%20(1).png)
Reason & Rationality Institute @ Pingry
An Overnight Academic Summer Program
Residential · Grades 7–8 · New Jersey
Hosted at The Pingry School | July 26 – August 1, 2026
Reason & Rationality Institute is a conversation-based introduction to Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE). Students spend the week in small, carefully led seminars with peers who enjoy convivial conversation about big ideas. They grow more confident in discussion and more capable of thinking for themselves.
Most classes begin with a concrete dilemma — for example, why phones remain in classrooms even when nearly everyone agrees they are distracting. Students work through the problem together, and uncover the concepts that explain how individuals make choices and systems function.
Middle school students are forming independent judgments about the world around them. Reason & Rationality equips them to handle disagreement with good nature and complexity with composure. We nurture qualities that help them to stand out in school and thrive in our AI economy.
Academic Leadership: Reason & Rationality is directed by Peter Bach-y-Rita (BA Princeton, JD Stanford, PhD MIT). Faculty include doctoral-level philosophers from Princeton, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and Oxford.
Location: The Pingry School’s residential Pottersville New Jersey campus, offering students a structured introduction to residential academic life in a beautiful setting.
Program Details: Each day includes at least four hours of rigorous, discussion-based learning, followed by group activities such as the Pottersville ropes course. Evenings include games and structured social activities connected to program themes. Students arrive on July 26 and depart on the morning of August 1, 2026. Rising 7th and 8th grade students (as of Summer 2026) are eligible to apply.
Interested families should click the "Apply" botton above or contact Dean of Academics, Peter Bach-y-Rita, Ph.D., at info@reasonandrationality.com.
Hear Student Reflections:
Hear Instructor Reflections:
Curriculum
The Reason & Rationality Institute curriculum is designed for intellectually curious middle school students who are ready to think seriously about how the world works. It was developed by Dean of Academics, Peter Bach-y-Rita, Ph.D. (MIT), J.D. (Stanford) -- himself a parent of two current middle-schoolers -- in collaboration with philosophy doctoral students from Princeton and UC Berkeley.
1. Individual Reasoning
How people make choices, respond to incentives, and navigate trade-offs.
2. Collective Dynamics
How individual choices aggregate into coordination problems, cooperation, unintended consequences, and equilibria.
3. Rules and Institutions
How rules, norms, and institutional design attempt to manage these dynamics — with contemporary cases such as AI in schools serving as test cases.
Students also spend time on how we decide what to believe, who we trust as experts, and how echo chambers shape what groups come to accept as true. Along the way, students encounter and learn key concepts including: Incentives · Trade-offs · Opportunity Cost · Equilibrium · Coordination Problems · Collective Action · Externalities · Moral Hazard · Institutional Design · Status Competition · Testimony and Expertise · Probabilistic Reasoning
The middle school program will help students to become more confident speaking in groups, more willing to revise their views in the face of new evidence, and more comfortable engaging seriously with difficult ideas. These habits carry over into school, friendships, and family conversations. They also translate into stronger classroom participation, and stronger teacher recommendations on high school and college applications.
Middle school students who go through Reason & Rationality are better able to chart an intentional academic path forward. School education today aims to expose students to a wide range of subjects and perspectives. As a result, students rarely acquire big ideas within a coherent framework for thinking. Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) is a transferable, non-ideological way of thinking about choices, institutions, and values that has been used for over a century to prepare young people for intellectual and civic life. Reason & Rationality teaches this way of thinking through conversations that make it stick.
Why Reason & Rationality Institute?
Tuition and Pricing
The program fee of $4,300 covers all classes, activities, housing, and meals for the week-long program. A $1,000 deposit is due at the time of application, which promptly will be refunded if the application is not accepted, with the remaining balance being due within seven (7) days of acceptance. Reason & Rationality will refund the full deposit and any tuition payments if request is made prior to April 22, 2026.
Questions About Reason & Rationality's Vision for Conversation-Based Education?
Check out the frequently asked questions on our website or reach out to Reason & Rationality at info@reasonandrationality.com.