HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
Welcome to HeightsCast, the podcast of The Heights School. With over 200 episodes, HeightsCast discusses the education of young men fully alive in the liberal arts tradition. The program engages teachers and thought-leaders in the educational/cultural space to support our community of listeners: parents, teachers, and school leaders seeking to educate the young men in their care. Instead of downloads, HeightsCast's most important metric for success is the unknown number of thoughtful discussions it prompts in homes, faculty lunchrooms, and communities around the country and the world. Thank you for listening; thank you for continuing the conversation.
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Colin Gleason on Manners: The “ABCs” of Virtue
11/20/2025
Colin Gleason on Manners: The “ABCs” of Virtue
by Robert Greving by Robert Greving Featured Opportunities: , donations for Jamaica hurricane relief at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)
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Dan Lively on Formation for the Body: Lifelong Functional Fitness
11/12/2025
Dan Lively on Formation for the Body: Lifelong Functional Fitness
In our school communities, we talk a great deal about moral and intellectual formation. But physical development, too, has an essential place in the whole-person, long-term vision of what our sons and students can become. Heights Athletic Director Dan Lively reminds us that the goals of athletic training don’t begin and end with high school sports. In fact, lifelong functional fitness is in service to every vocation. It ensures that we and our sons are capable of having a positive impact—on the world and in our families—for as many years as we’re on this earth. Chapters: 3:22 A long-term vision for your son’s physical development 10:41 The goal: robust longevity 14:34 Health: more than avoiding disease 21:05 Mark Baker on functional fitness 24:14 Fitness increases one’s potential for self-gift 25:58 Role of the school 31:51 Role of the family 40:09 Parents can play too 45:39 The thrill of middle school gains 47:32 Embrace your inner gym bro 52:01 The reluctant athlete Links: , Mark Baker eBooks Also on the Forum: on the Forum Faculty Podcast featuring Dan Lively featuring college coach Brad Soderberg Featured Opportunities: , donations for Jamaica hurricane relief at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)
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Dr. Jason Baxter on Why Beauty Matters: The Postmodern Pressure on Our Interior Life
11/06/2025
Dr. Jason Baxter on Why Beauty Matters: The Postmodern Pressure on Our Interior Life
One philosopher of our time claims that “today, the experience of beauty is impossible.” Dr. Jason Baxter, director of the Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College, begs to differ. Dr. Baxter joins us on HeightsCast to unpack his latest book, Why Literature Still Matters, which looks at why such a claim might feel true in our digital age. Then, he talks us through why and how we should reclaim our experiences of beauty for the health of our soul. Chapters: 00:03:34 The experience of beauty 00:08:44 Byung-Chul Han: the possibility of beauty today 00:15:41 Marc Auge: still living in the Enlightenment experiment 00:20:46 The soul is not a machine 00:24:57 Our task as parents, educators 00:35:05 Likes and emojis: the simplification of our interior life 00:49:23 A near-death experience in Sardinia 00:56:24 Beauty and mental health 00:57:40 Franny and Zooey: interiority matters 01:03:41 Recommended reading Links: by Jason Baxter by Jason Baxter , Substack for Jason Baxter featuring articles and lectures by Byung-Chul Han by Marc Auge by Caspar David Friedrich by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan by W. B. Yeats Recommended reading: from Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot by J. D. Salinger by Anthony Hecht by Richard Wilbur by Walker Percy by George Eliot by Thomas Hardy by Kazuo Ishiguro Also on the Forum: featuring Dr. Jason Baxter featuring Dr. George Harne featuring Dr. Lionel Yaceczko Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)
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Tom Cox on Being a Faculty of Friends: Making Schools into Communities
10/30/2025
Tom Cox on Being a Faculty of Friends: Making Schools into Communities
