Franklin's Thrift: A Classic American Idea for the 21st Century

Say the word "thrift" and people think of Benjamin Franklin and sayings like "a penny saved is a penny earned." Or they might think about grandparents who suffered through the Great Depression and never stopped saving baggies and rubber bands.

What does thrift mean today? What is its relevance in post-Recession America? What does the history of thrift tell us about self-help and cooperative movements in the past? What does thrift have to do with "greening" and gardening and global security today?

Come and learn for yourself about Franklin's three pillars of thrift - Industry, Frugality and Stewardship - at this summer teacher institute. Discover how these ideas apply to 21st-century American life and how you can share them with your students.

HSP in partnership with the Institute for American Values and in consultation with Sally Flaherty of the Pennsylvania Department of Education again will be offering this successful Summer Teacher Institute in 2014. (View photos of the 2013 Institute to learn about Institute activities.) This year's Institute will have two tiers - for returning teachers as well as teachers registering for the first time.

Instructors at the 5-day Institute led by Scholar-in-Residence David Blankenhorn will be experts in the field of Thrift, historic documents and artifacts, and standards aligned system curriculum writing.   Educators will learn how to use primary documents, incorporating Common Core standards with the Pennsylvania Academic Standards, to research concepts surrounding Thrift.  Research will culminate in creating lesson units and action plans to incorporate the concepts of Thrift in classroom instruction in the 2013-14 school year.

Year 2 teaches will have a chance for more in-depth research and dialog with the scholars so that they can develop more complete curriculum units for their schools.  They also act as mentors to Year 1 teachers, sharing their experiences in integrating thrift into their classrooms in the last year and assisting with lesson plan creation.

To apply, please complete the registration form, including filling out the survey* and depositing your $100 application fee. (The application fee will be not be refunded unless you attend the Institute, upon arrival on July 14.)  There are also travel scholarships for those applying from beyond a 30-mile radius of Philadelphia.

Besides the Act 48 credit, graduate credit is also available through Arcadia University.  Once you have applied to the institute online and been accepted, you can register with Arcadia for the graduate credit. If you have questions about the credit, please contact Beth Specker at Arcadia directly.

This institute will be a residential course in Center City Philadelphia, including provision of all meals.   Once your application is accepted, you will receive detailed information and be required to make a $300 deposit for room and board. It only will be refunded if and when the course products are delivered on August 16.

*This institute is part of a pilot study funded by the John Templeton Foundation. In order to best assess the effectiveness of the Institute we are requesting that every applicant participant in pre- and post-evaluations. The survey does not affect your application. Your answers will be kept strictly confidential and will be used for evaluation purposes only.