The reality that parents are in fact the primary educators of their children informs the entire educational philosophy at The Heights School. Not only are parents the first teachers of their children but, through establishing a home with its specific culture, they continue to form a grounding from which a growing boy learns to assimilate and value the education and formation available at school. It is absurd to think that any school, even the best possible school, can take on the task of passing on the riches of a liberal arts education in only the time a student is at school, about seven hours per day for roughly half the calendar days of a year. A liberal arts education must be supported by good habits of reading, conversation, and study; and these are fostered in the home. To any impartial observer of our culture it is easy to see that one of its defining characteristics is entertainment. We live in an entertainment culture. The most common forms of entertainment, especially for our children, are video games, television, movies, certain types of music, and aspects of the Internet. All of these mediums have contributed to a faster, less contemplative pace. The fast-paced nature of these entertainment media makes focused study and contemplation difficult. 

 

The Heights School relies on parents who are fully-activated primary educators to establish a home environment that is in unison with the formative and educative mission of the School. The faculty members of The Heights are under no illusion that it is possible to accomplish our noble goal without the active support of parents in this area. When parents establish a home where each child is truly valued as a person and the personal relationships between the members of the family have precedence over material things and entertainment, they are establishing the necessary conditions that make acquiring a liberal arts education possible. Parents who are fully activated primary educators will foster a variety of worthwhile cultural endeavors, such as reading and discussing good literature, taking family excursions, and living family traditions in the home. These good endeavors will only grow through the example and encouragement of parents and the prudent limiting of modern forms of entertainment that otherwise would tend to take the place of reading and other cultural pursuits. For this reason, The Heights School seeks to enter into a partnership with families to work together to accomplish this mission. In the School’s admission process, through the family interview and in other ways, the School actively seeks boys whose parents share this vision and strive to put it into practice.