The joy of “being known here” is not just for the students. When a faculty cultivates friendship, it benefits the entire school community. Tom Cox has been a middle and upper school Latin and Greek teacher at The Heights since 2009. Tom also hosts The Forum Faculty Podcast, now in its second year, which gives a slice of teacher breakroom culture: the kinds of conversations, rapport, and friendship that are born of our shared work and life as teachers. Tom joins us today to talk about how important faculty friendship is to making a school into a community, and what schools can do to support the planned and unplanned interactions that feed friendship. Chapters: 1:53 Tom Cox’s history at The Heights 6:35 School as a community of friends 10:15 Using school trips for faculty bonding 14:58 Regional schools: community or society 17:01 Creating community over large distances 26:53 Building up faculty friendship 36:04 Friendship requires shared life, work 38:57 Facilitating that shared life 47:09 Planned and unplanned interactions 50:49 Real communities pass on a culture 57:26 The fruit of staying in one place Links: from Gregory the Great Academy in Elmhurst Township, Pennsylvania by Tom Cox by C. S. Lewis by Jacques Maritain by Wendell Berry by John Cuddeback by Shirley Jackson by Wendell Berry Also on the Forum: hosted by Tom Cox featuring Alvaro de Vicente featuring John Cuddeback featuring David Maxham Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (November 1, 2025) at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)
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Dr. Melissa Moschella on Parental Rights in Natural and Constitutional Law
10/23/2025
Dr. Melissa Moschella on Parental Rights in Natural and Constitutional Law
What are parental rights? Are they a legal stance—or a philosophical one? In today’s conversation, Dr. Melissa Moschella of the University of Notre Dame discusses the profound and practical implications of the parent-child relationship. She then explores how those conclusions operate in the American legal tradition, tracing from natural law to John Locke to historic court cases and the public discourse today. Chapters: 3:46 True rights imply true duties 10:04 Natural law: knowable through reason 15:00 The rights and duties of parents 22:32 Role of the state in the American tradition 28:44 Twentieth-century shift, John Rawls 37:29 Whether schools can be value-neutral 43:34 Parental rights in American courts 46:47 Beyond religious liberty 55:00 School choice as parental choice 1:00:57 Public discourse: how to talk to friends, family, neighbors 1:05:30 Her book on natural law Links: , McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame by Melissa Moschella by Melissa Moschella by Amy Guttman (argued against by Dr. Moschella) by Melissa Moschella WSJ op-ed by Melissa Moschella Also on the Forum: featuring Dr. Matthew Tapie and Dr. Lionel Yaceczko by Michael Moynihan Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (November 1, 2025) at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)
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Michael Moynihan on A Whole Education: Teaching Persons, Not Just Subjects
10/16/2025
Michael Moynihan on A Whole Education: Teaching Persons, Not Just Subjects
There should be no contradiction in pursuing hard sciences, humanities, and moral virtue all in one day. For upper schoolers switching classrooms every hour, or for teachers siloed in a single subject, it can be easy to mistake “education” for a series of distinct academic categories. In this rebroadcast from 2015, Upper School Head Michael Moynihan gives us a better framework. He urges us to look at how our school’s different departments present a unified and infinitively connective worldview—one that invites inquisitive engagement and exercises the full scope of human reason. Chapters: 4:39 The strength of “entertainment culture” 8:16 Successful families 9:28 Assessing the educational landscape 11:32 Fragmented school subjects 14:20 Teaching persons, not subjects 17:18 Appreciating the full scope of human reason Links: by G. K. Chesterton (see chapter 8, “The Romance of Orthodoxy”) by Pope St. John Paul II by Dorothy Sayers by St. John Henry Newman by Pope Benedict XVI by Pope Francis Also on the Forum: by Michael Moynihan Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (October 18, 2025) at The Heights School (November 1, 2025) at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Alvaro de Vicente on Parental Expectations: Being Both Perfect and Anxious for Nothing
