How can philosophical instruction inform practical analysis and decision making among college students in a way that demonstrably benefits them as individual members of our polity and economy? I pose this question because each year, I introduce classic political theory to first- and second-year college students who simultaneously confront a fiscal crisis in the American state and profound financial challenges as individuals, and I want to ensure that the concepts and analytical strategies we study as theory can meet their most pressing practical needs during the first decade that they are out of college.