Hell, Dante expresses, is being trapped by our false attempts to be free. Thus, the Comedy’s Satan is forever stuck in the ice of a lake made frozen by the beating of his wings as he attempts to “free” himself from the reality of God. Education, on the other hand, frees us from such a lake by leading us to embrace, with the fullness of our being, the Truth which sets us free.

This week on HeightCast we welcome Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti for a discussion of what Pope Benedict XVI can teach us about such an education. Drawing especially from the late pope’s 2008 address to educators at The Catholic University of America, Dr. Lanzilotti explains how hope and the beauty which engenders it rests at the heart of Pope Benedict’s response to what he called a crisis of education in the modern world. 

Moving between theology and praxis, Dr. Lanzilotti focuses our attention on the nature and calling of educational institutions, both as they relate to the Church and to the world at large. Beyond places of data transfer or ready-made success measurable by test scores, such institutions are meeting places that reverberate with the life of the Church. They are places where students encounter the truth and especially that Truth which is found in prayer. They are places where beauty—the splendor of truth—can reverberate first in the hearts of students and then in the families and communities where they are called to serve after graduation. 

Chapters 

• 1:23 Introduction: Pope Benedict XVI’s address to educators
• 2:40 The virtue of hope and education for the future 
• 6:22 What does it mean to be a Catholic educator? 
• 11:00 Restoring the fullness of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty 
• 13:30 The importance of why questions
• 14:30 The communal dimension of education
• 19:10 Egalitarian elitism and intellectual charity 
• 21:35 The intellect and the will 
• 25:15 The will and our heart
• 28:25 The interaction between affectivity and the human heart
• 30:50 Moral truth
• 33:55 The adventure of education 
• 37:53 Both for Catholic institutions and Catholic teachers who are not in Catholic schools
• 40:15 Concluding thoughts: more than a facade 

Additional Resources 

Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger 

Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief and World Religions by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

"Joseph Ratzinger as Doctor of Incarnate Beauty" by Tracey Rowland 

"Address to Educators at The Catholic University of America" by Pope Benedict XVI 

"Letter on the Urgent Task of Educating Young People" by Pope Benedict XVI

"General Audience on Prayer and the Holy Family of Nazareth" by Pope Benedict XVI

"Message on Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization" by Pope Benedict XVI

Also on the Forum 

Order and Surprise: On Beauty and the Western Tradition with Lionel Yaceczko

Artwork in Schools: On the Buildings that Build Us with Joe Cardenas

On the Education of the Human Heart with Anton Vorozhko

What does it mean to be “civilized”? What is justice? What is a citizen? Given the opportunity, would you have killed Julius Caesar? Was Nero inevitable, or is it possible to keep one’s wits while running such a powerful empire? 

These are a few of the questions that eighth graders at The Heights are challenged to ponder together in their core class. With the help of their teachers and a new history textbook, the boys not only consider these questions amongst themselves but do so in dialogue with some of the greatest thinkers of the Western tradition. 

This week on HeightsCast, we discuss Tom Cox and Bill Dardis’s new book, Becoming Rome: Foundation, Republic, and Empire in the Words of Eminent Romans. In addition to sharing the story behind their writing, Tom and Bill introduce us to their method of teaching history at the primary and secondary school levels. Drawing on fourteen years of experience in the classroom as well as graduate studies in the liberal arts, Tom and Bill offer practical insights for teachers who hope not only to bring history to life in the classroom but also to prepare their students to bring those lessons into their own lives.

Chapters

• 0:32 Introduction
• 2:00 A better approach to the history textbook
• 4:50 The big questions hidden in the narratives of history
• 7:00 The contemporary approach to history lessons
• 9:56 Receiving tradition and engaging it 
• 11:00 Why study history at all? 
• 15:50 A roadmap to history 
• 19:15 Method of the book 
• 24:23 Seminars and discussing difficult topics 
• 28:15 Why write a book? 
• 31:32 The book’s target age level 
• 32:45 The relationship between Christianity and the book 

Also on the Forum 

The Importance of Ugly History by Mark Grannis

Keeping the Story in History by Mark Grannis

Seeing History: On Using Images in the History Classroom by Kyle Blackmer

Hillsdale’s M. Spalding on the Importance of History Pt. I with Dr. Matt Spalding

Hillsdale’s M. Spalding on the Importance of History Pt. II with Dr. Matt Spalding

Plutarch’s Lives Teach: Character Education through Story with Tom Cox

History the Way it Was…and the Way it Should Be by Bill Dardis

Writing and Thought; Oratory and Ethics: What We Give Our Seventh Graders in the Core with Tom Cox

As teachers and parents, it is often difficult to find the balance between leniency and strictness, love and fear. Getting the right tone, being firm in principle and flexible in preference, is indeed an art and an especially difficult one. While nothing can replace personal experience for growing in this art, self-reflection is a great aid to this end. 

This week on HeightsCast, Mr. Colin Gleason, Head of the Lower School, offers an aid to our personal reflection. The episode features a presentation by Mr. Gleason from our recent Art of Teaching Conference. At that conference, he spoke to seventy men from across the United States and beyond about how we, as teachers, can foster an environment of respectful dominion in the classroom. Colin offers a list of twelve principles, together with a great many practical pointers and delightful anecdotes.

In the end, the point of discipline is to foster the right tone for learning, the proper culture for growth. Whether this growth occurs in the home or in the classroom, having the right tone is ultimately about love. Rome, they say, was not loved because she was great; she was great because she was first loved. So too our sons and students. 

Chapters 

• 2:25 Beginning with the end
• 3:50 A question of balance 
• 6:35 Principle #1: Discipline begins before class begins
• 8:32 Principle #2: Best disciplinary tool is a good lesson plan
• 12:25 Principle #3: Fostering class culture is more effective than listing class rules
• 14:40 Principle #4: We earn capital outside to spend inside 
• 17:05 Principle #5: Smiling isn’t enough; we need to laugh
• 19:45 Principle #6: Let them love what they see and fear what they don’t 
• 24:45 Principle #7: Don’t confuse personal preference with principles 
• 25:40 Principle #8: Non-correction corrections
• 27:35 Principle #9: Replace star stickers with handshakes
• 29:15 Principle #10: Learners over lessons
• 31:25 Principle #11: Replace line-writing with push-ups
• 34:30 Principle #12: When you send students to the principal’s office, your authority goes with them 

Also on the Forum 

Boys, Education, and The Heights with Alvaro de Vicente

Raising Contemplative Sons: The Problem with Boys with Colin Gleason 

Our Little Protectors: How Do WE See Our Boys? with Alvaro de Vicente

On Recess: The Benefits of Free Play with Colin Gleason

Toughness for the Adolescent Boy by Kyle Blackmer

Seeing Our Boys with Loving Eyes: Not Projects, but Persons with Tom Royals

Why Boys Need to Be Given Freedom by Andy Reed

Material Order and the Middle School Boy with Kyle Blackmer 

Can I Catch It?: On Handling Wildlife with Eric Heil

*For lyrics and history of  the Ave Regina Caelorum, please visit adoremus.org.