10/09/2025
Alvaro de Vicente on Parental Expectations: Being Both Perfect and Anxious for Nothing
, Alvaro de Vicente’s Substack by Walker Percy by Marilynne Robinson (2002) by G. K. Chesterton by Leif Enger Also on the Forum: by Alvaro de Vicente by Alvaro de Vicente Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (October 18, 2025) at The Heights School (November 1, 2025) at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Alvaro de Vicente on Conversation: The Medium of Mentoring
10/03/2025
Alvaro de Vicente on Conversation: The Medium of Mentoring
The art of mentoring is not just for teachers and coaches, but also parents—who can never really be out of mentoring mode. In a recent Substack article, Alvaro de Vicente named five pitfalls for our attempts at mentoring young men. This week, he talks us through some of the takeaways, reminding us that mentoring is not a profound lecture but an ongoing conversation, and the goal is not to modify but to form. Chapters: 3:49 What mentoring is 4:35 Conversation as the basis 8:55 Parents: always in mentor mode 10:13 Presence over “meaningful content” 16:01 Weighty conversations 18:25 Daily conversations 21:24 Love unlocks a child 30:48 Urgent conversations 33:34 When to mandate 35:36 When to end the conversation 37:33 Formation is a game of inches Links: , Alvaro de Vicente’s Substack by Alvaro de Vicente by Leif Enger by Josef Pieper Also on the Forum: by Alvaro de Vicente featuring Colin Gleason featuring Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti featuring Joe Cardenas Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (October 18, 2025) at The Heights School (October 4, 2025) Fathers’ Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025) link coming soon at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Kyle Blackmer on Building Parent-Teacher Rapport
09/25/2025
Kyle Blackmer on Building Parent-Teacher Rapport
In the broader society, mistrust increasingly defines the parent-teacher relationship. But it doesn’t have to be this way. As a Heights parent and seventh grade core teacher, Kyle Blackmer shares a practical vision for sound parent-teacher relationships. It begins with understanding parents and teachers in their true, cooperative roles for a child’s good. And it ends with developing real friendship between parents and teachers as they pursue this good together. Chapters: 1:29 Decline of the parent-teacher relationship 4:51 Parents’ true role as primary educators 10:18 How teachers relate to parents 13:40 How parents relate to teachers 18:28 Shared understanding of the goal 20:52 School as a community 26:39 Building parent-teacher relationships Links: by Daniel Buck Also on the Forum: by Michael Moynihan by Kyle Blackmer featuring Alvaro de Vicente featuring Lionel Yaceczko by Joseph Bissex by Michael Moynihan Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (October 4, 2025) Fathers’ Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025) link coming soon at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Fr. John Nepil on Theology at Elevation
09/18/2025
Fr. John Nepil on Theology at Elevation
“One of the best places to cultivate a Catholic worldview in the hearts and minds of young people … is in the backcountry,” writes Fr. John Nepil in his recent release, To Heights and unto Depths. Fr. Nepil, who has led dozens of group treks through the mountains of Colorado and said Mass atop every fourteener in the state, joins us to talk about adventure and a young man’s theological education. The backcountry, he says, is rich in lessons of creation, dependence, suffering, and beauty—restoring our sense of being created and loved by a self-giving God. Chapters: 5:18 What draws us to the mountains 9:04 “Nature” vs. “creation” 13:16 Fatherhood 16:00 Dependence 20:44 Cultivating a worldview 25:54 Guiding the conversation (or not) 28:13 Redemptive suffering 31:23 Starting with beauty 38:59 Physical vs. metaphysical limits 46:46 Men doing hard things together 48:29 The backstory of the book 50:39 A habit of reading Links: by Fr. John Nepil by Edward “Ted” Sri by Joseph Ratzinger by Gerard Manley Hopkins by G. K. Chesterton Also on the Forum: by Elias Naegele by Joe Breslin by Eric Heil Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Andrew Reed on Developing Your Son’s Will
