HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

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 vocation. Indeed, it is precisely as a craftsman—a tektōn, in the Greek—who does his work well (cf. Mark 6:3) that Jesus was identified in the Gospels. Education, therefore, even a liberal arts education, ought to take into account this important aspect of man's nature. This week on HeightsCast, we welcome John Paul Lechner and Dr. Joseph Haggarty to discuss how a craftsmanship class can fit into the education students receive at a liberal arts school. Both teachers at Sparhawk Academy in Millis, Massachusetts, Lechner and Haggarty explain how students at Sparhawk engage reality through their unique craftsmanship curriculum. They give examples of the ways even their younger students learn to craft meaningful works for their families and community while gaining skills that will serve them for life. Mr. Lechner and Dr. Haggarty help us see the ways craftsmanship class contributes to the formation of these boys so full of energy and budding strength. Chapters 2:25 Introduction 3:10 Origin of Sparhawk's craftsmanship courses 6:15 Craftsmanship in the younger years 7:19 Craftsmanship and the liberal arts 12:30 A brief history of craftsmanship 15:10 The dignity of working with one's hands 16:20 Examples of projects 23:20 Learning to use energy and strength well 26:35 Getting started with craftsmanship Recommended Reading Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford

"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 whose company produces one of the most powerful tools for distracting ourselves from any feelings of boredom. Not only Steve Jobs, but seventeenth-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal, too, understood the dangers of perpetual entertainment, the inability to sit alone in a room by oneself. Given the current cultural moment, a particular arena in which children—and, indeed, parents too—need to grow in self-mastery is that of screens and technology. This week on HeightsCast, we feature a talk given by Colin Gleason, head of lower school. First given at last Saturday's Parenting Conference, this talk addresses how parents can foster the interior dispositions their sons will need to use technology well, and not to be used by it. He encourages parents to train their young sons in other arenas in order to prepare for healthy use of technology. Moreover, he speaks to the need for parents to model the virtues they'd like to see, and accompany their boys in a close and intimate relationship once they begin their digital journey. Colin underscores that trust is not merely a result of but rather a means to achieving peace. If parents want their children to grow in virtue, they need to first trust that they can do so; for an intimate and personal relationship provides the proper culture for the growth of virtue. While external guardrails can be helpful and are at times necessary, in the end, virtue will be the best defense against evil and the strongest guarantee of the good. Chapters 3:30 A common sense convention 6:30 Fostering internal guides 9:20 Trust 10:25 Training 11:45 Let him be hungry 15:35 Let him be bored 19:30 Let him stay outside 23:15 Modeling 24:05 Detachment 25:15 Manners 26:00 Establishing an intimate and personal relationship 26:39 Freedom 32:45 Ownership 33:50 Learning from mistakes 34:20 Encouragement 37:50 Trust Missed the conference but don't want to miss out on the content? Check out the Freedom and Technology Collection.

"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 orderly mind, one capable of parsing through truths and falsehoods, able to string together arguments. Thus, the trivium endures: grammar, rhetoric, and logic. To discuss teaching logic to high school students, we welcome to the podcast Mark Grannis, Heights teacher, attorney, father, and author of The Reasonable Person: Traditional Logic for Modern Life. In this episode, Mr. Grannis discusses what logic is, why it matters today, and how to teach it. Given man's nature as a rational animal, Mark argues that the study of logic—what he refers to as the art and science of sound reasoning—can improve the daily lives of everyone, regardless of his professional or academic path. Moreover, as social animals, Mark explains how logic can be a powerful means to attaining consensus in the public arena. In a world in which thinking has become an increasingly outsourced ability, learning the art and science of thinking well is perhaps more important than ever. Chapters 2:45 Introduction 3:30 Law and logic: Mark's path to the classroom 5:40 Why (traditional) logic today? 11:30 Symbolic and traditional logic 14:30 Examples of traditional logic 19:00 Practical benefits of logic 22:55 Logic and writing 24:40 Teaching logic to high schoolers 26:40 Why write your own textbooks? 28:40 What's different about The Reasonable Person? Recommended Resources The Reasonable Person: Traditional Logic for Modern Life by Mark Grannis Logic and the Reasonable Person by Mark Grannis AI and the Take-Home Essay with Matt Mehan Why a Liberal Arts Education Today? with Michael Moynihan

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 concrete approach this vision animates. As you will hear, the Heights is informed by the timeless, yet vigorously engaged with the present, sinking its roots as a school and community into the soil of the 21st century. The Heights education, rather than seeking escape, strives to strengthen men who will, in turn, preserve, protect, and promote the good that is abundantly present in our modern world.

