This week on HeightsCast, we feature headmaster Alvaro de Vicente’s open house speech on the mission and vision of The Heights School. In the speech, Alvaro helps parents discern the right school for their son. Understanding education to be essentially about partnering with parents to transmit a culture, he encourages parents to thoughtfully consider the culture of our school and how it relates to the culture of their own homes. In addition, Mr. de Vicente offers a few words on our vision of manhood, suggesting that to be a good man, one must also be quite dangerous: powerful enough to do damage, but with the moral character to do great things.
Chapters
Additional Resources
Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro’s Gulag by Armando Valladares
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Also on The Forum
The Man Fully Alive with Alvaro de Vicente
Self-Mastery: Alvaro de Vicente on Fostering Interior Freedom in Schools with Alvaro de Vicente
Who Am I?: The Question of Persona with Alvaro de Vicente
Our Little Protectors: How Do WE See Our Boys? with Alvaro de Vicente
Forming Wise, Courageous Risk-Takers with Alvaro de Vicente
This week on HeightsCast, we feature a recording of the 2022 Headmaster’s Lecture on the man fully alive. In this lecture, Mr. Alvaro de Vicente helps us understand what we mean when we use St. Irenaeus’ oft-quoted though seldom understood words that gloria Dei est vivens homo: the glory of God is living man.
Mr. de Vicente shares his thoughts on the destination and the road ahead, suggesting that to live fully on earth we must understand that the fullness of life is found only in heaven. And if we are to reach this destination which is our destiny, we should see this life as practice for the next.
In particular, he offers three actions that are the best practice for heaven:
Taking us through each of these, Mr. de Vicente helps us to approach life in a playful way, taking ourselves lightly and others seriously; to discover the beauty of the world, contemplating with loving eyes and a grateful heart; and to commit fully, passionately persevering in our love for others. Our boys will not live these ideals perfectly—we will not live them perfectly—but if together we begin and begin again often, we will be well on the way; and that will be a taste of heaven.
Chapters
Also on The Forum
Foundations of Hope: Raising Optimistic Men Fully Alive with Alvaro de Vicente
The Education of “Men Fully Alive”: The Mission and Vision of The Heights with Alvaro de Vicente
Who Am I?: The Question of Persona with Alvaro de Vicente
Our Little Protectors: How Do WE See Our Boys? with Alvaro de Vicente
Forming Wise, Courageous Risk-Takers with Alvaro de Vicente
In Defense of Victory by Kyle Blackmer
Additional Resources
Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus
In this week’s episode, we discuss science fiction with Mr. Joe Breslin, fifth grade teacher and soon-to-be published author of Other Minds: 13 Tales of Wonder and Sorrow. Surveying the wide umbrella of literature and film termed “sci-fi,” Mr. Breslin helps us understand what makes this genre of literature valuable, interesting, and beautiful.
As Mr. Breslin explains, science fiction done well offers a celebration of the human person, showing us in often strange ways what is possible for us as thinking beings. Moreover, by removing us from the humdrum of our ordinary lives and instilling a sense of awe as we experience another world, science fiction can provide new insights into old problems, helping us rediscover the wonder of our own everyday lives. And this is often much needed–for although our world may never be lacking in wonders, we may at times find our weary selves lacking in the wonder to see it.
Chapters
Also on The Forum
Modern Literature: On Curating the Contemporary with Michael Ortiz
Guiding Our Boys through Modern Literature with Joe Breslin and Lionel Yaceczko
Exploring and Expressing the Human Condition through Literature with Michael Ortiz
Additional Resources
Joey Breslin Writes, Mr. Breslin’s writing website
From the boys’ choir in the lower school to the men’s chorus in the upper school, informal performances at faculty dinners to songs at the annual Maryland Day Gala, singing echoes throughout the whole of The Heights experience. This week, we sit down with Mr. Patrick Love, music teacher at The Heights since 2004, to discuss not only when and where we sing at The Heights but why we love to sing so much.
As you’ll hear, singing—broadly understood—is at the heart of our school's mission. Cantare amantis est, St. Augustine tells us: singing belongs to the one who loves. And as Arthur Clutton-Brock wrote, “education ought to teach us how to be in love always and what to be in love with.” In educating our boys to become men fully alive, then, we are ultimately helping them to love, to find their voice, and to fall in love with One who sings them into existence.