09/11/2025
Andrew Reed on Developing Your Son’s Will
How many times a day do I tell my son what to do next? In this rebroadcast from 2015, our Head of Middle School Andrew Reed offers his ideas on cultivating an environment at home (and in the classroom) where boys can develop their own academic will. This entails not only greater freedom but also—just as necessary—a close and reliable family bond. Mr. Reed explains how this counterintuitive pair works together to teach a boy to choose the good for himself. Chapters: 6:32 The will: a marker for success 9:02 Overmanaging: telling them what to do 10:54 Boys grow from experience and challenge 12:33 The indifferent boy 14:43 Prompt the will with a question 17:31 Create an environment of freedom 20:16 But keep a close family bond 22:33 Manage the influences 24:21 A parenting examination of conscience 27:10 Patience and optimism 29:00 The will, freedom, and good academic habits Links: by Andrew Reed , a TED Talk by Angela Lee Duckworth, May 2013 () Also on the Forum: by Andrew Reed Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Michael Moynihan and Austin Hatch on Teaching the History of our Strange New World
09/04/2025
Michael Moynihan and Austin Hatch on Teaching the History of our Strange New World
To help our seniors synthesize the many ideas, events, and texts they’ve surveyed across high school—and to help them better understand their own cultural moment—Heights teachers have developed a senior core class titled “History of Western Thought.” In this episode, Upper School Head Michael Moynihan and long-time teacher Austin Hatch discuss the course and its guide-text: Carl Trueman’s Strange New World (2022). HOWT covers essential texts from Plato’s Republic to Pope Benedict XVI’s “Regensburg Address.”. Its goal is not only to prepare students for college work but to prepare them to meaningfully engage with the culture they will inherit, understanding its origins and its underlying assumptions. Chapters: 00:02:31 History of Western Thought course 00:08:10 The “HOWT” syllabus 00:11:31 Strange New World, a primary source guide 00:14:13 Teens and the intellectual tradition 00:16:39 Seeing ideologies in motion 00:18:48 Pairing philosophical threads 00:27:26 Understanding our cultural moment 00:29:25 Pushing back on ‘authenticity’ 00:33:31 How students respond to the course 00:35:09 Thinking about friendship 00:41:04 Big ideas in a short class 00:44:32 Reading Trueman alongside your son Links: by Carl Trueman by Elaina Plott Calabro, The Atlantic, September 2025 Texts from the HOWT course: by Carl Trueman by Plato by Plato by Aristotle by Cicero by Plutarch by Augustine by St. Thomas Aquinas by Thomas More by Jean Jacques Rousseau by René Descartes by Mary Shelley by St. John Henry Newman by Pope Benedict XVI Also on the Forum: featuring Dr. Benjamin Storey featuring Lionel Yaceczko by Michael Moynihan Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Dr. Matthew Mehan on Imagination: The Raw Material for Thinking
08/21/2025
Dr. Matthew Mehan on Imagination: The Raw Material for Thinking
Properly understood, the imagination is not something you escape to; it’s something you draw upon every day to make decisions, understand events, and communicate. This week on HeightsCast, Dr. Matthew Mehan explores the purposes of the imagination and the habits of wit and wisdom that help us insightfully process our world. We may think of the imagination at odds with reality. But, he says, cultivating the imagination actually makes us more capable, “wittier” thinkers about reality. Chapters: 00:03:05 Defining the imagination 00:05:31 “Good mother wit” 00:08:25 How LLMs undermine the wit 00:11:05 Beyond the “moral imagination” 00:15:33 Imagination of the Founding Fathers 00:20:03 Aesop and governing your animal spirits 00:24:28 The mistakes of Naturalism 00:27:57 18th century ABCs 00:32:13 Role models for the civic imagination 00:40:38 Who chooses what goes in 00:43:26 Reality educates us 00:46:39 Recommendations for parents 00:52:24 Metaphor control: guarding your hope 01:02:33 Humor and joy Links: , Matthew Mehan’s website by Matthew Mehan by Matthew Mehan by Matthew Mehan by Tom Cox by Aesop, with an introduction by G. K. Chesterton by James Cook by The Merry Beggars by Tom Longano Also on the Forum: by Matthew Mehan by Alvaro de Vicente featuring Alvaro de Vicente by Kyle Blackmer Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Colin Gleason on Discipline: Giving Room for Good Things
