Category: HeightsCast

This week on HeightsCast we feature Tom Cox, Upper School Latin teacher and one of the architects of the Core Humanities Sequence. In the Episode, Tom explains what epic poetry is, where it fits into our curriculum, and why we teach it. Weaving together themes from Homer, Virgil, and Dante, Mr. Cox shows us how these epic poems shape the boys’ moral imaginations at a time when they are first beginning to ask life’s perennial questions: What is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of my life? Can I…

“Have a great summer!” We hear it and say it incessantly, but what are we actually wishing for our boys? 21st Century America gives boys 3 months off–that is one quarter of the year and an enormous amount of time. Join Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, for a discussion of three ways that boys can fill their summer with healthy leisure and positive growth.

To learn more about the Summer Workshops, click here. Dr. Matthew Mehan unpacks the liberal arts. We can throw the term around to describe our school, but do we really understand what we mean? Is it more than a list of good books? Dr. Mehan explores what it means to be a student of the “arts of liberty”–a life long pursuit.  For all of us. Show Notes TheGuardian.com, Our Minds can be Hijacked St. Basil the Great, Address to Young Men on the Right Use of Greek Literature De Doctrina…

Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, discusses paternal patience and anger in this week’s episode. If you, like so many dads, find yourself regretting the fact that you “lost it,” listen in.  Mr. Gleason discusses anger and the ways that we, as fathers, can direct this emotion towards the good.

At the heart of teaching is the desire to make an impact on the lives of one’s students. Beyond conveying useful information or training them in resume-building skills, great teachers wish to help their students live well—to be fully alive. Such a task, difficult as it may be, is what mentoring is all about. Yet most schools may not have a formal mentoring program. In these circumstances, how can teachers, who wish to help their students in ways that go beyond math or language arts, mentor students? To help us…

“Education,” wrote G. K. Chesterton, “is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.” If Chesterton is right, then education is about transmitting a culture, for what is culture if not the embodiment of a society’s soul? And what “soul” can be passed on from one human to another if it is not first embodied? To discuss the importance of culture both to society generally and education specifically, we welcome to HeightsCast George Weigel, a distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center…

Learn more about Dr. Mehan’s summer workshop here. In schools today, Shakespeare is often taught superficially. Students attempt to grasp the plot with the aid of their teacher, who helps them through the difficult Elizabethan English. At best they learn something about the beautification of language and the cultural significance of the Bard. But his work is not taught as it was written to be understood, that is, sapientially, for growth in practical wisdom and the ability to see more clearly the nature of man and the man’s relationship with…

To watch a video recording of Alvaro’s presentation, click here. In his intellectual autobiography, Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton’ recounts a sort of parable in which children are given space to play on a mountaintop surrounded by steep precipices on all sides. At first the children are left to play on the mountaintop without any walls. Fearful of falling off one of the edges, they all huddle up in the middle. Then walls are erected, and the security that such walls provide gives the children the confidence they need to play…

As the world of academia becomes increasingly polarized, parents may be concerned about sending their children off to colleges where the general culture and ethos of campus are less than favorable to the worldview and way of life found in their own homes. Yet, many of these institutions are also prestigious and hold promise for success in one’s professional career. How, then, should parents think about sending their children to such institutions? How should students, who have decided to attend them, approach their time there? Fly under the radar? Be…

Parents love their children and desire the best for them. Yet at times the world seems full of dangers and obstacles to a child’s ultimate good. Because of this, a certain fear may cast a shadow on the ways parents relate to their children. To discuss parenting and fear, we welcome back Mr. Alvaro de Vicente to HeightsCast. In the episode, Alvaro explains some of the dangers of being overprotective and parenting from a sense of fear. Rather, he encourages parents to prudently discern moments to give their children the…