’s Lecture at The Heights School (October 3, 2026) – link coming soon at The Heights School (October 24, 2026) Fatherhood Conference at The Heights School (early November 2026) – link coming soon at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)
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Dr. Paul Shrimpton on Newman and his Idea of a School
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
The most famous work of our newest Doctor of the Church is, of course, The Idea of a University—a collection that explores the essence of a Catholic university education. But fewer people know about St. John Henry Newman’s extensive efforts in primary and secondary education: Newman’s part was not just as an educational theorist, but a school founder, who played every nitty-gritty role from fundraising to parent relations, from essay grading to student mentoring, even processing repair orders and playing second violin to fill out the little school’s orchestra. Dr. Paul Shrimpton...
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Alvaro de Vicente on Boy-Girl Socializing: Fostering Healthy Peer Groups
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
Statistics show that young people today are spending significantly less time socializing in face-to-face mixed company, across genders, than previous generations. This week on HeightsCast, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente looks at how we might assess and address boy-girl socialization for our sons, helping the modern boy to develop healthy relationships in the right context. Chapters: 2:46 “Normal” is not necessarily the measure 5:53 Healthy group dynamics 7:30 Growth comes in stages 12:12 The role of schools 19:25 The role of families 26:43 Manners and the virtue of charity 32:56 When to make...
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Austin Hatch and Tom Steenson on True Convivium: Friendship with Fellow Teachers
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
“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 , hosted by The Heights Forum this November. What is the value of friendships among fellow faculty? What are the ingredients of that friendship?...
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Michael Moynihan on Reducing Anxiety through the Meaning of Work
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
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,...
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Eric Heil on an Introduction to Natural History: Beauty, Science, and Philosophy for Boys
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
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...
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Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti on Theology and Masculinity: Men’s Creation and Calling
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
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...
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Mark Grannis on Knowing How to Know: Law School and Other Professional Discernments
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
by Mark Grannis , online lectures featuring Mark Grannis by Mark Grannis by Mark Grannis featuring Fr. Michael Himes Also on the Forum: featuring Rob Liotta, Mark Grannis, and Josue Zelaya on the Forum Faculty Podcast featuring Fr. Carter Griffin and Alvaro de Vicente featuring Mark Grannis by Mark Grannis Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)
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Alvaro de Vicente on Crafting and Sharing a School Vision
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
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...
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Dr. Matthew Mehan on Compiling an American Book of Fables
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
“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...
info_outlineAs 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