08/07/2025
Colin Gleason on Discipline: Giving Room for Good Things
by Terrence O. Moore by Harper Lee by G. K. Chesterton Also on the Forum: by Alvaro de Vicente featuring Colin Gleason by Andrew Reed Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Chris Vander Woude on Ordinary and Heroic Virtue
07/24/2025
Chris Vander Woude on Ordinary and Heroic Virtue
In 2008, Tom Vander Woude died saving the life of his youngest son. But this radical self-gift was really the culmination of a quiet life of daily virtue with a heart of faith. Chris Vander Woude, the fifth of Tom and Mary Ellen’s seven sons, now carries the story of his father’s life and death across the country, as well as sharing the process towards canonization that began this year with the assignment of a postulator in Rome. Chris joins us today to speak about fatherhood and the extraordinary man who exemplified it for him. Chris invites you to reach out to him at or . Chapters: 00:04:50 The life of Tom Vander Woude 00:07:34 His sacrificial death 00:17:17 His character 00:23:23 Physical strength: one’s readiness for action 00:28:52 Faith: one’s trust and mission 00:39:18 Fatherhood and Down syndrome 00:50:52 Father of seven sons: tandem work 01:00:10 Tom’s discipline: priorities and good humor 01:04:39 Hosting and friend culture 01:07:44 Tom as a husband 01:13:03 Balancing family and community 01:17:22 Towards canonization 01:28:44 “Man fully alive” Links: , website , video interviews with the Vander Woude family by Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, featuring Tom Vander Woude’s story , National Catholic Register, 3 July 2025 Also on the Forum: featuring Fr. Carter Griffin by Mark Grannis Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Alvaro de Vicente on Enjoying Our Children and Why It’s Important
07/10/2025
Alvaro de Vicente on Enjoying Our Children and Why It’s Important
They know we love them; but do our children sense that we like them? And how does that relate to their formation? In the intense season of togetherness that is summer break, headmaster Alvaro de Vicente recommends four practices to help us live more in the present and enjoy our children—even when the anxieties of life come knocking. Chapters: 00:02:17 Distinction between loving and liking 00:06:49 Four tools for cultivating “like”: 00:08:02 1. Express triple-gratitude 00:10:45 2. Spend unnecessary time 00:15:25 3. Find the humor 00:17:15 4. Pray for the grace 00:18:38 Why liking them matters 00:22:59 Living in the present: an antidote to anxiety 00:29:12 The “four tools” for teachers 00:35:42 Whether humor belongs in bad situations 00:41:14 Don’t take the bad too personally 00:46:03 Emotional stabilizers: marriage, friendship, prayer Links: by Fr. Jean C. J. D’Elbée by Leif Enger by Douglas Brunt Also on the Forum: featuring Alvaro de Vicente featuring Tom Royals Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Dr. Joseph Lazilotti on the Sex Difference in Education
06/26/2025
Dr. Joseph Lazilotti on the Sex Difference in Education
Months ago, Heights teacher Joe Lanzilotti took up a prodigious project: reviewing the body of popular literature on boys’ education. Partway through his journey, Dr. Lanzilotti catches us up on the diversity of scientific, biological, psychological, and moral perspectives—and how they cohere into a bigger picture of boys and where their developmental needs differ from those of girls. Framing the evidence with papal guidance from the last century gives us a solid starting-point to consider the education of boys according to their nature. Chapters: 00:04:09 The timeline of research on boys 00:08:26 Why attend to the sex difference 00:10:36 Definition of a man: fatherhood, sonship 00:15:06 Sex differences manifest early 00:21:05 The secular evidence supports natural law 00:28:51 The importance of role models 00:32:10 Single-sex education 00:34:55 Athletic trials 00:36:10 Male friendship 00:42:11 The collaboration of men and women 00:50:25 Parents, teachers: be not afraid 00:59:40 Educate boys according to their nature Links: by Louann Brizendine by Anthony Esolen by Anthony Esolen by Jonathan Haidt by Christina Hoff Sommers by Eleanor Maccoby by Leonard Sax by Michael Reichert, which Dr. Lanzilotti critiques by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger by Pope John Paul II by Pope John Paul II , training programs on boys’ and girls’ academic development , advocates for evidence-based policy solutions Also on the Forum: by Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti by Dr. Joseph Lazilotti Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025) January Workshop at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026) link coming soon May Workshop at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026) link coming soon
