HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive The Heights School

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 the antidote to an uncommitted hour. Middle school teachers Kyle Blackmer and Shane O’Neill encourage us to think differently.
This week on HeightsCast, the duo shares practical reasons and methods for protecting our family’s free time, which helps to cultivate interests, relationships, and the wellbeing of the whole person. They speak especially to our role as parents, teachers, and coaches: to clear the way of obstacles and model our own good use of free time.
Chapters: 3:27 Good free time 5:33 Role of parents in a child’s freetime: not entertaining but spreading a feast 7:34 Sunday as the day of rest 10:03 Leisure not as a thing “to do” 12:17 The Sabbath and sports 17:10 Overscheduling as an obstacle 22:42 Wasting time vs. free time 25:57 Cultivating interests, fostering friendships 30:53 Consumerism as an obstacle 35:20 Why free time is ultimately valuable 42:06 Modeling healthy free time Links: Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper Also on the Forum: Leisure and Acedia: Contemplative Homes in a Frenetic Age featuring R. J. Snell A Summer Fully Alive by Nate Gadiano What Is the Difference between Free Time and Leisure? by Joseph Bissex Friendship for the 21st Century Boy featuring Alvaro de Vicente

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. He shares his thoughts on civic discourse, selecting a major, affording college, and more. In addition, he roots the entire college experience in the bigger quest to know one’s self; but is that possible in a dorm? Our guest today answers emphatically “yes” and makes suggestions about how to advance in this life-long quest. Finally, Dr. Kilpatrick emphasizes the importance of mentorship and human relationship in personal growth, urging students to seek out meaningful connections during their precious and limited undergraduate time.
Chapters: 5:03 Costs of college 6:40 The real purpose of college 8:59 Knowing oneself: asking the ultimate questions 13:09 Pursuit of the professions as a path to knowing oneself 16:04 Financial big picture 22:18 Choosing majors and minors 28:54 Fruits of the spirit as a means of choosing a path of study 33:12 The use of full human reason 41:00 Fostering an integrated sense of reality while in college 44:10 Mentorship and human relationship in a world of AI and self-teaching 49:05 Freedom of speech and earnest inquiry on campus 57:20 Assuming leadership positions on campus 1:01:42 Making the most of residential life Links: Fruits of the Spirit, Works of the Flesh: homily from May 19, 2024 by Bishop Robert Barron General Audience from June 16, 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI Also on the Forum: The College Experience featuring University of Dallas President Dr. L. Sanford Rethinking College: Why go? How? When? featuring Arthur Brooks

“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 can we teach our children to use their freedom for the good in this whole-hearted way? For that matter, how can we as adults orient our wills toward the same?
In this episode of HeightsCast, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente explores the delicate relationship between obedience and freedom. He provides us with a framework to think about man’s condition of freedom, and how we as parents can transition our children forward from obedience to the rest of the virtues.
Chapters: 3:03 The universe as a playground of freedom 5:49 Our parenting goal of becoming dispensable 7:34 External freedom: liberties granted by external forces 19:37 Internal freedom: purposeful self-determination 26:00 Obedience as a temporary training ground for internal freedom 29:57 Avoiding parent perfectionism 32:07 The apostolate of imperfect dinners 33:02 Being models for our children 34:47 The importance of predictability 36:51 “Porque me da la gana”: because I deeply want to 42:12 Parenting is an art, not a science Links: Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict) Pastoral Letter from February 10, 2024 by Fernando Ocáriz, Prelate of Opus Dei Also on the Forum: Freedom in the Upper School by Rich Moss Why Boys Need to Be Given Freedom by Andrew Reed Moral Imagination, part I with Alvaro de Vicente Moral Imagination, part II with Alvaro de Vicente

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 seek to tackle major questions such as screens and socials, overprotective parenting, anxiety and depression, and the appropriate response to those conditions.  Dr. Majeres optimistically offers helpful and poignant suggestions to parents fully aware seeking to mindfully raise mindful children.
Chapters
4:23 The Anxious Generation, introduction and analysis
10:39 Social media and social comparison
11:03 Proven connection between social media and anxiety, depression
15:10 Bonds formed online versus in person, the “rupture and repair” process
17:26 Primary impact on boys: video games, pornography, disengagement
22:02 Pessimism fueled by social media
24:43 Costs of screen time, impact on sleep
27:17 Screens and the left hemisphere of the brain
31:40 Children must be frustrated every day
35:31 Haidt’s anti-fragile model
40:40 Debate over the age for smart phones
44:20 Bad Therapy, introduction and analysis
51:31 Educative therapy approach
56:41 Discerning necessary therapy
1:00:19 Anxiety is adrenaline waiting to be invested
1:03:58 Maintaining optimism
Links: 
Optimal Work, Dr. Majere's online platform with podcasts and courses
Optimal Work #191: How to Help an Anxious Generation Thrive
Optimal Work #190: Is All Therapy Bad Therapy?
Optimal Work #180: How to Discipline Your Children While Deepening Your Bond with Them
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
MIT Study on Facebook and Anxiety
1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12 by Thomas Phelan
No Drama Discipline by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
The Gardner and the Carpenter by Alison Gopnik
On McGilchrist and the Left Brain by Sebastian Reiche
Bad Therapy by Abigail Shrier
Leonard Sax's critique of Bad Therapy
Also on the Forum:
Technology in the Home by Michael Moynihan
From Anxiety to Adventure featuring Kevin Majeres
His Anxiety and Ours featuring Alex Berthé
Welcome to the Web featuring John Beatty
When Is Your Son Ready for a Smart Phone? featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Smart Phones: Why Wait When He’s “the Only One” featuring Joe Cardenas
On Freedom and Phones featuring Alvaro de Vicente

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 immersive experience of second language acquisition. We are joined by Dr. Christophe Rico, Dean of the Polis Institute, and Mr. Guillermo Dillon, Latin teacher at the Northridge Preparatory School in Chicago, Illinois.

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 virtue calls us to stretch forth towards greatness, but with humility; to have an unshakable confidence in the victory of good over evil, but to walk slowly; to know ourselves to be loved by an all powerful father, but to be unmoved by either praise or slander.  As we help our sons to grow in virtue, Father Griffin encourages us, as fathers, to foster in ourselves this, the jewel of all the virtues which gives us confidence and certainty that God has a plan, and that we have a role in it.
 
Father Carter Griffin
St. John Henry Newmann: 
Warfare the Condition of Life

St. Thomas Aquinas on Magnanimity
https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3129.htm

Teaching Through Immersion Workshop at Northridge Preparatory School
June 17-21, 2024
 
Alexandre Havard on Magnanimity and Great Hearts