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 worse for men, who on average have fewer close friends. Studies indicate that the percentage of males who report having at least six close friends has been cut in half since the 1990s. There is, it would seem, a recession in male friendships. While there is no easy panacea for this problem, as with most things, one's education can have a lasting impact on how a child learns—or doesn't learn—to relate to others. This week we feature a recording of the annual Headmaster's Lecture titled "Friendship and the 21st-Century Boy." In the lecture, Alvaro discusses what friendship is and how to help children—and young boys, in particular—foster healthy friendships. He discusses contemporary obstacles to friendship and why growth in maturity is necessary for true, deep, and lasting friendships. He also offers a few words on what parents can do about bad friends—or, rather, friends with bad characteristics. In the end, Alvaro gives some practical advice for how parents and educators can set the stage for the formation of what Cicero called "the greatest of all gifts from the gods," friendship. Chapters 4:42 Introduction 6:10 What is friendship? 8:47 Fostering friendship by common action 12:02 Intimacy 17:41 Why maturity is necessary 21:26 Characteristics of maturity in friendship 26:09 What to do about "bad friends"? 30:32 Should parents intervene in their children's friendships? 32:17 How to separate your son from a bad influence 39:27 Specific challenges to boy friendship in the 21st century 50:50 Challenge of living in a hypersexualized environment 54:02 Practical ideas

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 is familial. Though we all know this intuitively, living a healthy life can be difficult in practice. Not only does personal experience tell us this, data suggests it: life expectancy in America is dropping. How is such a downward trend possible given the advances in medicine and technology? What humans have done since the dawn of time, and what they have stopped doing in the past fifty, Is to move on a daily, hourly basis. To speak about the importance of movement for human flourishing and family life, we welcome to HeightsCast our athletic director, Mr. Dan Lively. Keeping an eye on the development of the whole young person, Dan discusses the problem of sedentarism, a lack of movement, which plagues many people's lives. Rather than focusing on one-off exercise, Mr. Lively suggests we think about our overall relationship to movement. Living a healthy lifestyle involves more than checking a box; it involves developing habits of movement—low intensity, high volume, enjoyable movement that everyone can do for his whole life. Chapters 2:00 Introduction: On Movement 2:45 What is movement? 6:20 The sedentary person 8:25 Keeping it personal 11:00 VO2 max and life-expectancy 19:00 Healthspan: Peter Attia and the art of longevity 23:10 Zone training and movement culture 25:55 Movement and the liberal arts 28:04 Building a culture 30:55 Movement vs. exercise 39:43 Step-counters 43:00 Movement in the winter Recommended Resources Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia Alan Couzens Also on the Forum Character Formation in Elite Athletics with Brad Soderberg Systems for Athletic Success with Dan Lively

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 friendship. As such, at the very heart of man's education ought to be learning to write effectively, for good writing is thought clarified and beautified which can be shared with others. Recent developments in Artificial Intelligence, however, seem to pose a formidable challenge to teachers who wish to help their students grow in this most human of crafts. To help us think through how we as teachers should approach this challenge, this week on HeightsCast we welcome Dr. Matthew Mehan, Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Government for Hillsdale's Steve and Amy Van Andel Graduate School of Government on Capitol Hill. Despite the risks and challenges associated with it, Dr. Mehan argues that teachers should not abandon the at-home long essay. Indeed, as he points out, the creativity and thoughtfulness required by teachers who still wish to utilize the at-home essay, while mitigating the risks of cheating, may even make them better at their own art. As it becomes increasingly easier for a student to cheat his way through simplistic prompts and an outcome-focused approach to writing, teachers must now think more deeply about the kinds of written assignments they give their students and the process they use to guide them along the way. All this extra effort is well worth it. As Dr. Mehan reminds us: "If you cannot order your thoughts beautifully and rationally, cogently and powerfully, in writing, you cannot clarify your own thinking, nevermind then share that thinking in the most brilliant and candid way." Chapters 0:55 Introduction 4:00 Artificial intelligence and teaching the craft of writing 7:20 Are at-home assignments worth the risk of cheating? 14:00 The real good of teaching writing 15:45 Strategies for mitigating cheating 19:30 The importance of writing to thinking and socializing 20:55 Imitation and the art of writing 21:50 More strategies 25:40 Summary of strategies for mitigating risk Pre-conversations Discussion of thesis statement Pre-writing process Refining your prompts Imitation and style 27:00 A new era in education? 30:25 Will AI alter language more fundamentally? 31:50 Some ideas for essay prompts 37:12 Love, fear, and the stealing of ideas: the ethics of AI 44:05 Can AI really know anything? 46:15 How AI can make us better teachers 48:00 Cite your sources: the limitation of ChatGPT as a research tool 52:22 In-class vs. at-home essays Also on the Forum Writing from the Sentence Up by Joe Breslin 5 Don'ts and Dos When Teaching Writing by Joe Breslin On Writing: A Personal Reflection by Michael Ortiz Splashing in Puddles: Finding the Creative Writing Flow by Joe Bissex Why Our Politics Needs Poetry with Dr. Matthew Mehan