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Clare Morell on the Tech Exit: How Smartphones Undermine Our Parenting—and How to Reverse Course
06/12/2025
Clare Morell on the Tech Exit: How Smartphones Undermine Our Parenting—and How to Reverse Course
The ever-changing tech landscape and the ever-growing research on interactive screens means that the topic must come up anew year after year. For parents trying to keep pace, Clare Morell has compiled the most up-to-date research into her recent release, The Tech Exit. Armed with the facts and interviews with dozens of Tech Exit families, she encourages parents that it’s never too late to reverse course on smartphones. United with other families trying to do the same, we can replace the new “smartphone milestone” with real milestones that emphasize the goods of the real world. Chapters: 00:03:56 Getting the metaphor right 00:08:32 The myth of time limits, parental controls 00:11:24 Boys and online extortion 00:14:23 A culture inherent to smartphone use 00:17:51 A parent’s willpower vs. Big Tech 00:22:30 The alternatives: feature phones, landlines 00:31:25 Not your mama’s internet 00:34:43 Brain drain: new research on attention, making memories 00:39:41 How to reverse course with teens 00:43:01 The 30-day digital fast 00:47:17 A new digital paradigm: F.E.A.S.T. 00:56:13 Digital accountability in the home 01:00:30 Morell’s personal tech use 01:05:22 The father’s role 01:09:56 Encouragement to start Links: by Clare Morell by Clare Morell by Victoria Dunckley by Anna Lembke by Jonathan Haidt , 7 June 2025, WSJ , 5 June 2024, WSJ , April 2017, UChicago Press Also on the Forum: featuring Alvaro de Vicente by Michael Moynihan by George Martin featuring Alvaro de Vicente featuring Joe Cardenas Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Dr. Matthew Tapie and Dr. Lionel Yaceczko on Parental Authority and Thomas Aquinas
06/05/2025
Dr. Matthew Tapie and Dr. Lionel Yaceczko on Parental Authority and Thomas Aquinas
In 1858, six-year-old Edgardo Mortara is forcibly removed from his family’s home in accordance with civil and canon law. His Jewish family’s legal appeal invokes, to great effect, the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. Dr. Matthew Tapie and former Heights teacher Dr. Lionel Yaceczko join us this week to pull apart this difficult case with the assistance of St. Thomas, who gives a theological basis for parental authority in accordance with natural law—a useful perspective for our culture today. Chapters: 00:04:06 The Mortara Case (1858) 00:11:12 The personality of an original document 00:15:23 The Mortaras’ appeal to Thomas Aquinas 00:17:13 Handling difficult history 00:21:36 Thomas Aquinas: natural law and parental duties 00:33:39 Parallel roles of educator, translator 00:39:07 Gradual handoff of parental authority to the child 00:46:06 Why the Mortara Case resurfaces today Links: by Dr. Matthew Tapie by Alasdair MacIntyre movie (2023) Also on the Forum: by Mark Grannis Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025) at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Christopher Scalia on Finding Your Next Novel
05/29/2025
Christopher Scalia on Finding Your Next Novel
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: by Christopher Scalia at American Enterprise Institute by Samuel Johnson (1759) by Frances Burney (1778) by Sir Walter Scott (1814) by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1852) by George Eliot (1876) by Willa Cather (1918) by Zora Neale Hurston (1937) by Muriel Spark (1963) by P. D. James (1992) by Leif Enger (2001) by Marilynne Robinson (2004) by Cormac McCarthy (2006) by Julius Taranto (2023) Also on the Forum: by Joseph Bissex by Tom Cox featuring Mike Ortiz featuring Joe Breslin and Lionel Yaceczko Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025) at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Joe Cardenas on A Change of Soul: Reimagining the Purpose of Vacation
