Category: HeightsCast

This week, we sit down with Dr. Lionel Yaceczko to discuss his new book on the fourth century Roman grammarian, Ausonius of Bordeaux.  In looking at his life, we dive deeper into various aspects of classical education.  As Ausonius lived through an important period of religious, political, and cultural change, considering his life also affords us the opportunity to think about how the advent of Christianity affected (and continues to affect) classical education. With Christmas fast approaching, perhaps this discussion may serve to remind us that teaching is pointing and…

Continuing with the theme of mentoring, this week Mr. David Maxham discusses how we, as parents and teachers, can better mentor struggling students by taking a step back and focusing on the basics. He offers three practical guideposts for these wonderful guys to strive for as they take steps toward becoming the man they were made to be. We remain, as always, optimistic. After establishing a relationship of trust with your mentees, Mr. Maxham recommends helping our boys structure their days around the following three key moments:  Waking up in…

In this episode of HeightsCast, we feature the speech delivered by Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, to attendants of The Heights School’s 2021 Fall Open House.

This week on HeightsCast, we feature a recording of the first Heights Lecture event of the new school year, featuring Alvaro de Vicente: What is optimism? Is it naive to be optimistic? How is optimism related to hope? How, in the end, do we raise sons who can look life’s challenges squarely in the face with the the hint of a smile on their lips, knowing that all is in good hands? Join our Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, for an evening lecture on how to raise optimistic, hopeful young men….

Bad news is all around us. It always has been. It always will be. As if personal and family challenges weren’t enough, we have an attention economy that seems dead set on giving a generation of young people chronic anxiety about seemingly cataclysmic events. How can we prepare our children to handle bad news? Quite simply, by handling it well ourselves, remaining saintly and cool under fire. How do we do that? Listen in to learn more. Additional Resources: Mr. Mehan’s Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals Dr. Mehan’s piece in the…

In this week’s episode, headmaster Alvaro de Vicente helps us develop a philosophy of technology. Building off previous conversations on The Forum with Cal Newport, Mr. de Vicente takes a deep dive into the topic of smartphones. In particular, he helps us answer the following questions: How can parents discern if a smartphone would be beneficial for their son?  When is the right time to entrust him with this powerful tool? Under what circumstances?  Will waiting to give your son a smartphone render him ill-prepared for college and beyond? More…

Michael Moynihan unpacks his article about whether or not The Heights is a classical school. Like a tree, whose roots are firmly planted in the ground and whose branches reach toward the sky above, education at The Heights is at once traditional and forward looking. While drawing liberally from the western canon and “the best that has been thought and said,” to borrow Matthew Arnold’s phrase, a Heights education is nevertheless at home in the modern world.  Neither the buried archives of special collections, nor the high-rising offices of enterprising…

In certain school systems, it is perhaps more common to find students dissecting samples and diagraming abstractions. The boys in the Lower School at The Heights, however, begin their scientific formation not in a lab, among dead specimens, but in nature, among living creatures. Their text book is not full of paper, but of paper’s source, trees; for their primary text is the book of nature itself.  In this week’s episode, Eric Heil takes us outdoors–so to speak–for a discussion of natural history. With over fourteen years of experience teaching…