FTE Launches New Civics Program To Help Students “Think Like the Founders” Ahead of America250 

March 30, 2026

Davis, CA. – The Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE) is announcing the new Civics & Economics in Action program to revitalize civic learning and promote America’s founding principles. This new program will provide promising high school students with the opportunity to explore the Founding Fathers’ belief that political freedom is grounded in economic freedom, while using the “economic way of thinking” to better understand public policy choices – and their role in shaping them as citizens. 

Over a weeklong summer program, high school sophomores and juniors will learn to apply the “economic way of thinking” through hands-on lessons, leadership training and real-world case studies. Students will analyze incentives, trade-offs, and unintended consequences behind public policy choices, exploring topics from the principles of America’s Founding Fathers, to Supreme Court cases, to local school board decisions – helping students understand civic life through the lens of economics. 

“At a time when 75% of Americans are unable to name the three branches of government, American civics education is facing an existential crisis ahead of our nation’s 250^th anniversary,” said Ted Tucker, executive director of FTE. “FTE’s new nonpartisan program is perfectly timed to help our next generation of leaders understand the critical relationship between political freedom and economic freedom – enabling them to become better prepared to sustain the American experiment in self-government.” 

FTE will operate two one-week Civics & Economics in Action programs this summer: one starting June 30^th at the University of Pennsylvania, and another beginning July 20^th at American University. Students will live on campus for the entire program. The application process for Summer 2026 is now open through May 13^th, and scholarships are available.  

This new program will advance FTE’s mission to strengthen individual liberty, personal responsibility, and economic freedom, ensuring the next generation understands not just what our system is, but what their role is in preserving it. For more information and to apply, visit FTE.org/CEA.