05/22/2025
Joe Cardenas on A Change of Soul: Reimagining the Purpose of Vacation
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: featuring Colin Gleason by Elias Naegele by Nate Gadiano featuring Joe Cardenas by Tom Steenson Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025) at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Alvaro de Vicente on Choosing a College—Or Not
05/15/2025
Alvaro de Vicente on Choosing a College—Or Not
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: by Alvaro de Vicente 4/25 featuring Alvaro de Vicente 8/24 featuring Dr. Peter Kilpatrick 5/24 featuring Dr. Jonathan Sanford featuring Arthur Brooks 7/2021 Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025) at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Fr. Gregory Pine on Human Reason: An Attentiveness to Reality
05/08/2025
Fr. Gregory Pine on Human Reason: An Attentiveness to Reality
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: by Fr. Gregory Pine , home of the Pontifical Faculty and The Thomistic Institute hosted by the Dominican friars of the Dominican House of Studies by Stratford Caldecott by Arthur Brooks Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025) at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Colin Gleason on Teaching Our Sons to Pray: Opportunities and Options
05/01/2025
Colin Gleason on Teaching Our Sons to Pray: Opportunities and Options
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: at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025) at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025) Also on the Forum: by Alvaro de Vicente featuring Fr. Carter Griffin
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Alvaro de Vicente on Reframing Our Desire to Be Liked
04/17/2025
Alvaro de Vicente on Reframing Our Desire to Be Liked
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: at The Heights School (April 12, 2025) at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025) Also on the Forum: featuring Colin Gleason featuring Lionel Yaceczko
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Tom Royals on Offering It Up: A Lenten Reflection
04/10/2025
Tom Royals on Offering It Up: A Lenten Reflection
“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: by Josemaria Escriva Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (April 12, 2025) at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025) at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025) Also on the Forum: featuring Tom Royals
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Tom Steenson’s Parent-Teacher Conference for the Everyman
04/03/2025
Tom Steenson’s Parent-Teacher Conference for the Everyman
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: at The Heights School (April 12, 2025) at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025) Also on the Forum: by Kyle Blackmer by Michael Moynihan by Kyle Blackmer featuring Alvaro de Vicente
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Adam Taylor on Boys’ Education and the ‘Medieval Model’
03/27/2025
Adam Taylor on Boys’ Education and the ‘Medieval Model’
“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: in Fort Scott, Kansas by C. S. Lewis by Robert Frost by Fr. Francis Bethel by James S. Taylor by Stratford Caldecott by Stratford Caledcott Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (April 12, 2025) at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025) Also on the Forum: featuring Jason Baxter featuring Alvaro de Vicente featuring Alvaro de Vicente
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Fr. Carter Griffin on Forming Families, Forming Saints
03/20/2025
Fr. Carter Griffin on Forming Families, Forming Saints
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: by Fr. Carter Griffin by Dr. Kevin Majeres Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (April 12, 2025) at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025) Also on the Forum: featuring Fr. Carter Griffin featuring Fr. Carter Griffin
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Austin Hatch on Adler’s Modes of Teaching
03/13/2025
Austin Hatch on Adler’s Modes of Teaching
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: by Mortimer Adler by Cicero Featured opportunities: at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
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