Shows / HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
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…
Episodes
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveColin 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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveAlvaro 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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveTom 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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveTom 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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveAdam 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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveFr. 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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveAustin 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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveTom Cox on Telling a Great Story in History Class
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveAlvaro de Vicente on Dumb Phones, Feature Phones, and the New Tech Landscape
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveDr. Benjamin Storey on American Restlessness
"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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveJohn Cuddeback on Teaching Men
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveColin Gleason on Listening to Our Boys
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveJimmy Callahan on the Man Your History Class Is Missing
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveDr. Peter Kilpatrick on the Idea of a Catholic University
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveJoe Cardenas and Nate Gadiano on Living Simplicity
Advent invites us to reflect on our Christian disposition, oriented towards peace, hope, joy, and love. St. Josemaría Escrivá was known to summarize that…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveJason Baxter on Loving Modernity as a Medievalist
"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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveColin Gleason on Unanxious Leadership
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveJoe Breslin on What Fiction Is For
How do we justify reading? Do we justify reading? Heights fifth grade teacher and published fiction author Joe Breslin chases away such questions. Though…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveDale Ahlquist on G. K. Chesterton
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveAlvaro de Vicente on the Vocation of Fatherhood
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveDr. George Harne on Receiving Beauty
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveDr. Jeremy Beer on Charitable Giving and the Quest for Belonging
Dr. Jeremy Beer's study of American society over the last 200 years, overlaid with psychology research and statistics about American charitable giving, has…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveDr. Andrew Abela on Superhabits
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveAlvaro de Vicente on Forming Loyal Men in a Culture of Sentimentalism
The sentimentalism of our greater culture is a formidable—yet surmountable—challenge to young men. Our sons are relentlessly encouraged to follow their…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveBishop Erik Varden on Man and Masculinity
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveKeeping the Good In: The Voices Our Sons Hear
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveThe Virtue of Studiousness
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveOn Teaching Love
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveThe Ritual of Reading in the Classroom
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveRestoring the Lord's Day
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveAdvice for the College Launch
"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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveThe Formation of a Teacher
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveForming Others: What Mentoring Can and Can't Be
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveAnthropological Foundations of Mentoring
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveOn Home as Social Hub: The Importance of Hosting Our Sons and Their Friends
Note from producer: This conversation was originally published on March 23, 2021, but has been updated and republished on June 13, 2024. As we look forward to…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveDangerously Good: Forming Great Souls
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveIs His Free Time Freeing?
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveDr. Peter Kilpatrick of CUA: Considerations for College-Bound Students
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveAlvaro de Vicente on Freedom and Obedience
"Porque me da la gana!" In his book Friends of God, St. Josemaría writes, "I opt for God because I want to, freely, without compulsion of any kind." But how…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveDr. Kevin Majeres on Anxious Generation and Bad Therapy
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveImmersive Language Instruction: On the Polis Method
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveFr. Carter Griffin: Magnanimity and the Great Souled Man
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveMichael Moynihan on Freedom in Education
In this week's episode, Mr. Michael Moynihan discusses freedom in education. Michael traces the development of our philosophical understanding of freedom…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveAlexandre Havard on Free Hearts and Magnanimity
This week's episode features Mr. Alexander Havard, an internationally recognized authority on leadership and virtue. Mr. Havard gives us, as parents and…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveChris McKenna on Parenting in a Digital Age
This week's episode features Chris McKenna, founder and CEO of Protect Young Eyes (ProtectYoungEyes.com), who discusses the challenges and opportunities of…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveR. J. Snell on Hope and Despair
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveTeaching Sovereign Knowers
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…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveThe College Experience with UD President Jonathan Sanford
Many of us assume that college will inevitably follow on high school's heels, but why? Why go to college, and, once there, how do we make the most of the…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveOn Emotional Presence and Imperfect Parenting
Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente discusses the importance of "imperfect parenting.' Ours is an age of external perfection, but when our son's fail to achieve the…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveTeaching and the Vocation to Fatherhood
While most professions work on an object which is ultimately transient—a doctor, for example, works to heal the body which will ultimately die, an engineer to…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveRhetoric: On Forming Soul-Leaders
Dr. Scott Crider of the University of Dallas introduces us to Rhetoric, an art of persuasion that allows our future leaders to lead souls (and themselves) to…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveOn Grades: A Teacher's Perspective
In a HeightsCast episode released in September, headmaster Alvaro de Vicente offered guidance for parents on how to understand, interpret, and respond to their…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveTeaching Craftsmanship: On Skills and Boys' Hands
The book of Genesis tells us that God made man ut operaretur—that he may work. Far from a punishment for the Fall, work is an essential part of man's original…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveTechnology and Trust: On Building the Relationship
"I'm a big believer in boredom…. All the [technology] stuff is wonderful, but having nothing to do can be wonderful, too." Thought-provoking words from the man…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveTeaching Logic: On Forming the Reasonable Person
"Man He made to serve Him wittily," said Thomas More in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, "in the tangle of his mind." To serve God wittily requires an…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveThe Mission and Vision of The Heights
This episode of HeightsCast features our Headmaster's Open House presentation, in which he shares our vision of education, along with the specific mission and…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveFriendship and the 21st Century Boy
The real problem for many today is not ADD; it is, rather, what Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente refers to as IDD: intimacy deficit disorder. This problem is even…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveMovement as Foundation of Fitness
Man is by nature made for movement. As a social-rational animal, he is not meant to live an angelic existence; his flourishing is embodied and, even more, it…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveAI and the Take-Home Essay
According to Aristotle (and Aquinas and others), the human person is essentially rational and social; man thinks, and he thinks best in the context of…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveIntergenerational Human Flourishing - Featuring Fr. Bob Gahl
In a culture where autonomy is often pursued as an ideal, it's not surprising to learn that America is also experiencing a so-called loneliness epidemic…