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. Together with loneliness, depression is also on the rise—a correlation that makes sense, given man's nature as a social animal. What is the solution to these problems? While there is perhaps no panacea, there is a particularly important starting point: the intergenerational family. This week, we explore the idea of "intergenerational human flourishing" with Fr. Robert Gahl, long-time professor at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce in Rome, Italy, who was recently appointed Associate Professor in the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America. In this episode, Fr. Bob weaves research from several disciplines—sociology, philosophy, theology, and neuroscience—together with his own personal and pastoral experience. All the data point to the same fact: if they are to flourish, our sons need to know themselves to be part of a bigger story which includes relationships with parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. Such strong intergenerationality will give our boys a sense that life is a total gift. Our job as educators, then, is to free young people from an individualistic solipsism, in part by helping them discover the role they are created to play in an intergenerational ecosystem. Chapters 3:30 Introduction: intergenerational human flourishing 4:55 Human flourishing 10:15 Intergenerationality 12:45 Protagonists of a story 17:30 The role of grandparents 22:30 Family in different cultures 27:05 Attachment and independence in the home 31:15 Cause for hope 37:15 Heroism transmitted in the home 42:15 Fr. Bob's work at the Busch School Mentioned in the episode The Human Flourishing Program, directed by Tyler VanderWeele Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI Master of Science in Ecclesial Administration and Management at the Busch School of Business Also from the Forum Shaping Your Son's Moral Imagination with Alvaro de Vicente

Be careful that in encouraging a grade, you don't shortchange growth; for a grade ought to be a means to growth, helping students—and their parents—see where they are so they can know where to go. Ideally, grades are the beginning of a conversation about what lies underneath the surface: the "why" beneath the "what". In today's episode, Heights Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente guides us through a nuanced discussion on how parents can understand, interpret, and respond to their sons' grades while nurturing strong and lasting bonds. Acknowledging that grades serve as a judgment of the quality of a young man's work at a given time, Mr. de Vicente sheds light on strategies to decipher the meaning behind the letters and numbers. Is it a problem of time, habits, or effort? Is it a helpful indicator of aptitude? Regardless of the cause or cure, Alvaro reminds us that even more important than helping to raise a grade, is strengthening the bond parents have with their son. Chapters 2:30 Defining grades 3:30 Grades: more than a necessary evil 5:00 How parents should approach grades 7:28 Digging into the "why" behind a grade 9:35 Elements of a grade: intelligence, time, habits, effort 14:45 Optimal Work and grades 16:55 Why boys need to own their grades 21:00 Evolving relationship with grades 24:00 Growth over grades 26:00 Respecting a school's professional competence 29:35 What your tone communicates 36:35 Internal motivation 40:00 How to reframe as a parent Recommended Resources Punished by Rewards? from The Golden Hour Podcast Also on the Forum Handling Poor Grades: Steps to an Academic Reset with Michael Moynihan Grinders Aren't Heroes: On Student Motivation by Dave Fornaciari and Michael Hude Motivation: Encouraging Reluctant Students by Tom Cox

"The mind," Plutarch wrote, "is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting." The teacher's job, then, is not so much transferring data about the world from his mind to the students, but leading them to fall in love with the world that they see as good. The same is true for preparing teachers: what is needed is to light a fire. There is no better man to light such a fire for the teaching vocation than Heights Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente. In this week's episode, Mr. de Vicente addresses the attendees of the 2022 Teaching Vocation Conference, introducing them to teaching as a vocation and a profession. He offers his thoughts on what it means for work to be a vocation, what it means for work to be a profession, and why it is that teachers are called to work that is both a profession and a vocation. Finally, our headmaster shares his thoughts on how we can tell whether the classroom is for us, or rather, whether we have been made for the classroom. Chapters 3:05 Introduction to the topic 4:07 What is teaching? 7:52 Out of intellectual ignorance, but also moral ignorance 12:55 Every school teaches morality 16:00 What is a vocation? 22:35 The vocation of a teacher 27:18 Not a bad audience: you, your pupils, your friends, God 29:30 The need for teachers 30:10 The field of life 32:15 The need for male teachers 32:35 Discerning the teaching vocation Also on the Forum Guidance for Aspiring Teachers with Alvaro de Vicente On Preparation for Teaching: Six Attributes of Great Teachers with Colin Gleason Why Teach? An Introduction to the Teaching Vocation with Rich Moss The Art of Teaching with Rich Moss