PRINTA three-week institute for twenty-five school teachers on the principles of American constitutionalism.
This institute seeks to "cultivate in the nation's teachers a capacity for reflection and analysis focused on the fundamental principles of the American constitutional order." To that end, the participants, under the leadership of academic director William Harris (University of Pennsylvania), investigate the underlying reasons for America's constitutional arrangements. The program is divided into four segments: political theory and the nature of political order, constitutional theory and the design of a good polity, democratic theory and the character of self-government, and interpretive theory and constitutional meaning. The participants read important works of Western political philosophy by Aristotle, Cicero, Hobbes, and Locke; key Federalist and Anti-federalist writings from the American founding; pivotal U.S. Supreme Court cases; secondary studies by Charles McIlwain, Gordon Wood, Thomas Kuhn, John Hart Ely, Edward Corwin, and Sanford Levinson; the National Standards for Civics and Government; and various publications by the Center for Civic Education (CCE). Dr. Harris is assisted by three master teachers; he has also invited constitutional scholars Jeffrey Tulis (University of Texas-Austin), Noah Pickus (Duke University), and Susan Leeson (Oregon Supreme Court) to speak to the institute. The group participates in lecture/discussion sessions and curricular discussions; the participants are encouraged to conduct in-service sessions in their home areas with support from the CCE's "We the People" network.
Faculty: Sue Leeson, Noah Pickus, Jeffrey Tulis